[Kotzebue, Otto von] (1787-1846). Vypiska is zhurnala briga Rurika, otpravlennogo krugom sveta g. Gospodinom Gosudarstvennym Kantslerom, Grafom Nikolayem Petrovichem Rumyantsevym, so Vremeni Otplytiya Sego Sudna iz Kamchatki do Pribytiya v Novy Albion [Extract from the Logbook of Brig Rurik, Sent on a Circumnavigation by the State Chancellor, Count Nikolay Petrovich Rumyantsev, from the time of Her Departure from Kamchatka and to her Arrival to the New Albion]. In: Dykh Zhurnalov, Ili sobraniye vsego, cho est luchshego i lyubopytneishego vo vsekh drugikh zhurnalakh, po chasti Istorii, Politiki, Gosudarstvennogo Khozyaystva, Literatury, razhnukh Iskusstv, Selskogo Domovodstva, i proch. [The Spirit of Magazines, of the Collection of the Best and Most Curious [Materials] from Other Magazines, in the Field of History, Politics, State Government, Literature, Various Arts, Agriculture &c.]; [

12mo (ca. 17x10 cm). [2 – half title], [2 – table of contents], [2 – title page], 374 pp. (with the additional pagination on the bottom). Period amateur Russian brown half calf with marbled papered boards; all edges coloured. Traces of soviet bookshop ink stamps and markings on the rear pastedown endpaper. Binding slightly rubbed on extremities, paper slightly age-toned, a couple of minor mild stains, but overall a very good original copy.

Very rare early Russian publication, reporting about the proceedings and discoveries during Otto von Kotzebue’s first circumnavigation on board the brig “Rurik” in 1815-1818 and issued before the publication of the official account (Kotzebue, O. von. Puteshestviye v Yuzhny Okean i v Beringov Proliv dlya Otyskaniya Severo-Vostochnogo Morskago Prokhoda, predprinyatoye v 1815, 1816, 1817 i 1818 godakh <…> na Korablie Rurike pod nachalstvom flota Leytenanta Kotzebue, SPb., 1821-23, 3 vols.). Placed in a Saint Petersburg literary and political magazine “Dukh Zhurnalov,” this material is the first known printed account of Kotzebue’s first season of exploration in the Bering Strait (July-August 1816), when he discovered and mapped the Kotzebue Sound north of the Seward Peninsula (Alaska), surveyed Bering and St. Lawrence Islands (Bering Sea), and St. Lawrence Bay (Chukotka).

“Dukh Zhurnalov” was published in 1815-1820 by Saint Petersburg journalist and translator, Grigory Yatsenkov (1778-1852). The frequency of publication of its issues varied from four to two times a month (weekly to biweekly), and in the six years of its existence, over 40 parts (and more than a hundred issues) were printed. The magazine contained original materials and articles from contemporary Russian and European periodicals on various topics, organized into nine departments: Historical and Political Archive, Archive of State Administration, the Spirit of Catherine II, Literary Archive, Latest Travels, Observer of the Fatherland, a Chronicle of Virtue, &c. Often, the materials related to a specific department and issued within one year were bound together to form the “annual” collection. Such collections were published with the general title page and the half-title, indicating the department's name. Our copy contains all articles published in 1817 in the “Observer of the Fatherland” department and opens with the half-title “Nablyudatel Otechestva” and a list of articles published in this department that year. Originally, the report of Kotzebue’s discoveries in the Bering Strait was published in part 23, book 43 of the “Dukh Zhurnalov” for 1817. Additional pagination on the bottom of the leaves refers to the original issues of the magazine (in the case of Kotzebue’s expedition report – pp. 735-740).

“Dukh Zhurnalov” is a very rare Russian imprint, as no complete sets of the magazine were found in Worldcat. Only one copy of the volume with Kotzebue’s expedition report (1817, part 23, book 43) was found in the library of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. The Library of Congress holds a set of the magazine, with the note that the holdings are incomplete, and additional volumes are available in microform and digital formats.

Kotzebue’s expedition returned to Kronstadt in August 1818, and the first volume of the original account was published in 1821 (the censor’s permission on verso of the title page – October 19, 1820). For about three years, articles in contemporary Russian periodicals remained the primary source on the history of the expedition. Since it was organized and funded privately, no materials were published in the official periodical of the Russian Navy (“Zapiski Gosudarstvennogo Admiralteyskogo Departamenta,” SPb., 1807-1827, 13 vols.). The existing publications in Russian magazines and newspapers can be divided into two main groups: journalists’ materials, informing about the departure or return of the expedition; and extracts from the original letters or reports sent by the expedition members.

