A very important set of portrait cartes-de-visite of the imperial family and other famous personalities of the time. It comprises three subsets. 1. 1 vol. in-12, chocolate chagrin, gothic style decoration, smooth spine decorated in the same style, gilt edges, gilt metal clasp. Binding rubbed. Soiling, some spotting. A rich album of 44 portrait-cards of great personalities, French and foreign, of the Second Empire: - Group portraits of the imperial family, including one by Disdéri (2). - Napoleon III (3); Empress Eugenie (3); Prince Imperial. - Alfonso XII of Spain; Don Carlos of Spain. - Various personalities: Charles Dickens; Dr Colengo; Two Siamese sisters; Alfred Tennyson; The Grisi dancer; Caricature portrait of Abraham Lincoln; Sir Sidney Cotton; Albert Browning (2); Rosa Bonheur and her family (2); Abdul Hamid (?); E. Mial ; Clarkson Stanfield ; T. S. Cooper; R. Ausdell; Garibaldi; Henry Longfellow (2); Solin Bright; Dean Stanley; Thomas Carlyle; Mark Lenon. - Pious images (3). - Characters to identify (7). 2. A set of 34 portrait business cards, by some of the greatest photographic studios of the time, both Parisian (Disdéri, Goupil, Le Jeune, Neurdein, Liébert, Thiébault, Mayer & Pierson) and foreign (Anthony and Schaus in New York, McAllister in Philadelphia, The London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company, Fratelli Alinari in Florence), illustrating the massive success of the medium, precisely under the Second Empire: - Emperor Napoleon III (9). - Empress Eugénie (12). - Prince Imperial (4). - Imperial family group (2). - Crowned heads of Europe, montage. - Cartoon card The Proposed Elopement. - Count Walewski; Duke Charles de Morny; Duke Victor de Persigny. - Victor Hugo; Victor-Emmanuel II. 3. 1 vol. in-12 (12.2 x 8.5 cm), havana chagrin, gilt fillets, mosaic iron cross bearing the motto in cold script "Mit Gott, für König und Vaterland", and the date in cold script "1870" on the first cover, smooth spine. An album of 16 portrait visiting cards of personalities of the Kingdom of Prussia, victor over France in 1870-1871, in a talking binding: - Kaiser Wilhelm I. - Crown Prince Frederick William; Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia (2). - Crown Prince of Saxony; Prince Augustus of Württemberg. - General von Moltke. - Chancellor Bismarck. - Minister of War Albrecht von Roon. - General von Steinmetz; General Vogel von Falckenstein; General von Blumenthal; General von Voigts-Rheetz; General von Treskow, General von Manteuffel; General Herwarth von Bittenfeld. Binding very damaged, ribbon missing. Some spotting. The last card (one of the two portraits of Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia) seems to come from another series. Provenance Osenat sale, Christopher Forbes Collection, 6 March 2016, lot no. 60.