STAEHLIN VON STORCKSBURG, Jakob and Pierre-Ludwig LE ROY. An Account of the New Northern

STAEHLIN VON STORCKSBURG, Jakob and Pierre-Ludwig LE ROY. An Account of the New Northern Archipelago, Lately Discovered by the Russians in the Seas of Kamtschatka and Anadir. London: C. Heydinger, 1774. 2 parts in one volume, 8° (202 x 123mm). Engraved publisher's device on title, half-title, part-title, and 2-page publisher's advertisement. Engraved folding map by T. Kitchin hand-coloured in outline. (Some variable light spotting, map a little spotted.) Modern diced russia in antique style with gilt frames to covers and gilt spine.

FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, published in the same year as the German edition in Stuttgart, and includes a translation of Le Roy's 'A Narrative of the Singular Adventures of Four Russian Sailors, Who Were Cast Away on the Desert Island of East-Spitzbergen' which was not included in the German original edition. Staehlin's work is formed of two parts: the first, a compilation of reports by Russian traders who explored the North Pacific between 1764 and 1767, discovering islands (including the Aleutian Islands and Kodiak and Unalashka islands), and verifying earlier reports; the second is composed of extracts from reports made to the Russian senate via the chanceries in Irkutsk and Kamchatka, which 'contributed something to the contemporary knowledge of the area' (Lada-Mocarski). The edition occurs in two issues, distinguished by the title-page; one bears the engraved vignette on it (as here) and the other does not. ESTC T110706; Howes S-863; Lada-Mocarski 20 (note); Sabin 90063.

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