Beschreibung:

KRASHENINNIKOV, Stepan Petrovich (1713-1755). Opisanie zemli Kamchatki . [A Description of the Land of Kamchatka.] St. Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Science, 1755. The first edition of the first description of Kamchatka. A handsome copy with fine provenance of “a very rare book” (Lada-Mocarski). Krasheninnikov’s narrative comprises one of the earliest printed accounts of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. “The engraving of an ‘American,’ facing p.128, is the earliest pictorial representation of a native inhabitant of any part of Alaska” (Lada-Mocarski). Krasheninnikov joined Bering's second expedition and explored Kamchatka as Steller’s assistant. Steller’s own account was not published until nearly forty years later, but his notes were available to Krasheninnikov who compiled this Description from both their journals. Steller’s observations on America are “an important part of this work”; Krasheninnikov had intended to highlight Steller’s contribution in the preface to this book, but died before he could write it. This copy is from the first issue: without the preface by G.F. Müller and with one notice to the reader rather than two. Copies from this issue are thought to be from a small group (less than a hundred out of 1350 in the edition) intended for presentation to eminent contemporaries. RBH and ABPC record only one copy at auction (from the second issue; Christie’s, 20 May 1992, lot 324). Bornovolokov – the first recorded owner of this book – was deputy head of the Russian-American Company, and the intended successor of the redoubtable Aleksandr Baranov (1747-1819) as de facto governor of Russian America. But Bornovolokov died in the wreck of the Neva when this famous ship, which had sailed in the first ever Russian circumnavigation, was caught in a storm while crossing from Kamchatka to Alaska. Although the title is dated 1755, publication had been delayed by production of the plates, which were not ready until 1756. Howgego K37; Howes K-265; Lada-Mocarski 12; Obol'ianinov 1380; Svodnyi Katalog 3290; Wickersham 5796; cf. Hill 948 (English edition). Two volumes, quarto (242 x 190mm). Issued without a preface, and with a notice to the reader in volume 1 only [see above]. 25 engraved plates, many of these folding, including one large folding map, most by Ivan Sokolov after J.-C. Berkhan (large map with a neatly repaired tear near the joint; occasional light scattered spotting). Contemporary Russian speckled calf, the spines blind tooled in compartments and with pale leather numbering pieces, edges red, endpapers with a red and blue zig zag pattern (spine caps, and front joint of vol. I, expertly repaired; staining on the front board of vol. I). Provenance : Terentii Ivanovich Bornovolokov (1764-1813; title stamps; inscriptions on blanks recording his reading of the book in 1779 and again in 1791) – deleted title stamps – Boris Ivanovich Goumeniouk (stamp) – Wayfarer’s Bookshop.