KOTZEBUE, Otto von (1787-1846). A New Voyage Round the World. London, 1830. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH.
2 volumes, 12mo (190 x 119 mm). 2 engraved frontispieces, 3 engraved maps (2 folding). (Slight foxing, minor offsetting from plates and maps.) Contemporary half tan calf gilt, marbled boards (some light wear).FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH of Kotzebue's third circumnavigation for the Czar, undertaken for the purpose of protecting Russian American Company interests on the Pacific Northwest coast against foreign fur traders. Kotzebue was an astute observer of the countries and peoples he visited, having made his first circumnavigation with Krusenstern between 1803 and 1806 (see lot 108) and commanding his second circumnavigation from 1815 through 1818 in a search of the North-West Passage (see previous lot). He provides important accounts of Alaska, especially Sitka, the new Russian settlement at Ross and the San Francisco Bay region: "Kotzebue's narrative provided reliable evidence of the potential strategic and economic value of the American Northwest, and indicated a growing Russian presence in the area which alarmed the English when his account was published in London" (Hill). Borba de Moraes I, 440; Hill 947; Kroepelien 675; see Lada-Mocarski 93 (Russian edition); Sabin 38288.
