Bemerkungen auf einer Reise um die Welt in den Jahren 1803 bis 1807,

von G. H. von Langsdorff, Kaiserlich-Russischen Hofrath, Ritter es St. Annen-Orens zweiter Classe, Mitglied mehrerer Akademien und gelehrten Gesellschaften … … Frankfurt am Mayn : Im Verlag bey Friedrich Wilmans, 1812. Two volumes, quarto (270 x 220 mm), contemporary uniform bindings of half calf over marbled papered boards (rubbed, corners somewhat worn), spines in compartments with contrasting title and volume labels in gilt (Vol. 1 with short split to leather at head of spine); Vol. 1 pp. [30], 303, with an engraved portrait of Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff, 27 plates (one folding), and a folding plate of music notation; Vol. 2 pp. 335, with an engraved portrait of Adam Johann von Krusenstern, and 16 plates (including the first published view of San Francisco); occasional light foxing, a very good set with wide margins.

First German edition of Langsdorff’s important account of his travels to Japan and Russian-America as part of the first Russian circumnavigation by Krusenstern.

Langsdorff was a physician on the Krusenstern expedition around the world up until it reached Kamchatka in 1805. From there, he and Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov left the expedition and proceeded to Alaska to report for the Czar on the Russian American Company. In 1806 Rezanov, Langsdorff and Dadydov sailed from Sitka to San Francisco to obtain food supplies for the Russian colony.

‘Langsdorff’s account relates to his travels along the northwest coast and his journey back across Siberia to St. Petersburg. Nearly seventy pages are devoted to the account of the extensive visit by Rezanov to San Francisco and the surrounding country… Another result of this visit was the establishment in 1812 of the Russian settlement of Fort Ross on the California coast. Langsdorff’s account is rich in descriptions of the peoples and cultures visited, and his descriptions of the Marquesans is particularly important and has become something of a classic.’ (Hill)

The first volume is dedicated to Czar Alexander I of Russia; the second to Adam Johann von Krusenstern, the commander of the voyage.

Contents Vol. 1: Reise von Copenhagen nach Brasilien, der Südsee, Kamtschatka und Japan.

Contents Vol. 2: Reise von Kamtschatka nach der Insel St. Paul, Unalaska, Kodiak, Sitcha, Neu-Albion, Kamtschatka, Ochotsk und durch Sibirien nach St. Petersburg.

Hill, Pacific Voyages, pp. 170-1; Sabin 38894; Howes L81; Borba de Moraes I, 455; Lada-Mocarski 69; Streeter 3504