The materials from the second group (to which the article in the “Dukh Zhurnalov” also belongs) can be considered as a primary source on the history of Kotzebue’s voyage of 1815-1818. Most likely, published on permission of the expedition’s sponsor, count Rumyantsev, the reports mostly don’t coincide and talk about different legs of Kotzebue’s voyage. To our knowledge, the article in our volume of the “Dukh Zhurnalov” is the only printed source of Kotzebue’s discoveries in the Bering Strait in 1816, issued before the publication of the official account.

The article informs that Kotzebue left Petropavlovsk on July 17, 1816 and stopped at St. Lawrence Island on July 26. He then proceeded to the Bering Strait, where he arrived on July 30, and continued sailing along the coast. “A view of these shores Kotzebue found much more pleasant than [those] of St. Lawrence Island; the entire coast was covered with the most pleasant greenery, the snow didn’t show up anywhere apart from the tops of high mountains, standing far away from the coast. On July 31, [they] dropped anchor in front of a large bay with many shoals, which prevented from looking at it closer. For this reason, Kotzebue postponed it to the next year <…>. The shores of this bay are inhabited, and the natives, looking like the islanders from St. Lawrence, received the travellers rather friendly. On August 1, [they] sailed further and arrived at the view of a large opening, where [they] anchored. Then many baidaras came to the ship. Americans, pointing to the opening and the ship, invited [them] to sail further in. Kotzebue lifted anchor and entered the bay, which seemed very big. Having sailed for two days in that bay, [they] reached its end and stayed there until the 18th, to survey it properly and get acquainted with the native inhabitants <…> These Americans are rather tall and are much livelier than the islanders from St. Lawrence, although they have the same facial features. They always go armed; each has a spear, a bow and a quiver with arrows. They seem to be very inclined to war. They trade tobacco, beads and iron with the Chukchi, inhabiting the coast of the Icy Sea near Kolyma, which is on the Asian shore of the Bering Strait. This was reported to the Rurik crew by the inhabitants of St. Lawrence Bay, who don’t have communication with their American neighbours but live in constant hostilities with them. One of the inlets of this bay, named on the Rurik as the Inlet of Good Hope, leads, by the announcement of the Americans, to a passage to the open sea. It takes eight days to reach it. Kotzebue found a small passage, leading inland, but couldn’t explore it without the baidaras. The arrival of the cold and stormy season forced Kotzebue to leave the further survey of that bay until the next year and to return south.

Having left it on August 18, he went to the opposite Asian shore and, having recognized the bay, called Eastern by Captain Cook, entered St. Lawrence Bay. There he was received by Chukchi with great hospitality. Having mapped the bay and after trading several reindeer from the locals, he went to Unalaska, where he arrived on September 7. There he ordered everything necessary for the exploration of the interior of America, planned for the next year. On September 14, he went to the port of San Francisco in the new Albion, a site very convenient for obtaining various supplies. After Rurik had arrived in that port on October 2, the governor of that possession, Don Pablo de Sola, immediately arrived from his residence in Monterrey and tried to all extent to accommodate our navigators in all possible ways, about which Kotzebue couldn’t stop praising in his report to the State Chancellor. On November 2, Rurik left this friendly port and went to the sea to spend the winter months in the southern part of the Great Ocean and then return to the north again. <…> up the latest reports, Rurik’s crew was in the best state of health.”

Overall, an important rare early printed source on Otto von Kotzebue’s circumnavigation on brig Rurik (1815-18) and the discovery of the Kotzebue Sound in July-August 1816.

A list of known publications about Kotzebue’s expedition on board “Rurik,”
issued before the first volume of the official account:

1) [Patriotic Enterprise]// Syn Otechestva. 1815. P. 23. No. 29 (15 July). Pp. 101-114.
News about the preparation to the new expedition and overview of the areas of the world which still carry the possibilities of discoveries (Pacific, Africa).

2) [Varia: Rurik’s departure from Kronstadt]// Syn Otechestva. 1815. P. 23. No. 31 (29 July). Pp. 218-220.
Information about the expedition’s goals, members, departure.

3) [Varia: Letters of Lt. Kotzebue, travelling on board ship Rurik, to his father // Syn Otechestva. 1816. P. 32. No. XXV (2 September). Pp. 118-120.
Report of Kotzebue’s voyage from Tenerife to Santa Catarina Island (Brazil), in October-December 1915.

4) Krusenstern, Adam von. [Extract from the journal of Lieut. Kotzebue, in command of brig Rurik, from the shores of Chile to Kamchatka, with the notes of discoveries of Le Maire, Schouten, and Roggeveen] // Syn Otechestva. 1817. P. 37. No. 18 (4 May). Pp. 201-221. 
Overview of European discoveries in the South Pacific (Jacques Le Maire, Jacob Roggeveen, Willem Schouten), and Kotzebue’s discoveries in the Tuamotus and Marshall Islands.

