The magazine with the autograph of the All-Russian Emperor Alexander III

An autographed magazine, 1885. On the cover: "Our local assistants in Tonkin (Vietnam). Tonkin and Annam Riflemen".

Alexander III — Emperor of All Russia, Tsar of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland. A conservative who carried out counter-reforms, as well as the Russification of national territories. Under his rule, Russia did not wage a single war. He concluded a Franco-Russian alliance. He was nicknamed the Peacemaker for his calm foreign policy during his reign. All of Alexander III's internal reforms were aimed at reversing the liberalization that occurred during his father's reign. The new emperor believed that remaining faithful to Russian Orthodoxy, the autocracy and the nationality would save Russia from revolutionary unrest.

It is also important that during the reign of Alexander III, mining and metallurgical production was actively developing. The annual industrial growth in the field of metallurgy in the last years of the reign of Alexander III was equal to ten percent, and in some years it reached up to twenty percent.

There were many precious wreaths on the coffin of the late emperor, but the most durable, according to Dmitry Mendeleev, was a wreath from Russian industrialists.

L'Illustration was a French weekly magazine published from 1843 to 1944. The founder of the magazine was Edouard Charton, the first issue was published on March 4, 1843, the weekly became the first illustrated newspaper in France, and then, after 1906, the first international illustrated magazine. According to the researchers, the magazine defended Christian values and was Russophile during the Franco-Russian union. It is known that this magazine was systematically delivered to the Russian imperial house.

At the 2018 Christie's auction, a lot of magazines marked by three emperors — Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II - was presented.

It is noteworthy that from the very beginning of its existence, in the second half of the 19th century, L'Illustration attracted the best draughtsmen of that time, lured the best engravers of Paris, contributing to the popularization of woodcuts due to its increasingly widespread distribution.

In 1891, L'Illustration became the first French newspaper to publish photography. In 1907, L'Illustration was the first to publish color photography.