1799, ISBN: 9f123f9652516df1bce6d45961f6da6b

[SC: 11.55], [PU: London: Printed for T. N. Longman and O. Rees; and J. Debrett, 1799], BOOKS BINDINGS HISTORY & CULTURE WOMEN POLITICS POLITICAL LEADERS ROYALTY NOISBN, Third edition, re… Meer...

[SC: 11.55], [PU: London: Printed for T. N. Longman and O. Rees; and J. Debrett, 1799], BOOKS BINDINGS HISTORY & CULTURE WOMEN POLITICS POLITICAL LEADERS ROYALTY NOISBN, Third edition, revised and with a new chapter "on the state of literature, arts, and sciences". This is an important memoir of Catherine the Great: Tooke was chaplain to the British merchants in St Petersburg and "was certainly known to the Empress herself, not least by his regular attendance at her annual diners de tolérance" (Cross, p. 111). First published the previous year, Tooke's biography began life as a translation of Jean-Henri Castéra's Vie de Cathérine II (1797), a work quickly cobbled-together shortly after her death. Despite its deficiencies Castéra's biography proved remarkably successful and was translated into several foreign languages. Hooke's version comprised an extensive introduction, and additions and corrections drawn from numerous German and Russian sources, which ensured that his text was twice the length of Castéra's original; later editions of which incorporated Tooke's changes. His editions are enhanced by the delicately engraved medallion portraits, which include Catherine and Potemkin, the work of John Chapman, "one of the most gifted stipple engravers of the late eighteenth century" (National Portrait Gallery). Castéra - a "laborieux traducteur" according to Quérard - may have visited Russia as a diplomat before the French Revolution, but Tooke's authority came from prolonged direct experience: he had been chaplain at Kronstadt from 1771 to 1774 and then to the English Factory in St. Petersburg from 1774 to 1792. Widely travelled, he numbered Kant, Bentham and Samuel Johnson among his acquaintances, and Euler, Pallas and Storch among his close colleagues; when he returned to England in 1792, he became "the foremost interpreter of Russian history and culture for the British public at the turn of the century". His compilatory View of the Russian Empire (1799) is similarly important and the two works reflect his "profound and personal knowledge of Catherine's Russia" (Cross, In the Lands of the Romanovs, p. 113). Both books were used by Byron for the Russian sections of Don Juan. Provenance: from the library of Charles William Vane (formerly Stewart), third marquess of Londonderry (1778–1854), with his elaborate bookplate: his arms, with hussar supporters, including his many military awards. Londonderry took the surname Vane on marrying Frances Anne Emily Vane-Tempest in 1819. A brave but not particularly brilliant soldier - Sir John Moore described him as "a very silly fellow" - Vane served with variable distinction throughout the Peninsular War. His Narrative of the War (1828), based on his correspondence with his half-brother Lord Castlereagh, was not uncontroversial. His dashing and dandified portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence is at the National Portrait Gallery. ESTC T132025. Anthony Cross, By the Banks of the Neva: Chapters from the Lives and Careers of the British in Eighteenth-Century Russia, 1997. 3 volumes, octavo (212 x 130 mm). Contemporary speckled calf, flat spines divided by gilt foliate rolls, central gilt foliate motifs, red and black twin labels, gilt paired fillet border to covers, Shell pattern marbled endpapers, edges sprinkled blue. With 7 stipple-engraved medallion portraits on 2 plates by John Chapman, and a large folding map of the Russian Empire from the Pacific to the Baltic. Spines sunned, bindings just a little rubbed and with a few light abrasions, vol. II with old pale tidemark to 8 leaves, brown staining to a handful of leaves (apparently where the volume has been dropped on turf), closed tear to 2I4 (with no loss); despite the fact that vol. II has been in the wars a little, this remains a very good set in a smart period binding.<

1799, ISBN: 9f123f9652516df1bce6d45961f6da6b

[PU: London: Printed for T. N. Longman and O. Rees; and J. Debrett, 1799], BOOKS BINDINGS HISTORY & CULTURE WOMEN POLITICS POLITICAL LEADERS ROYALTY NOISBN, Third edition, revised and wit… Meer...

