KRUSENSTERN, Adam Johann von (1770–1846). Voyage Round the World, in the Years 1803, 1804, 1805, & 1806 by order of His Imperial Majesty Alexander the First, on board the Ships Nadeshda and Neva... London: Printed by C. Roworth [Vol. I] and by T. Davison [Vol. II] for John Murray and the Board of Longitude, 1813.
2 volumes in one, 4to (276 x 225 mm). Directions to binder on half-sheet. 2 hand–colored aquatint frontispieces, engraved folding map (some browning or spotting to map, light spotting to frontispiece in Volume II with some offsetting from plate to second title–page). Half modern calf, marbled sides, black leather lettering–pieces gilt in two compartments, all edges marbled.
FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF THE FIRST RUSSIAN CIRCUMNAVIGATION, commanded by Krusenstern with an impressive corps of officers: Lisianski (second–in–command), Langsdorff, Rezanov and Kotzebue, all of whom published important works on their own voyages. Although Imperially sponsored, the voyage was paid for by the Russian American Company. Kruzenstern’s orders were to attempt to “open relations with Nippon and the Sandwich Islands, to facilitate trade in South America, to examine California for a possible colony, and make a thorough study and report of the Northwest coast, its trade and future.” He also obtained furs from the Pacific Northwest to trade for Chinese goods. Kruzenstern’s voyage was important for its discoveries and accurate charting of the North Pacific and the Northwest coast of America. The introduction discusses the state of Russian trade and commerce in the 18th century and includes an account of earlier Russian voyages to the North Pacific. The voyage from Cronstadt took them around Cape Horn into the Pacific where they surveyed the Marquesas and Hawaii before crossing to Kamchatka, Japan and China. In Hawaii, the ships commanded by Langsdorff and Lisianski sailed for the Northwest Coast, reaching Kodiak in 1804 and calling at all the Russian trading ports in Alaska while Kruzenstern remained in Japan to open Russian trade. When this English edition was published, Krusenstern objected to Richard Hoppner’s sometimes-inaccurate translation. Arctic Bibliography 9381; Cordier Japonica 459; Forbes 433; Hill 952; Kroepelien 693; see Lada-Mocarski 61 (Russian edition); Sabin 38331.