{"product_id":"muller-gerhard-friedrich-voyages-et-decouvertes-faites-par-les-russes-le-long-des-cotes-de-la-mer-glaciale-sur-locean-oriental-tant-vers-le-japon-que-vers-lamerique-traduit-par-c-g-f-dumas","title":"MÜLLER, Gerhard Friedrich. Voyages et découvertes faites par les Russes le long des côtes de la Mer Glaciale \u0026 sur l'Océan oriental, tant vers le Japon que vers l'Amérique. Traduit par C. G. F. Dumas.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMÜLLER, Gerhard Friedrich.\u003c\/strong\u003e Voyages et découvertes faites par les Russes le long des côtes de la Mer Glaciale \u0026amp; sur l'Océan oriental, tant vers le Japon que vers l'Amérique. Traduit par C. G. F. Dumas. \u003ci\u003eAmsterdam: Marc-Michel Rey\u003c\/i\u003e. 1766.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo volumes, 8vo. Near-contemporary calf-backed boards with marbled sides and vellum tips, spines gilt-ruled in compartments, raised bands, contrasting gilt morocco lettering-pieces, tail-edge stained blue; I: pp. x, [2 (translator’s note)], 388; II: pp. iv, 207, [22 (index)], [3 (advertisements)], very large folding engraved map (460 x 660 mm) at end of vol. II, with one minor repair along fold; typographic endpieces; boards slightly rubbed, slight wear to corners, joints, and hinges; bookplate removed from front pastedown of vol. II, sporadic light foxing, small marginal loss to head of vol. II, ff. E3 and f. II (not touching text, the latter affecting pagination only); else a most attractive set; early initials (shaved) to vol. I title\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst French edition of this ‘indispensable’ work on the ‘history of discovery and exploration in the Northern Pacific’ (Sabin), translated by Charles Guillaume Frédéric Dumas (1721–1796), friend of Benjamin Franklin and later Franklin’s secret agent in Europe as well as John Adams’ secretary and translator.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMüller, often called the father of ethnography for his important research on the clothing, rituals, and religions of Siberian ethnic groups, was educated in Leipzig and moved to Russia in 1725, where he was a founding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. The work, containing an account of Bering Great Northern Expedition and of the discovery of the Bering Strait, including the first Russian landing on Alaska, is a translation of Müller’s 1758 Nachrichten von Seereisen, which forms the third part of his Sammlung rußischer Geschichte. The first volume recounts expeditions toward Kamchatka, Japan, the Bering Strait, and the coasts of Alaska and northwestern America, and the second volume is devoted to the Amur River, which flows from Mongolia to Siberia and shows that ‘political questions were also part of Müller’s remit [...] dealing with securing Russian territorial claims against China’ (Deutsche Biographie, trans.).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe contents – as well as the splendid map showing the largely unexplored Pacific Northwest – are drawn from the author’s experience as part of Bering’s second expedition, in which he had taken part for ten years (1733–1743), heading the expedition’s geographic and historical studies.\u003c\/strong\u003e ‘The group of participating academics also included the botanist J. G. Gmelin, with whom he was friends, and the astronomer Louis de l’Isle. [Müller’s] field of study encompassed the history, archaeology, ethnography, and geography of the regions visited. The expedition lasted ten years for M. (even longer for Gmelin) and led via Kazan to Tobolsk and along the Irtysh River to Ustj Kamenogorsk. Via Tomsk and several other stations, it finally reached Irkutsk on Lake Baikal. M.’s easternmost point was Yakutsk; that is, he did not reach Kamchatka. Extended stays in several locations, necessitated by archival, ethnological, and geographical studies, gradually led to a deterioration of [Müller’s] health, and in 1739 he received permission to return to St Petersburg’ (ibid., trans.).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe German-born Dutch intellectual Dumas became acquainted with Benjamin Franklin in the early 1770s and liaised with officials in France, Spain, and Holland to secure supplies for the United States during the American Revolutionary War; he later worked as Franklin’s secret diplomatic agent in Europe, and worked closely with John Adams from 1780 whilst Adams was working to secure critical loans from the Dutch Republic for the newly established United States. In 1775, he developed the Dumas Cipher, one of the first diplomatic ciphers employed by the Continental Congress, used during the Revolution for secret correspondence between Benjamin Franklin and other American representatives and their contacts in Europe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSTCN 184626714; Sabin 51286; Leclerc 661; Hill 1201.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2121567\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57281051066745,"sku":"2121567","price":1200.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2121567c.jpg?v=1778851610","url":"https:\/\/sotherans.co.uk\/products\/muller-gerhard-friedrich-voyages-et-decouvertes-faites-par-les-russes-le-long-des-cotes-de-la-mer-glaciale-sur-locean-oriental-tant-vers-le-japon-que-vers-lamerique-traduit-par-c-g-f-dumas","provider":"Sotherans","version":"1.0","type":"link"}