Library of Tsar Alexander II of Russia - Lot 666

Library of Tsar Alexander II of Russia PALLU de LA BARRIÈRE (Léopold Augustin Charles) Relation de l'expédition de Chine en 1860, written by Lieutenant Pallu from official documents, with the authorization of S. Exc. M. le comte P. de Chasseloup-Laubat, ministre de la Marine et des Colonies. Paris, Imprimerie Impériale, 1863 (text) and Paris, Dépôt de la Marine, 1863. Printed by Auguste Bry (atlas). Text in-4. Spots of spotting - Atlas in folio, 8 plates including 5 double-page plates (one color plate showing the tusks of the Peh-tang-ho and Peï-Ho). Contemporary red morocco, title and gilded fillets forming gilded boxes on spine, listel of three triple gilded fillets with interlacing at corners, central imperial coat of arms, gilded roulette on edges, inner gilded roulette and fillets, green moiré silk endpapers, gilded edges, minor defects. Publisher's blue boards, blue cloth spine, printed title on upper board. Excellent condition. Detailed and official account of the Franco-British expedition to China in 1860, whose origins date back to the second Opium War in 1856. With atlas in publisher's hardback. Provenance: Copy from the library of Tsar Alexander II of Russia (1855-1881), bearing the Imperial coat of arms with a double-headed eagle on both covers.