Description
[000438] Pallas, P[eter].S[imon].; [Blagdon, F.W. Trans.]. Travels Through the Southern Provinces of the Russian Empire, in the Years 1793 and 1794. ill. Geissler, C.G.H.. London: A. Strahan for T.N. Longman and O. Rees et al, 1802. First Edition. 4to. Half Morocco and Boards. Good+. Two volumes complete – Volume One – xxiii, [1], 552pp and Volume Two – xxx, [2], 523pp, [1].
Half morocco and marbled paper over boards, raised bands, spine in six panels, title in gilt to second panel, author and volume to fourth, remaining panels with gilt lozenge tool to centre.
Modern reback, small amounts of chipping and loss to paper covering boards, corners worn. Internally some light off-setting from some plates, very minor browning and occasional spots of foxing, in volume two the fore-edge of AA2 with some loss (not affecting text) and there is a repair to 3X2v (again not affecting text), plate six with a small stain to upper right hand corner, but generally quite bright and clean.
Complete with fifty-two stipple engravings, including twenty-two folding, three folding maps (another map is listed as an engraving – so there are actually four) and twenty-nine vignettes (one unlisted), most of which are hand-coloured.
Tooley notes that it is “extremely charming … [with] numerous attractive coloured vignettes, an unusual feature. The plates themselves are also interesting technically” Tooley 357; Abbey Travel 222; Nerhood notes that, “as an employee of the Russian crown, Pallas, eminent German naturalist, travels throughout the realm, describing the flora and fauna with Teutonic thoroughness”, Nerhood 126; Cox, “his reports on the geology, fauna and flora are of great scientific value”, Cox I:199; Prideaux, “handsome quarto edition … original vignettes of surprising attractiveness and beauty”, Prideaux, pages 220-221; Wellcome IV:288; Lowndes 1766
