An Account of a Geographical and Astronomical Expedition to the Northern Parts of Russia, for ascertaining the degrees of latitude and longitude of t

A very good copy of Martin Sauer's account of the Joseph Billings expedition to Northern Russia. Commodore Billings was commissioned by Catherine the Great to head the expedition, which took nine years, returning in 1794 with extensive data and mapping from the region, and enhanced knowledge of local populations. Martin Sauer was the Secretary and translator and agreed to join the party on the basis that he could write and publish an account of the travels. This he did when he came to England and it forms the first and only English edition. It relies mainly on the official journal and his own notes. This copy is in a new half calf binding with marbled boards. The spine has a title label and decorative gilt ruled bands. New endpapers. Contents: half title; large folding map; title; preface pp vii-xiv; explanations xv-xvi; contents xvii-xxvi; errata - 1p; text pp 1-332 with 14 black and white plates; appendices pp 1-58; The End. The appendices include vocabularies of the Yukagir, Yakut, and Tungoose (aka Lamut), languages. Also of languages used in Kamshatka, the Aleutan Islands, and Kadiak. The contents are very clean and sound. The map has had professional repair around the attachment. There is some pale spotting (eg at the title page; some margins; some plate margins; verso of plates) and occasional small staining or marking (eg small stain bottom margin of plate XIII). Please enquire if you would like to see additional images in order to further assess condition.