Lot 5281: PALLAS, PETER SIMON. 1741-1811.

Travels through the Southern Provinces of the Russian Empire, in the Years 1793 and 1794. London: A. Strahan, 1802-1803. 2 volumes. xxiii, [1], 552; xxx, [2], 523 pp. Illustrated with 49 (of?) plates, 42 of which are hand-colored aquatints, 6 maps and plans, and numerous hand-colored vignettes throughout. 4to (260 x 201 mm). Period full speckled brown calf, rebacked with spine gilt and with red and green leather gilt-lettered labels. Some offset from plates, occasional toning and spots, but generally internally clean, binding with rubbing to extremities, head and tail of spine, and to joints, upper joints partially cracked.

First edition. German naturalist Pallas attracted the interest of Catherine II of Russia with his acclaimed works Elenchus zoophytorum and Miscellanea zoologica, and was appointed professor of natural history at the Imperial Academy of Sciences in 1767. He traveled extrensively on expeditions throughout Russia and Siberia.
See illustration.