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MÜLLER, Gerhard Friedrich (1705-1783). Voyages et découvertes faites par les Russes le long des côtes de la Mer Glaciale et sur l'Océan Oriental, tant vers le Japon que vers l'Amerique. Translated from the German into French by C.G.F. Dumas. Amsterdam: Marc-Michel Rey, 1766.
2 volumes in one, 12o (172 x 97 mm). Large engraved folding map (a few short tears). Contemporary speckled calf (rebacked).
FIRST EDITION IN FRENCH, which includes Jacques Nicolas Delisle's map "Nouvelle Carte découvertes faites par des vaisseaux Russiens aux côtes inconnues de l'Amerique Septentrionale avec les pais adiacents." The French translation by C.G.F. Dumas is said to be fuller and superior to the English translation published in 1764. "Contains the original account of Captain Behring's Polar Expedition, and discovery of the strait which bears his name, and the western limits of North America. Taken from the third volume of Müller's 'Sammlung Russischer Geschichte,' Petropol, 1758. Since the rapid developments of British Columbia and Alaska this important book is becoming indispensable for the history of discovery and exploration in the Northern Pacific" (See Lada-Mocarski 17). Delisle's map was the first to describe Bering's and Chirikov's routes and to suggest the existence of an Alaskan peninsula unconnected with Asia. In 1752 Delisle had published a fanciful map illustrating his fascination with the Northwest Passage and a "Sea of the West" of his own invention. Müller's scrupulously honest cartography confuted Delisle's earlier map, but contemporaries doubted the accuracy of Müller's map and the import of Bering's discoveries. The controversy lasted another fifty years. Howes M-875; Sabin 51286. See Lada-Mokarski 17 and Wagner Northwest Coast 615.
2 volumes in one, 12o (172 x 97 mm). Large engraved folding map (a few short tears). Contemporary speckled calf (rebacked).
FIRST EDITION IN FRENCH, which includes Jacques Nicolas Delisle's map "Nouvelle Carte découvertes faites par des vaisseaux Russiens aux côtes inconnues de l'Amerique Septentrionale avec les pais adiacents." The French translation by C.G.F. Dumas is said to be fuller and superior to the English translation published in 1764. "Contains the original account of Captain Behring's Polar Expedition, and discovery of the strait which bears his name, and the western limits of North America. Taken from the third volume of Müller's 'Sammlung Russischer Geschichte,' Petropol, 1758. Since the rapid developments of British Columbia and Alaska this important book is becoming indispensable for the history of discovery and exploration in the Northern Pacific" (See Lada-Mocarski 17). Delisle's map was the first to describe Bering's and Chirikov's routes and to suggest the existence of an Alaskan peninsula unconnected with Asia. In 1752 Delisle had published a fanciful map illustrating his fascination with the Northwest Passage and a "Sea of the West" of his own invention. Müller's scrupulously honest cartography confuted Delisle's earlier map, but contemporaries doubted the accuracy of Müller's map and the import of Bering's discoveries. The controversy lasted another fifty years. Howes M-875; Sabin 51286. See Lada-Mokarski 17 and Wagner Northwest Coast 615.