A journey into Siberia, made ... in 1761. Containing an Account Of the Manners and Customs of the Russians, the Present State of their Empire; with the Natural History, and Geographical Description of their Country, and Level of the Road from Paris to Tobolsky...

London: printed for T. Jefferys, 1770

4to (270 x 212 mm). with folding engraved hand-coloured map, 9 engraved plates,Contemporary calf.

First English edition.
A colleague of Maraldi, Cassini de Thury, and Lalande at the Paris Observatory, the French priest and astronomer abbé Jean-Baptiste Chappe d’Auteroche travelled to Siberia in 1761 to observe the transit of Venus in 1761, and his account of the trip describes the meteorology, climate, fauna and minerals of the region, and also gives a sociological commentary. As Hill comments, these ‘forthright and sometimes provocative descriptions of Russian manners and character […] inspired the publication of an indignant rebuttal, sometimes attributed to Catherine the Great’.
Cox I:351; ESTC T70180