SEMIVSKY. THE LATEST AND AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE ABOUT EASTERN SIBERIA. 1817

FIRST EDITION, 2 parts in one volume, large 8vo (255 x 170mm.), engraved pictorial title-page, engraved dedication to Alexander I, folding engraved map of Baikal and contemporary coloured folding engraved map of Eastern Siberia, 10 engraved plates, large folding letterpress table showing the distances of various cities in Eastern Siberia, original wrappers, unopened and fully uncut, modern folding cloth box, some slight dampstaining and minor foxing, 1 plate with a hole to the inner margin not affecting engraved surface

Mezhov, Siberian Bibliography 6578

RARE. A FINE COPY. We have located only one other copy, in the library of the Emperor Alexander II. An important narrative of the exploration of Eastern Siberia with detailed descriptions of Baikal, the Lena River, Angara River, Irutsk City, Ascension Monastery, etc. The book also contains poems concerning Baikal, described as “Messages from the Neva on Angara”, written anonymously, apparently by an official serving in Irkutsk.

Baikal is the world’s oldest and deepest fresh-water lake and stretches for nearly 400 miles through South-Eastern Siberia and North of the Mongolian border.