Item #6818 Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]. CALIFORNIA RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY IN ALASKA, HAWAII.
Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]
Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]
Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]
Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]
Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]
Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]
Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]
Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]
Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]
Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]
Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]
Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]
Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]
Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]
Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]
Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]
Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]
Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]
Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]
Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]

Materyaly dlya Istorii Russkikh Zaseleniy po Beregam Vostochnogo Okeana: Prilozheniye k Morskomu Sborniku: Vyp. 1-4 [Materials for the History of Russian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean/ Supplements to Morskoy Sbornik. Parts 1-4]

Saint Petersburg: Naval Typ. 1861.

Item #6818



Saint Petersburg: Naval Typ., 1861. First and only edition. Octavo. Complete set of four parts. [4], 126; [4], 130; [2], 174, 2; [4], 240 pp. (= 686 pp.). With four folding tables at rear (supplements to Part 4). Ink stamps of the private library of G.F. Denisenko on the title pages to parts 1 and 3; 19th-century public library ink stamp on p. 9, part 2. Period Russian black quarter sheep with marbled papered boards; spine with faded gilt lettered title and initials of an owner “G.A.D.” on the bottom. Binding with minor cracks on hinges neatly repaired, paper slightly age toned and with some mild damp staining at the end, new old endpapers but overall a very good copy of this rare work.

Very rare complete set of the first Russian government publication about the Russian American Company and the history of its activities in Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, California, Russian Far East and Hawaii. The edition consists of four parts which were issued as supplements to the issues 1-4 (1861) of “Morskoy Sbornik” – the official magazine of the Russian Navy since 1848, supervised by the Scientific Committee of the Naval Ministry. The “Materials…” aimed to showcase RAC’s weaknesses – its low productivity, overharvesting of furs and abuse of the native population of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. The ultimate goal of the edition was to advocate the idea of revoking RAC’s charter and transferring the administration of the colonies to the Russian government. This confrontation between the “pro-government” Alaska party in the Russian elite circles and the Russian American Company lasted through the whole 1860s and eventually ended with the sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867.

The “Materials…” mostly contain previously unpublished official correspondence, statistical papers and reports of eye-witnesses who were personally involved in the RAC activities. Among the most valuable materials are the first publications of three articles by a famous navigator Vasily Golovnin (1776-1831), detailing his experiences in Alaska and Kamchatka during his first and second circumnavigations (1809-11 and 1817-19), giving in-depth analysis of RAC’s “benefit” for the state, commerce, share-holders, and Christian faith, and reporting about the abuse of the Aleutian population. These three articles were included in Golovnin’s 1864 edition of collected works, also published by the Naval Ministry. After that, they have never been reissued and “have become very rare and are practically unobtainable” (Lada-Mocarski 153). To our knowledge, they have never been translated into foreign languages.

Also historically significant is the first publication of the “Notes about America” by the RAC’s associate and manager for over 30 years Kirill Khlebnikov (served in Sitka for almost 15 years, 1818-32). The third part of the edition contains chapters 1 and 6 of Khlebnikov’s original manuscript, describing in detail history, economy, native population, health care, education etc. in Sitka and Fort Ross (California). Three pages are specially dedicated to the history and contemporary state of Sitka’s trade with the Sandwich Islands (pp. 84-88). Chapters 2-5 of the manuscript were first published in Russian only in 1979 (Russkaya Amerika v neopublikovannykh zapiskakh K.T. Khlebnikova. L.: Nauka, 1979); chapter 1 was reissued with commentaries and indexes in 1985 (Russkaya Amerika v zapiskakh K.T. Khlebnikova. Novo-Arkhangelsk. M.: Nauka, 1985); chapter 6 about California has never been reissued. First English translations of separate chapters were not published before 1976 (Colonial Russian America. Kyrill T. Khlebnikov’s Reports, 1817-1832. Portland: Oregon Historical Society, 1976).

The “Materials…” also contain the first publication of five pieces of official correspondence related to Vasily Golovnin’s second circumnavigation on board the sloop “Kamchatka” in 1817-1819: four letters between Golovnin, the Minister of the Navy marquis de Traversay, Siberian General Governor Ivan Pestel, and the Director of the seaport in Okhotsk, talking mainly about alleged or proved abuse of the inhabitants of the Aleutian and Kurile Islands by the RAC associates; and a more detailed report from the office of the Director of the Okhotsk Port describing several particular cases of abuse of the Aleuts.

The fourth part includes a rare article by Kirill Khlebnikov “The initial settlement of Russians in America,” first published in a Reval “Raduga” magazine in 1833; and excerpts from fifteen accounts of voyages that visited the territories of the Russian American Company (Vancouver, Davydov, Krusenstern, Lisiansky, Kotzebue, Golovnin, A. Lazarev, Luetke, Langsdorf, Roquefeuil, Belcher, Laplace, Duflot de Mofras, Simpson, and Kellett). The account by Duflot de Mofras contains an extensive footnote, prepared by the Russian editor of the “Materials…,” with a detailed history of Georg Schaeffer’s attempt of the establishment a Russian colony on Hawaii, and a short biography of Shaeffer based on the original materials from Moscow archives (mentions Schaeffer's activities during Napoleon’s invasion into Russia and his service in the Moscow police).

In addition to the account by Duflot de Mofras, the “Materials…” contain more information about RAC’s relations with the Hawaiian kingdom. The most important is the paragraph “Trade with the Sandwich Islands” in Khlebnikov’s “Notes about America” (part 2, pp. 84-88). It focuses on the history of Sitka’s trade with Hawaii after the downfall of Georg Schaeffer, with a list of goods received by RAC in 1819 and 1824. There are also notes on the tradition of exchange of presents between Baranov and Kamehameha I, the latter’s attempt to establish direct trade relations with China, King Liho-Liho’s debts, Americans’ unsuccessful trade on the islands, etc. The notes about Hawaii scattered across the text of all four parts, mention particular incidents and facts related to the islands, specific trade ships, captains, goods, etc.

Supplements (including four folding tables):

Supplement I. Statistical table of settlements, occupied by the American Company, according to the reports compiled at the beginning of 1818 [folding]; Supplement II. Data about the number of inhabitants of the American Colonies, extracted from “The Notes about the Islands of the Unalaska Group,” compiled by Veniaminov (S. Peterburg, 1840); Supplement III. A. A statement of furs exported by the [Russian] private companies [in 1745-1803] [folding]; B. Statement of furs exported by the company of Shelekhov & Golikov [in 1786-1797], Statement furs exported by the Hudson’s Bay and Canadian (or Northwestern) fur companies [in 1806-1820] [folding]; C. Statement furs exported by the Russian American Company [in 1798-1822] [folding].

Overall a primary source on the history of the Russian-American Company, with several first publications of rare obscure materials, some of which were never reissued.

“One cannot over-emphasize the importance and the value of these 4 parts of Materials… Part 1, for instance, has Golovnin’s Notes regarding the state of the R.-A. Co. in 1818 and similar information on the status of the Aleuts at the same time. In part 2 there are Golovnin’s Remarks about Kamchatka and Russian America in 1809-1811. The rest of the information is also most valuable. The present work was printed as a supplement to four issues of Morskoi Sbornik for 1861. This work was originally published in light brown printed paper wrappers. It is, of course, a great rarity to find in this state, but it is very rare even if rebound without wrappers in hardcovers” (Lada-Mocarski 149).

Smith (7090), Mezhov “Siberian Bibliography” (6915).

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