Leather-bound book "Symbols and Orders of the Russian Empire"

How did the double-headed eagle become the coat of arms of the Russian Empire? Why is the horseman on the Moscow coat of arms, contrary to the rules of heraldry, turned to the right of the viewer? Which of the tricolors used in the Russian Empire is more ancient — white-blue-red or black-yellow-white? Who actually composed the music of the hymn "God Save the Tsar"? The reader will find answers to these and many other questions in this book, compiled from the works of major experts in heraldry, phaleristics, ethnography, and even musicology. For the first time, all the images of the coats of arms of Russian cities from the coat of arms of 1729 are reproduced here in color. The part of the book devoted to the orders of the Russian Empire is of particular value. It is based on unique materials from the archives of the Chapter of the Russian Imperial and Tsarist Orders. The black-and-white drawings used in the first publications in this edition have been replaced by more than 200 full-color ones reproduced from the rarest handwritten and printed books.