www.bookvica.com 2016 RUSSIAN TRAVELS INCLUDING RUSSIAN AMERICANA & PACIFIC VOYAGES FOREWORD We are happy to present our catalogue of thirty important and rare books and prints dedicated to Russian travels and exploration for California International Antiquarian Book Fair that will be held on 12- 14 of February, 2016. Here are some of the hightlights. Eleven items in the catalogue are about Russian America and Pacific voyages, including important accounts by Lavrenty Zagoskin (our copy bears his presentation inscription) and Petr Tikhmenev, two famous works by Krusenstern’s circumnavigation member Vasily Berkh – the first about the first Bering expedition to Alaska and the second about the history of Arctic voyages (with valuable information on Russian America). Among the Arctic items are an important account on Siberia by the explorer of the New Siberian Islands, a description of the Yenisey region during the Siberian gold rush, and an original Russian work on Frederick Cook and Robert Peary’s discovery of the North Pole. Ten valuable books on Central Asia include two works by the world famous Russian sinologist Father Iakinf (Bichurin) – including the first Russian description of Beijing; very early essay on the Russian exploration of the Amur River supplemented with a beautiful illustrated map; first Russian work on Afghanistan and Kashmir; an essay on the research of Pamir. The “Other Areas” section contains a very rare essay by the famous Russian circumnavigator Vasily Golovnin on the state of the Russian fleet, an interesting scarce piece of Russian Africana with notes about anti-plague measures, et al. Join us at the California International Antiquarian Book Fair to explore and discover remarkable Russian travel books! Our booth is # 601. Bookvica is an antiquarian booksellers specializing in Russia and the neighbourhood countries. We have a bookshop in Tbilisi (Georgia) and an office in Moscow. Bookvica is a member of International League of Antiquarian Booksellers and The Guild of Antiquarian Booksellers or Russia. [email protected] +7 985 218 6937, +995 (032) 2430117 I RUSSIAN AMERICA & PACIFIC VOYAGES 01 [ EARLY RUSSIAN-JAPANESE RELATIONS] [Golovnin, V.M.] Zapiski Vasiliia Mikhailovicha Golovnina v plenu u yapontsev v 1811, 1812 i 1813 godakh, i Zhizneopisanie avtora [i.e. Notes of V.M. Golovnin [made] in Japanese Captivity in 1811, 1812 and 1813, and the Biography of the Author]. St. Petersburg: Typ. of N. Grech, 1851. Second edition. Three vols. bound together. V.1: [2], xxxvi, [10], 203; V.2: [2], 148; V.3. [2], 120 pp. Octavo. With a steel engraved frontispiece and two folding engraved maps. Contemporary brown gilt tooled half leather with period paper marbled boards and gilt title on spine. Blank margins of portrait re-margined to fit book, maps with some expert repair including a couple of tears and one blank part of map, a few hints of water staining in text, but overall a very good copy. Important firsthand account on the early history of the Russian-Japanese relations closely connected with the first Russian circumnavigation (1803-1806) under command of Adam von Krusenstern and the activity of the Russian-American Company promoted by Count Nikolai Rezanov (1764-1807). This is a full description of the notorious diplomatic Incident of Golovnin (1811-1813) occurred in the very beginning of the Russian-Japanese relations, written by one of its main participants. Count Nikolai Rezanov took part in the Krusenstern’s circumnavigation with the goal to deliver the first Russian embassy to Japan and to establish the diplomatic relations between the countries. The embassy was unsuccessful, and in 1805 the Emperor of Japan prohibited Russian ships and subjects to approach Japanese shores. Following the instructions of irritated and insulted Rezanov in 1806-1807 two ships of the Russian-American Company - Yunona and Avos’ under command of young navy officers Nikolas Khvostov and Gavriil Davydov sailed to the Japanese possessions on the Southern Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands and Hokkaido, robbed and burned the shore settlements, and captured several Japanese people. Although both Kvostov and Davydov were arrested as soon as they arrived to Okhotsk RUSSIAN AMERICA & PACIFIC VOYAGES 1 and were sent to Saint Petersburg to be trialed, the attitude of Japanese to Russians evidently deteriorated; Russia was considered to prepare for a war with Japan. In 1808-1811 Russian sloop Diana under command of Vasily Golovnin and Peter Ricord was sent on a second official Russian circumnavigation to explore and describe Russian Far East, Kamchatka and Alaska. Upon his return from Russian America in 1811 Golovnin sailed to chart the Kuril Islands. During a short stop at the Kunashir Island Golovnin, his two officers and four sailors were treacherously taken prisoners by Japanese, transported to the Hokkaido Island and were kept in prison near the town of Matsumae for over two years. The book thoroughly and vividly describes the events from Diana’s