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[SOVIET VOYAGE TO THE PACIFIC REGION] Tikhookeanskii dnevnik [i.e. The Pacific Ocean Diary]

Lapin, B.

Moscow: Federatsiia, 1929. Item #877

222, [2] pp. 19,5x14 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Tears of the spine with small fragments lost, vertical crease of the front cover and some leaves, otherwise very good and clean copy.

Signed by author on the half title (1929).

First edition. One of 4000 copies. Cover design by artist Ivan Rerberg who depicted the upper part of the Pacific Ocean where both continents come near each other and surrounded by islands.

This interesting witness account describes a voyage of the Soviet journalist from Vladivostok through Chukotka to coasts of Alaska and Japan. The diary was written by Boris Lapin (1905-1941) who was a travel journalist observing life from Arctic islands to Central Asian steppe. In 1928, he met the Pacific Ocean with enthusiasm. “Doors of the whole world are opened and nothing blocks me anymore. I came out to an alien world”, - wrote Lapin in introduction adding that he was interested in people who settled the Pacific Ocean and relied on it. He started from Chukchi lands and lived there trying to understand the radically different lifestyle. The Soviet rule poorly influenced Chukchi people throughout the 1920s and Lapin in detail noticed unchanged customs and social relations. After that, he joined American ship selling goods between Alaska and Chukotka and crossed Bering Strait. Lapin visited Nome city in Alaska, that particularly impressed him with international emigre population, and turned back to Asia. He reached Hokkaido and sought to go to Vladivostok. As he desired, Lapin got acquainted with ‘ocean’ people, their personal stories and living conditions. Gained personal experience in settlements and on board of ships, the author mixed his notes with narratives he heard about local people and visitors from other lands.

Worldcat shows copies located in LoC, Yale and Stanford Universities.

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