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MÜLLER, Gerhard Friedrich (1705-1783). A Letter from a Russian Sea-Officer, to a Person of Distinction at the Court of St. Petersburgh: containing His Remarks upon Mr. de l'Isle's Chart and Memoir, relative to the New Discoveries Northward and Eastward from Kamtschatka. Together with some Observations on that Letter. By Arthur Dobbs, Est; Governor of North-Carolina. To which is added, Mr. de l'Isle's Explanatory Memoir on his Chart Published at Paris, and now Translated from the original French. London: Printed for A. Linde, and Sold by J. Robinson, 1754.
8o (201 x 119 mm). Leaf B1 untrimmed and folded, with contemporary marginalia. Modern half calf. Provenance: James Wickersham, bibliographer, compiler of The Bibliography of Alaskan Literature, 1927 (bookplate); Thomas W. Streeter (bookplate; his sale part VI, Parke Bernet, 22 April 1969, lot 3456; purchased from Edward Eberstadt & Sons, 1941).
FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF THE FIRST ACCOUNT IN ENGLISH OF THE DISCOVERY OF BERING SEA AND ALASKA. "This polite but devastating criticism of Delisle's Explication was first published in Paris in 1752 and in Berlin in French in 1753 (see Wickersham 5923). The English translation of Müller's letter is important not only for the criticism of Delisle, but as the first account in English of Bering's discovery of the Alaskan mainland. Müller writes as if he had been a member of the Bering 1741 expedition and gives a good account of it. The original Berlin edition was, I think, the first account printed outside of Russia. Delisle apparently did not know that Bering had reached America in his 1741 voyage. It had earlier been thought that Lt. Waxel was the author of the Letter, but Breitfuss shows very clearly in his 'Early Maps of the Lands around the North Pacific,' at page 95 of Imago Mundi, III, 1939, that Müller was the author" (Streeter sale VI:3455, this copy). Church 943; Cordoca Alaska (1927) 5918; Sabin 40312.
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FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF THE FIRST ACCOUNT IN ENGLISH OF THE DISCOVERY OF BERING SEA AND ALASKA. "This polite but devastating criticism of Delisle's Explication was first published in Paris in 1752 and in Berlin in French in 1753 (see Wickersham 5923). The English translation of Müller's letter is important not only for the criticism of Delisle, but as the first account in English of Bering's discovery of the Alaskan mainland. Müller writes as if he had been a member of the Bering 1741 expedition and gives a good account of it. The original Berlin edition was, I think, the first account printed outside of Russia. Delisle apparently did not know that Bering had reached America in his 1741 voyage. It had earlier been thought that Lt. Waxel was the author of the Letter, but Breitfuss shows very clearly in his 'Early Maps of the Lands around the North Pacific,' at page 95 of Imago Mundi, III, 1939, that Müller was the author" (Streeter sale VI:3455, this copy). Church 943; Cordoca Alaska (1927) 5918; Sabin 40312.