Dnevnye zapiski plavaniia Vitse-admirala [...] Gavrily Sarycheva po Baltiiskomy moriu i Finskomu zalivu [...]

£7,500 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books · No longer available

Rare first and only edition of a diary of a Russian expedition in the Baltic Sea by Captain Gavriil Sarychev (1763-1831), a veteran of the Billings Expedition of 1785-1794. Fresh copy with fine provenance. Finland and the Baltic Sea had been the traditional front on which Russia fought most of its wars with European rivals, most recently during the Russo-Swedish War of 1788-1790. When in 1800 a British fleet entered the Baltic Sea intending to destroy the Russian fleet due to Russia's (armed) neutrality in Britain's struggle with France, the importance of the Baltic Sea was once again confirmed. Under the leadership of the new Tsar Alexander I, Russia's hostilities with Britain were quickly ended, but to fortify Russia's borders, a hydrographic expedition was set up to chart the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland. Led by Sarychev, who relied on recent scientific advances and new technology, this expedition worked for six years to correct inaccuracies in the earlier charts of the area compiled by A.I. Nagaev. Sarychev's journal of this expedition is full of nautical and astronomical observations but is also deeply spiritual regarding the dangers of the sea. Rare. WorldCat locates only two copies: Stanford University and Library of Congress. This book's provenance makes it an item of special interest. It comes from a library of Mikhail Semevskii (1837-1892), a Russian amateur historian who focused on the era of palace revolutions and the history of XVIII century Russia. He was

• Binding: Hardcover

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