Johann Georg GMELIN

First French edition, translated by Louis Félix Guynement de Kéralio, and illustrated with one figure and one folding plate of music.
Contemporary full marbled calf bindings. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red morocco title and volume labels. One lack at head of volume I. Volume label missing from volume I. Upper joint cracked at head of volume II. Volume II begins at pagination xx, without lack and in conformity with copies held by the National Library of Scotland, and by the Zoological Society of London. Handsome copy.
Gmelin, as botanist and chemist of the Academy of Sciences, was sent to explore Siberia by Empress Anne with numerous other scientists as part of a vast governmental exploration project, and the voyages took place between 1733 and 1743. Keralio, in an interesting preface, notably on the deformation of Russian names, admits having deliberately reduced the original to 2 volumes, the author's exhaustive journal spread over 10 years being very tedious, he therefore concentrated on descriptions and everything relating to the voyage itself (mines, peoples, customs, food...) by classifying the voyage by explanatory chapters, the themes thus being easily found through the table. The voyage is completed by a history of Russian navigations and discoveries in the glacial and northern sea of the south (Kamchatka), with Bering's navigations. The work undoubtedly forms a very precious source of information on Siberia.
In his account, Gmelin did not neglect to make known the physical and moral character, the religious practices and habits of the different peoples of the vast region of Siberia, but he applied himself more particularly still to describing the mines and foundries which are the principal wealth of this country, and he did so as a scholar initiated in this field.