An Account of that Part of America, which is nearest to the Land of Kamtchatka

Read before the Royal Society on January 24, 1760, An Account of that Part of America, which is nearest to the Land of Kamtchatka; extracted from the Description of Kamtchatka by Professor Krashennicoff, printed at Petersburg, in two Volumes, 4to. in 1759; and translated and communicated by the Rev. D. Dumaresque, D.D. Chaplain to the English Factory at Petersburg is sub-titled "Chapter X. Of America" and deals with that part of North America that is closest to Siberia. The chapter describes the land, native people, climate, and many other aspects of that which is now Alaska.

The item is a First Edition, extracted and disbound from The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Vol. 51, For the Years 1759 & 1760, pages 477-497. This volume was published in 1761.The pages, which measure approximately 6 ¼ x 8 ½ inches, are tanned, but the text is clear and easily read. The overall condition of the item is good/very good.

The illustrations accompanying this description show the first page of the paper plus one additional page of the paper..

Stepan Petrovich Krasheninnikov (November 11, 1711 – March 8, 1755) was a Russian explorer of Siberia, naturalist and geographer who gave the first full description of Kamchatka in the early 18th century. He was elected to the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1745. The Krasheninnikov Volcano on Kamchatka is named in his honor.

Daniel Dumaresque was born in Trinity, Jersey in 1712. He went to Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1730, took his BA in 1733 and his MA three years later. In 1740 he was elected to a Fellowship at Exeter College. In 1744 he became Curate of Merton near Oxford. In 1746 he took up the Chaplaincy of the English Factory in St. Petersburg, the newly-founded capital of Russia. London merchants had formed the Russia Company to take advantage of the trading opportunities afforded by Russia's new "window to the West". The Russia Company did its business in a huge wooden warehouse, and on the first floor was accommodation for about one hundred British expatriates: clerks, porters, apprentices, and naturally enough, a Chaplain. This was where Dumaresque was quartered. He stayed there for seventeen years, became fluent in Russian, and translated this book into English.