Beschreibung:

MARKOV, Aleksei Nikolaevich (fl.1850). Krushenie korablia Nevy u beregov novo-arkhangel’skago porta. [The Wreck of the Ship Neva off the Coast of New Arkhangel Port.] St. Petersburg: at the press of A. Dmitriev, 1850. The rare first edition of this eyewitness account of the wreck of the Neva. From the collection of Mikhail Sergeev, the geographer and scholar of the Russian Far East who also contributed to fundamental bibliographies of the region. The sloop Neva had participated in the first Russian round-the-world voyage, in 1803-1806, under the command of Kruzenshtern. It came to ruin in a storm near Kruzof Island, in the Alexander Archipelago. Markov, a merchant on business in the region, met one of the survivors in Sitka, and wrote down his account of the fearsome events, which included the capture and torture of some survivors by an indigenous tribe. RBH and ABPC record no copy having been offered at auction; WorldCat locates just one copy, at Yale University. The survivors's camp, with artifacts, was found in 2015 near Sitka, on Kruzof Island. 12mo (176 x 110mm). (Light scattered spotting.) Original printed wrappers, engraved vignette on the rear wrapper (short tears with small losses along the spine). Provenance : manuscript pressmarks on the wrappers and in some margins – M.A. Sergeev (1888-1965, geographer and ethnographer; stamps on the title and the inside back cover) – Wayfarer’s Bookshop.