5) [From Captain Krusenstern. Extract from the journal, kept by Lieut. Kotzebue on his way from Chile to Kamchatka, with the notes, regarding the discoveries made by Le Maire, Schouten, and Admiral Roggeveen] // Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti. 22 May 1817, No. 41. Pp. 440-441; 1 June 1817, No. 44. Pp. 474; 8 June 1817, No. 46. Pp. 504-505; 12 June 1817, No. 47. Pp. 518-519.
A different version of the previous article, this time published in four issues of the “Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti” newspaper.

6) [Extract from the Logbook of Brig Rurik, sent on the circumnavigation by the State Chancellor, Count Nikolay Petrovich Rumyantsev, from the time of her departure from Kamchatka and to her arrival to the New Albion]// Dukh Zhurnalov. 1817. P. 23, book 43, pp. 735-740.
Report of Kotzebue’s voyage from Kamchatka to California in July-November 1816 (including discoveries in the Bering Strait in July-August, 1816).

7) [Voyage around the world]// Dukh Zhurnalov. 1818. P. 25, book 5, pp. 159-160.
Extract from a letter to Berlin by Kotzebue’s expedition member.

8) [Relation about the voyage of ship Rurik under the command of fleet Lieutenant Kotzebue]// Syn Otechestva. 1818. P. 47. No. 32 (9 August). Pp. 276-281.
Report about Kotzebue’s voyage in November 1816 – June 1818: voyage from San Francisco to Hawaii and stay there in November 1816 – January 1817, exploration of Marshall Islands, second voyage to the Bering Strait, then to Hawaii and back to Europe.

9) [A brief relation about the voyage of Lieut. O. Kotzebue on brig Rurik. From a letter to his father] // Russky Invalid [newspaper]. SPb., 1820.

Kotzebue’s first circumnavigation on board brig “Rurik” (1815-1818) was inspired and organized by the first Russian circumnavigator Adam Johann von Krusenstern (1770-1846), and sponsored by the Imperial State Chancellor, count Nikolay Rumyantsev (1754-1826). The expedition became the first privately organized Russian voyage, with the main purpose of scientific discoveries. Its main goal was to search for the Northwest Passage, going east from Bering Strait and the Northwest coast of America. The voyage resulted in significant discoveries in the Tuamotus and Marshall Islands, North Pacific and the Bering Strait (Kotzebue Sound, Ratmanov Island, islands in St. Lawrence Bay of Chukotka), and early important accounts of California and Hawaii (including the Shaeffer affair). The official account was published in Russian in 1821-1823 (3 vols.) in the typography of a noted Saint Petersburg journalist and writer, Nikolay Gretsch (1787-1867). The Russian edition was supplemented with an Atlas (SPb., 1821-23, 21 maps), which contained the first detailed charts of the Honolulu harbour, first maps of the Kotzebue Sound and Eschscholtz Bay, St. Lawrence Bay, newly discovered Little Diomede Island in the Bering Strait and over a dozen new islands in the Tuamotu and Marshall archipelagos. In 1821, the first German edition was published (Endeckungsreise in die Süd-See und nach Berings-Strasse: 3 vols., Weimar, 1821). It had “no separate atlas and only 7 different maps in all three volumes” (Lada-Mocarski 80).

“This was one of the most important and fruitful Russian circumnavigations of the globe. Many discoveries were made in the South Pacific, was well as in the North Pacific, along Alaska’s northern frontiers. A number of scientists – and an artist – collected and published valuable scientific data” (Lada-Mocarski, 79).

“A celebrated narrative important for its descriptions of Alaska, California, Hawaii, and Micronesia. The expedition itself originated “in the enlarged views of that great patron of the Sciences His Highness Count Romanzoff, Grand Chancellor of the Russian empire… and fitted out… at his sole expense” (English translation). The Rurik sailed from Kronstadt July 30, 1815, for the Pacific via Cape Horn. After making the Chilean coast, it stopped at Easter Island in March 1816, sailed through the Tuamotus and out of Polynesia, discovered the Ratak and Ralik chains of the Marshall Islands, both of which are described in great detail. Later, after a stop at Kamchatka, and in search of a Northeast Passage, they explored what is now Kotzebue Sound. Lada-Mocarski says that their account of Alaska is “rich in early original source material.” The Rurik sailed along the California coast, stopped at San Francisco, and described its Indians and missions. The narrative is one of the significant early accounts of California. The Rurik made two visits to Hawaii, and the Hawaiian portion of the text is extensive with important observations on life and customs during the reign of Kamehameha I, whose famous “red vest” portrait by Choris is one of the illustrations <…>” (Forbes 525, about the Weimar edition).