Beschreibung von dem Lande Kamtschatka dessen Einwohnem, deren Sitten, Nahmen, Lebensart und verschiedenen Gewohnheiten herausgegeben von J .B.S. Frankfurt und

Leipzig, Johann Georg Fleisher, 1774. [with]: Geographie und Verfassung von Kamtschatka aus verschiedenen schriftlichen und mundlichen Nachrichten gasammlet zu J akuk, 1737. 8vo; pp. [8], 24, [4] (index), 384; 71, [l] (instructions to the binder); in blackletter. Signatures: a-b8, [2] (index), A-2A8, A*-D*8, E*4; title vignette; two folding maps; 12 leaves of copper-engraved plates, folded, with 14 engravings; one table; other illustrations and musical notation throughout the text, early mottled half calf?, crushed crimson morocco label, marbled boards, elaborate head and tailpieces, all edges stained red in contemporary style, some slight foxing on the title page, small oval library stamp on the verso of the title, fine condition, very rare. (). Lada-Mocarski 21. Wickersham 5827. Georg Wilhelm Steller was born in Germany and educated at Wittenberg as a physician, he accompanied wounded troops to their Russian homeland in I 734 and there met the naturalist and geographer Daniel Gottlieb Messerschmidt (1685-1735). Messerschmidt had been contracted by Russian Emperor Peter the Great to gather medicinal plants and other floral species in Siberia. Over a seven-year excursion, he collected many rare specimens, including the first mammoth fossil remains, and kept a detailed diary of his bindings. When Messerschmidt died and Steller married his widow, Steller had access to these notes, piquing his interest in exploration. He had the opportunity to join Vitus Bering's second expedition to Kamchatka in 1740, as a scientist and physician. He spent the winter in Kamchatka, and then Bering asked him to accompany him to further investigate the strait between the islands. After the ship went of course in a storm and landed at Kayak Island, Alaska in 1741, Steller explored the terrrain, thus being the first European on Alaskan soil. This work contains his detailed observations of Kamchatka and the Alaskan coast in the 18th century: the geography of the land, including the minerals and fossils; the marine birds and animals, and the insects, flora and fauna, many of which were new to him. He also discusses the native Itelmen and their social life, customs and dress; as well as their means of settling disputes, and the possibilities for future trade with them. Baron Joseph von Lassberg (1770-1855) was in the service of Prince von Furstenberg as chief warden of forests before retiring to his estate at Eppishausen. He collected more than 12,000 books and 273 valuable manuscripts for his library, which he eventually sold to the Fiirstlich Fiirtenbergischen Hofbibliothek at Donaueschingen, Germany. An important book, with an interesting provenance.