French broadside celebrating the accession of 'Napoléon III, Empereur des Français.', containing a biography, a panegyric poem, and a handcoloured engraved portrait.

Printed on one side of a piece of wove paper, dimensions roughly 65 x 41.5 cm. Within a ruled border. On lightly aged paper, with chipping and slight loss to extremities. Three closed tears (two of them affecting the portrait) have been repaired on the reverse with archival tape. Text entirely legible and portrait clear, bright and without loss. The full-length portrait (31 x 25 cm), crudely coloured in yellow, red and blue, depicts the Emperor, in full regalia, standing in a sumptuous throne room. Sixty-six line biography, arranged in two columns. The last paragraph begins 'Louis-Napoléon a sauvé le pays. La nation, reconnaissante, vient de manifester hautement sa volonté de rétablir l'Empire, seul gage d'un avenir calme et prospère. - 8,000,000 de voix ont acclamé du nom de NAPOLÉON III, le Prince qui, depuis quatre ans, nous gouverne avec tant de sagesse et d'habileté.' The poem, 'A Napoléon III, Empereur des Français' ('Air du premier pas'), consists of nine four-line stanzas, each with a chorus of 'Vive l'Empereur! | Vive l'Empereur!' The first stanza reads 'Elle a sonné, l'heure de délivrance; | Elle a sonné, tous nos maux sont finis. | Napoléon règne encor [sic] sur la France, | C'est l'oint de Dieu, le sauveur du pays.'