[PU: London: Printed for T. N. Longman and O. Rees; and J. Debrett, 1799], BOOKS BINDINGS HISTORY & CULTURE WOMEN POLITICS POLITICAL LEADERS ROYALTY NOISBN, Third edition, revised and with a new chapter "on the state of literature, arts, and sciences". This is an important memoir of Catherine the Great: Tooke was chaplain to the British merchants in St Petersburg and "was certainly known to the Empress herself, not least by his regular attendance at her annual diners de tolérance" (Cross, p. 111). First published the previous year, Tooke's biography began life as a translation of Jean-Henri Castéra's Vie de Cathérine II (1797), a work quickly cobbled-together shortly after her death. Despite its deficiencies Castéra's biography proved remarkably successful and was translated into several foreign languages. Hooke's version comprised an extensive introduction, and additions and corrections drawn from numerous German and Russian sources, which ensured that his text was twice the length of Castéra's original; later editions of which incorporated Tooke's changes. His editions are enhanced by the delicately engraved medallion portraits, which include Catherine and Potemkin, the work of John Chapman, "one of the most gifted stipple engravers of the late eighteenth century" (National Portrait Gallery). Castéra - a "laborieux traducteur" according to Quérard - may have visited Russia as a diplomat before the French Revolution, but Tooke's authority came from prolonged direct experience: he had been chaplain at Kronstadt from 1771 to 1774 and then to the English Factory in St. Petersburg from 1774 to 1792. Widely travelled, he numbered Kant, Bentham and Samuel Johnson among his acquaintances, and Euler, Pallas and Storch among his close colleagues; when he returned to England in 1792, he became "the foremost interpreter of Russian history and culture for the British public at the turn of the century". His compilatory View of the Russian Empire (1799) is similarly important and the two works reflect his "profound and personal knowledge of Catherine's Russia" (Cross, In the Lands of the Romanovs, p. 113). Both books were used by Byron for the Russian sections of Don Juan. Provenance: from the library of Charles William Vane (formerly Stewart), third marquess of Londonderry (1778–1854), with his elaborate bookplate: his arms, with hussar supporters, including his many military awards. Londonderry took the surname Vane on marrying Frances Anne Emily Vane-Tempest in 1819. A brave but not particularly brilliant soldier - Sir John Moore described him as "a very silly fellow" - Vane served with variable distinction throughout the Peninsular War. His Narrative of the War (1828), based on his correspondence with his half-brother Lord Castlereagh, was not uncontroversial. His dashing and dandified portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence is at the National Portrait Gallery. ESTC T132025. Anthony Cross, By the Banks of the Neva: Chapters from the Lives and Careers of the British in Eighteenth-Century Russia, 1997. 3 volumes, octavo (212 x 130 mm). Contemporary speckled calf, flat spines divided by gilt foliate rolls, central gilt foliate motifs, red and black twin labels, gilt paired fillet border to covers, Shell pattern marbled endpapers, edges sprinkled blue. With 7 stipple-engraved medallion portraits on 2 plates by John Chapman, and a large folding map of the Russian Empire from the Pacific to the Baltic. Spines sunned, bindings just a little rubbed and with a few light abrasions, vol. II with old pale tidemark to 8 leaves, brown staining to a handful of leaves (apparently where the volume has been dropped on turf), closed tear to 2I4 (with no loss); despite the fact that vol. II has been in the wars a little, this remains a very good set in a smart period binding.<

1997, ISBN: 9f123f9652516df1bce6d45961f6da6b

London: Printed for T. N. Longman and O. Rees; and J. Debrett,, 1799. The foremost interpreter of Russian history and culture for the British public at the turn of the century Third edit… Meer...

London: Printed for T. N. Longman and O. Rees; and J. Debrett,, 1799. The foremost interpreter of Russian history and culture for the British public at the turn of the century Third edition, revised and with a new chapter "on the state of literature, arts, and sciences". This is an important memoir of Catherine the Great: Tooke was chaplain to the British merchants in St Petersburg and "was certainly known to the Empress herself, not least by his regular attendance at her annual diners de tolérance" (Cross, p. 111). First published the previous year, Tooke's biography began life as a translation of Jean-Henri Castéra's Vie de Cathérine II (1797), a work quickly cobbled-together shortly after her death. Despite its deficiencies Castéra's biography proved remarkably successful and was translated into several foreign languages. Hooke's version comprised an extensive introduction, and additions and corrections drawn from numerous German and Russian sources, which ensured that his text was twice the length of Castéra's original; later editions of which incorporated Tooke's changes. His editions are enhanced by the delicately engraved medallion portraits, which include Catherine and Potemkin, the work of John Chapman, "one of the most gifted stipple engravers of the late eighteenth century" (National Portrait Gallery). Castéra - a "laborieux traducteur" according to Quérard - may have visited Russia as a diplomat before the French Revolution, but Tooke's authority came from prolonged direct experience: he had been chaplain at Kronstadt from 1771 to 1774 and then to the English Factory in St. Petersburg from 1774 to 1792. Widely travelled, he numbered Kant, Bentham and Samuel Johnson among his acquaintances, and Euler, Pallas and Storch among his close colleagues; when he returned to England in 1792, he became "the foremost interpreter of Russian history and culture for the British public at the turn of the century". His compilatory View of the Russian Empire (1799) is similarly important and the two works reflect his "profound and personal knowledge of Catherine's Russia" (Cross, In the Lands of the Romanovs, p. 113). Both books were used by Byron for the Russian sections of Don Juan. Provenance: from the library of Charles William Vane (formerly Stewart), third marquess of Londonderry (1778–1854), with his elaborate bookplate: his arms, with hussar supporters, including his many military awards. Londonderry took the surname Vane on marrying Frances Anne Emily Vane-Tempest in 1819. A brave but not particularly brilliant soldier - Sir John Moore described him as "a very silly fellow" - Vane served with variable distinction throughout the Peninsular War. His Narrative of the War (1828), based on his correspondence with his half-brother Lord Castlereagh, was not uncontroversial. His dashing and dandified portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence is at the National Portrait Gallery. 3 volumes, octavo (212 x 130 mm). Contemporary speckled calf, flat spines divided by gilt foliate rolls, central gilt foliate motifs, red and black twin labels, gilt paired fillet border to covers, Shell pattern marbled endpapers, edges sprinkled blue. With 7 stipple-engraved medallion portraits on 2 plates by John Chapman, and a large folding map of the Russian Empire from the Pacific to the Baltic. Spines sunned, bindings just a little rubbed and with a few light abrasions, vol. II with old pale tidemark to 8 leaves, brown staining to a handful of leaves (apparently where the volume has been dropped on turf), closed tear to 2I4 (with no loss); despite the fact that vol. II has been in the wars a little, this remains a very good set in a smart period binding. ESTC T132025. Anthony Cross, By the Banks of the Neva: Chapters from the Lives and Careers of the British in Eighteenth-Century Russia, 1997., 1799, 0<