First edition of this illustrated description of peoples governed by the Russian Tsar, Alexander I.

Christian Heinrich Geissler (1770-1844) was a famous German draughtsman who frequently worked for the Imperial court in Russia. Born in Leipzig, he quickly gained fame for his engravings of costumes and animated landscapes. After Geissler published a catalogue of Russian military uniforms enriched with 88 illustrations, the Imperial advisor Peter Simon Pallas offered his fellow countryman to join him on his expedition through Russia and the Caucasus with the role of illustrator and draughtsman. While Geissler spent most of the 1790s in Saint Petersburg, the expedition with Pallas took took him to the Southern Russia in 1793-1794 and resulted in the publication of several collections of engravings based on the sketches Geissler had made during his lengthy trip.

First edition; 4to (26 x 21 cm); introduction by Friedrich Kempel, 66 hand-coloured engraved plates, captions in Russian, French and German, descriptive text in German, occasional minor foxing; modern green calf backed marbled boards, paper label with gilt title to spine, a very good copy.

Colas 1422; Lipperheide 1342; Bobins 1503.