Le Sacre de S.M. l'Empereur Napoléon, dans l'Église Métropolitaine de Paris le XI Frimaire an XIII. Dimanche 2 décembre 1804

Large folio (697x490 mm). XL numbered plates, including engraved title-page, engraved section-title to plates, 7 plates showing the various stages of the coronation and 31 plates depicting the costumes of the emperor, empress, pope and participants in the ceremony (civil, military and ecclesiastical authorities, etc.), each in a richly ornamented frame. Each plate is also accompanied by an explanatory text. The plates are engraved by several engravers after Jean- Baptiste Isabey (1767-1855), Charles Percier (1764-1838) and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine (1762-1853). 19th-century red half morocco gilt, marbled endleaves (worn and rubbed, small portion of the front joint slightly cracked). Some foxing and minor marginal staining, but a very good, wide-margined copy.
First edition (reprinted in smaller format in 1969) of this lavishly illustrated record of Napoleon and Josephine's joint consecration in December 1804. The Pope was coerced into attending the ceremony, but Napoleon would not allow him to place the crown on his head. The Pope merely blessed the crown, which Napoleon then grasped for himself. This event was not an actual coronation; rather, it was a sacre, or consecration, and the Pope's presence was intended to recall the consecration of earlier French rulers, such as Charlemagne. Although Napoleon needed the Pope's presence to lend legitimacy to the proceedings, it was the Papacy that benefited more from this display of its central role in European politics.
All the greatest artists and engravers of the time were involved in the illustration of this lavish project which reportedly cost 194,436 French francs. As the work was not published until after Napoleon's fall, almost all copies were immediately confiscated. Some were given to artists and members of the imperial government, while others were obtained privately and at great expense before the edition was released onto the open market.
Vinet, 530; Berlin Katalog, 3026.