Item #307 [NORTH PACIFIC] Puteshestviye v severnuyu chast Tikhogo Okeana i vokrug sveta, sovershennoye v 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794 i 1795 godakh kapitanom Geogiyem Vankuverom/ Izdaniye Gosudarstvennogo Admiralteyskogo Departamenta [i.e. A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World, Undertaken in 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794 i 1795 by Captain George Vancouver/ Publication of the State Admiralty Department]. G. Vancouver.
[NORTH PACIFIC] Puteshestviye v severnuyu chast Tikhogo Okeana i vokrug sveta, sovershennoye v 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794 i 1795 godakh kapitanom Geogiyem Vankuverom/ Izdaniye Gosudarstvennogo Admiralteyskogo Departamenta [i.e. A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World, Undertaken in 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794 i 1795 by Captain George Vancouver/ Publication of the State Admiralty Department]

[NORTH PACIFIC] Puteshestviye v severnuyu chast Tikhogo Okeana i vokrug sveta, sovershennoye v 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794 i 1795 godakh kapitanom Geogiyem Vankuverom/ Izdaniye Gosudarstvennogo Admiralteyskogo Departamenta [i.e. A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World, Undertaken in 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794 i 1795 by Captain George Vancouver/ Publication of the State Admiralty Department]

St. Petersburg: Naval Typ. 1827-1838. Item #307

6 vols. [4], iii, 333; [8], 524; [4], 422, [2]; [8], 511; [8], 559; [6], 297 pp. Octavo. In six modern half leather volumes. 19th century ink inscription on the tile page of vol. 2, red ink stamp of a private library on the half-title of vol. 5, occasional soiling, one page with expert repair. Otherwise a very good set.

Very rare first and only Russian edition of the account of George Vancouver’s (1757-1798) voyage to the northwest coast of America, Hawaii and the southwest coast of Australia in 1790-95. Russian publication was initiated and supervised by Ivan Krusenstern (1770-1846), famous first Russian circumnavigator, and issued on the account of the State Admiralty Department, a unit of the Russian Naval Ministry responsible for its scientific and educational activities, which Krusenstern was a member of since 1808. First two volumes have a printed note on the title page ‘Published by the State Admiralty Department’, the other four don’t have it as they were published after the Admiralty Department had been dismissed and all its functions had been transferred to the Scientific Committee of the Naval Ministry. The original English text was translated by Georg Gustav von Engelhardt (1775-1862), Russian writer and educator of German origin, a director of the Lyceum in Tsarskoye Selo (1816-23), known for the first publication of the account of Ferdinand von Wrangell’s travel to the Arctic coast of the Eastern Siberia in 1820-24 (Reise längs der Nordküste von Sibirien und auf dem Eismeer in den Jähren 1820-24; Berlin, 1829).

This Russian edition of Vancouver’s voyage is supplemented with a preface explaining the importance of the publication, most likely written by Ivan Krusenstern himself; the print run of the Russian edition was 600 copies, (Zapiski Gosudarstvennogo Admiralteyskogo Departamenta, vol. 12, pp. i and xxxvii; vol. 13, pp. xxvi and xli). The book, being of major importance for the navigation along the coast of Russia America, has never been reissued in Russia and has rightfully became a bibliographic rarity.

From the Preface to the Russian edition:
‘‘Among all the voyages undertaken by the Englishmen in the last half of the past century for the development of Geography, one of the most important was of course the voyage of Captain Vancouver, both by the plenty of hydrographical studies done in the duration of it, and by the exemplary preciseness and detail, with which this famous navigator surveyed the shores of America, whose description, because of their natural appearance, is met with the utmost difficulties. In this regard Vancouver’s voyage deserves attention of every naval officer, but his voyage is especially important for the Russian navigators, because the surveys of Vancouver, encompassing the whole northwest coast of America, mostly explain the position and features of that part of it which now belongs to Russia.

Since the time when our ships started navigating the South Sea and visiting Russian-American settlements, the account of Vancouver’s voyage had become a necessity, and as a guidance for our officers visiting these shores, it can be as important as the astronomical tables used for the calculation of their observations. But this useful work hasn’t existed before in our native language, and therefore remained unavailable for those of our officers who are not fluent enough in foreign languages. This obstacle was even more obvious for the officials of the Russian-American Company, and there was a continuous request from all of them to have the Russian translation of Vancouver’s voyage.

State Admiralty Department, having been convinced in a great benefit of appearance of this book in Russian and wishing to provide the compatriots with all advantages deriving from it, decided to undertake the publication of such a translation. As a result, now the first part of Vancouver’s voyage is being issued, which will be followed by the other parts in short time. For the complete fulfillment of its goal this book should not be expensive, to become useful for everyone; for this reason the Russian translation will not have the engraved views supplementing the English original, as they would significantly increase the price, being only subjects of luxury and curiosity. Equally it has been decided unnecessary to publish in Russian Vancouver’s Atlas, because most part of its maps has been included in the two collections of maps, recently published in Russian.’’.

Sold

See all items in Travel
See all items by