COXE, William (1747-1828). Account of the Russian Discoveries between Asia and America. London, 1780. FIRST EDITION.
4to (267 x 206 mm). 4 engraved folding maps, 1 engraved folding plate. (A few leaves slightly soiled.) Contemporary calf gilt (sheep rebacking to style). Provenance: MacLeod Bannatyne (armorial bookplate). FIRST EDITION. Coxe's important compilation of contemporary accounts which was supplemented by details of Krenitzin and Levashev's "secret" expedition. Part I of the work is a translation of Johann Ludwig Schultz's Neue Nachrichten (Hamburg and Leipzig: 1776) and the other parts are similarly based on previously-published narratives and accounts, principally German. However, Coxe took advantage of a sojourn in Russia to verify these accounts with Gerhard Friedrich Mller and Peter Simon Pallas and other eminent Russian experts on the subject. "[Coxe] also succeeded in securing additional material (for instance the narrative and maps of Krenitzin and Levashev's 'secret' expedition, the first official Russian government expedition since Bering's second expedition of 1741. He was able to secure this particular information, not widely known at the time even in Russia, from Dr. William Robertson, who in turn obtained it through his friend Dr. Rogerson, first physician to Empress Catherine II" (Lada-Mocarski 29).Brunet II:399; Cordier Sinica 2447; ESTC T134277 (calling for an errata slip, as present here); Hill 391; Howes C-834; Sabin 17309; Smith 2085; Wickersham 5882.
