Entdeckungs-Reise in die Süd-See und nach der Berings-Strasse zur Erforschung einer nordöstlichen Durchfahrt. Unternommen in den Jahren 1815, 1816, 1817, und 1818. Weimar: Hoffmann Brothers, 1821.
3 volumes in one. [4], xviii, [4], 92, [2], [93]-168; 176; [2], 241 pp. 20 engraved and aquatint plates after Louis Choris, Johann Friedrich Eschscholtz, and others (19 of which are hand-colored, and of those 4 are double-page), 6 engraved maps (5 of which are folding), 2 folding letterpress tables (one of which is included in pagination of volume 3). 4to (280 x 220 mm). Untrimmed in original boards, printed label on spine. Custom solander box. Minor bumping to corners of binding, a bookplate removed from front pastedown, otherwise extremely fine.

FIRST EDITION, THE ISSUE WITH ALL THE AQUATINT PLATES FINELY COLORED BY HAND. Kotzebue accompanied Krusenstern on the first Russian circumnavigation in 1803-6, and went on to attempt the present voyage, in the Rurick. He sailed to Brazil, via Cape Horn to Chile, on to Tahiti, Pitcairn, and Kamtchatka; he returned by way of California, Hawaii, the Philippines, and St. Helena. Stopping in San Francisco, Kotzebue recognizes its agricultural potential, but remarks that it "lies without industry, trade and navigation, barren and unpeopled," neglected by Mexico.
Louis Choris acted as official artist for the voyage, and the double-page plates offer views of a glacier at Kotzebue Sound, royal dwellings in Hawaii, the interior of a hut in the Marshall Islands, and a coastal view there. Adelbert von Chamisso's scientific and linguistic reports on the voyage make up the third volume, which includes a series of plates of butterflies, and one of a monkey. Arctic Bibliography 9189; Cowan p 132; Forbes I, 525; Hill pp 164-5l; Howes K256; Kroepelien 670; Lipperheide 1457; Sabin 38284; Streeter sale 3511; Zamorano 80 48.
Acquisition: purchased from Helen R. Kahn & Assoc., 2001, $16,000.