[Russia]. - Lot 233

[Russia]. MOSCOW. OLD PHOTOGRAPHS. [Views of Moscow]. Ca 1890. Impressive album of 50 large black albumin prints (20 x 26.5 cm framed), very finely hand-colored, the aesthetic effect certainly being the goal. In strong cardboard mounts, white moiré, gilded edges, mounted on tabs and bearing the prints on both sides (25 pages). Series of views of Moscow, churches, palaces, Kremlin... Probably intended for tourism, each print has its descriptive title printed in Russian, French and English, pasted below the image. A large, luxurious album bound in fawn-tinted sow skin mounted on wooden hedges, with the name of Moscow in the Cyrillic alphabet engraved and gilded on the front cover. The heavy binding has been damaged under its own weight (first cover very weakened at the upper jaw). Rubbing and traces of soiling, but the prints remain fresh.