Voyages du Professeur Pallas, dans Plusieurs Provinces de l'Empire de Russie et dans l'Asie Septentrionale

Paris: Maradan, c. 1794, 1802. Hardcover. Very Good+. Eight volumes of text, plus an atlas. Contemporary tree calf, gilt-stamped lettering in red and green leather spine labels, ornately gilt-stamped spine compartments; 8 text volumes, 8vo; pp. xl, 422; [4] (half-title p., title-p.), 490; [4], 492; [4], 499; 448; 455; 448; [4], viii, 463. Text volumes c. 1794. Some light scuffing along spines and edges of boards; occasional, very light, spotting; but text volumes are nice and bright, indeed! /// Old boards, with antiphonal leaf folded over as a cover; atlas volume, folio (370x270mm); contains large folding map and 108 plates (including large folding map), uncut. Atlas volume, c. 1802. Boards worn and front hinge split; stain across half-title p.; atlas detached, laid-in; extra title-page quire laid-in; uncut edges just the tiniest bit chipped and toned, but plates are overall bright and clean.

Over 6 years, Pallas visited the Caspian, the Altai Mountains, Tomsk, the Yenisei, Tobolsk, Lake Baikal, Kolyvan, and the frontiers of China. The results of his explorations and scientific investigations were of the greatest significance for botany, zoology, geology, geography, and ethnology. The narrative of Pallas's travels was first published in German at St. Petersburg in 1771-76, but the French edition incorporates the natural history results of the expedition.