[Rarebooks] fa: JOURNEY INTO SIBERIA - Chappe d’Auteroche - First Edition in English 1770

[ArCh]

Auction ends Sunday, October 29. Images and more details can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

https://tinyurl.com/ymdoqaee

Many thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Jean-Baptiste Chappe d'Auteroche: A Journey into Siberia, made by Order of the King of France. By M. L'abbe Chappe D'Auteroche, of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, in 1761. Containing an Account Of the Manners and Customs of the Russians, the Present State of their Empire; with the Natural History, and Geographical Description of their Country, and Level of the Road from Paris to Tobolsky. Illustrated with Cuts. Translated from the French, with a Preface by the Translator. London: Printed for T. Jefferys, Geographer to the King, MDCCLXX [1770]. First English-language edition; 4to (26.5 cm) in early half calf and marbled boards, rebacked, with the original spine laid down; xiii, [7], 395, [1] pp.; with in-text tables, a folding, colored engraved map and 9 copper-engraved plates (complete). ESTC T70180.

The first edition in English of Voyage en Siberie, the astronomer Chappe d'Auteroche's account of his expedition to observe the transit of Venus from Tobolsk in Siberia in 1761. The journey, much of it by sledge, was an arduous one and, despite the success of his observations, the author's description of the country, particularly its politics, is often less than flattering. An angry, anonymous rebuttal, purportedly written by Catherine the Great herself, was published in 1771: Antidote, ou examen du mauvais livre..."Voyage en Siberie." Binding with rubbing to the boards, wear to the edges and extremities, front inner hinge reinforced with cloth tape; short tears to the edges of the folding map, intermittent browning and offsetting to the text and several of the plates, occasional small spots and stains, else clean and sound, firmly bound.