departure from Kamchatka in April 1811 to the liberation of the captives by Diana and Peter Ricord in Hakodate in October 1813, giving a brief report on the previous history of Russian-Japanese relations and the actions of Khvostov and Davydov. The third part of the “Zapiski” is solely dedicated to Japan – its geographical location, climate, people, language, religion, administration, legal system, trade and industries, army, possessions and colonies. The book is illustrated with a steel engraved portrait of Golovnin and a facsimile of his signature, and two folding engraved maps: “Map of the Sakhalin Sea with the Chain of all Kuril Islands, southern of which have been described in 1811 on the sloop Diana under command of the fleet captain Golovnin,” and “Map of the Treason Bay named so by Captain Rikord after the capture of Captain Golovnin on its shore (the bay is located on the southern part of the Kunashir Island).” This second edition of the book is supplemented with an extensive biography of Golovnin specially written by a Russian journalist and publisher Nikolai Grech (1787-1867). “V.M. Golovnin, one of the outstanding Russian naval officers of the nineteenth century, made several voyages to the North Pacific and to the northwest coast of America. He has left valuable accounts of his voyages and of the investigation of the state of the Russian colonies in America, which he conducted by order of the emperor in 1818” (Lada-Mokarski, #82). BOOKVICA 2 Frontispiece, title page and map. No 1 RUSSIAN AMERICA & PACIFIC VOYAGES 3 02 [THE DISCOVERER OF ANTARCTICA] Admiral M.P. Lazarev. [Steel Engraved Portrait]. [London], ca. 1840s. Steel engraving, print size 39x34,5 cm on a large sheet 65,5x48,5 cm. “B.R. Davies direxit., J. Thomson sculpt.” underneath the image. With an engraved title in Russian and Lazarev’s coat of arms engraved on the lower margin. Blank margins with minor repaired tears, creases on the upper and lower blank margins not affecting the images, overall a very good print. Official portrait of Admiral Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev (1788- 1851), Russian naval officer, circumnavigator, and the discoverer of Antarctica. The print engraved in England on the special order of the Russian Naval Ministry shows Lazarev in his late years, as the Chief of Staff of the Black Sea Fleet (since 1832); the Admiral is depicted waist length, dressed in uniform with all his regalia and holding a spyglass under his left arm. His name under the portrait is adorned with the coat of arms of Lazarev noble family. ‘‘Lazarev first circumnavigated the globe in 1813-1816, aboard the vessel Suvorov; the expedition began at Kronstadt and reached Alaska. During this voyage, Lazarev discovered the Suvorov Atoll. As a commander of the ship Mirny and Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen’s deputy on his world cruise in 1819–1821 (Bellingshausen commanded Vostok), Lazarev took part in the discovery of Antarctica and numerous islands. On January 28, 1820 the expedition discovered the Antarctic mainland, approaching the Antarctic coast at the coordinates 69°21’28’’S 2°14’50’’W / 69.35778°S 2.24722°W / -69.35778; -2.24722 and seeing ice-fields there. In 1822-1825, Lazarev circumnavigated the globe for the third time on his frigate Kreyser, conducting broad research in the fields of meteorology and ethnography’’ (Wikipedia). Later Lazarev took part in the Battle of Navarino (1827, part of the Greek War of Independence, 1821-32); was in charge of the naval units of the Baltic Fleet (1830), and became the Commander of the Black Sea Fleet, the Black Sea ports, and military governor of Sevastopol and Nikolayaev (since 1833). BOOKVICA 4 No. 2 RUSSIAN AMERICA & PACIFIC VOYAGES 5 03 [ THROUGH THE ARCTIC TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN] [Lomonosov, M.V.] Proekt Lomonosova i ekspeditsiya Chichagova; [and:] Kratkoe opisanie raznikh puteshestvii po severnim moryam… [i.e. Lomonosov’s Project and Chichagov’s Expedition; with: A Brief Description of Various Voyages in the Northern Seas and Indication of a Possible Passage via the Siberian Ocean to the East Indies/ Published by the Hydrographical Department of the Naval Ministry]. St. Petersburg: Morskaya Typ., 1854. Second enlarged edition. [2], c, 150 pp. Small octavo. Contemporary light brown half leather with marbled boards, spine titled and tooled in black, overall a very good copy. Very rare with only five Special enlarged edition of Mikhail Lomonosov’s project on copies found in the exploration of the North East Passage, supplemented with the Worldcat; the only found copy description of two Russian expeditions to the Arctic and Pacific Oceans of the first edition which were organized on the basis of this project in 1765-66 under is in the Yale University. command of Vasily Chichagov (1726-1809). The expeditions aimed to find the sea route to the Pacific along the Arctic coast of Siberia and departed from Spitzbergen, but in both cases couldn’t proceed far due to the impenetrable ice.