Part 2 (four issues for May-August bound together). Octavo (ca. 19,5x11,5 cm). [2 – t.p.], 3-236 pp. (last page erroneously numbered “286”). Period Russian brown quarter calf with marbled papered boards; spine with gilt-tooled decorations and gilt-tooled title, part number and year of publication. Blank margins slightly trimmed by the binder, spine neatly repaired on hinges, but overall a very good original, internally clean copy.

Very rare, little-known, second printed Russian account of the first Russian Antarctic Expedition (1819-1821) on the naval vessels “Vostok” and “Mirny” under the command of Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen (1778-1852) and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev (1788-1851). This is the publication of a letter by expedition member, astronomer and professor at the Kazan University, Ivan Simonov, written after Bellingshausen’s arrival to Port Jackson (Sydney) in March 1820 and informing about the events during the expedition’s first Antarctic season (December 1819 – March 1820). During that period, Bellingshausen and Lazarev completed the mapping of the southern shore of South Georgia Island (started by James Cook 44 years before), discovered the three Traversay Islands in the South Sandwich group and attempted to proceed south in search of Terra Australis. On January 16, 1820 O.S. (January 28 N.S.), Bellingshausen went as far as 69°21’28” south latitude and became the first to observe what is now known as the Antarctic continental ice shelf (modern-day Bellingshausen ice shelf near the Princess Martha Coast of the Lazarev Sea). Due to the general agreement that ice shelves are an integral part of the Antarctic continent, Bellingshausen is considered to be the discoverer of continental Antarctica. According to another point of view, he is the first of the three explorers who discovered Antarctica in 1820 (together with Edward Bransfield, who sighted the Trinity Peninsula on January 30, 1820, and Nathaniel Palmer, who discovered the Antarctic Peninsula on November 17, 1820). During the second Antarctic season (November 1820-January 1821), the expedition completed the first circumnavigation of Antarctica mostly within the Antarctic circle, and discovered Peter I and Alexander I Islands near the Antarctic peninsula and several islands in the South Shetland group.

The official book account of Bellingshausen’s expedition wasn’t published until 1831 (Dvukratnye Izyskaniya v Yuzhnom Ledovitom Okeane i Plavaniye Vokrug Sveta, v Prodolzheniye 1819, 20 i 21 godov, Sovershennye na Shlyupakh Vostoke i Mirnom pod Nachalstvom Kapitana Bellinsgauzena… SPb., 1831, 2 vols text & atlas). Printed with a run of only 600 copies, it quickly became “one of the rarest publications concerning the Antarctic” (Rozove 31). For the ten years between the expedition’s return to Kronstadt in July 1821 and the publication of its official account in 1831, the main source of information about its history and results were the articles in Russian and European periodicals.

The basis for many European translations, became an excerpt from Bellingshausen’s official report written in Port Jackson on April 8, 1820 and addressed to the Russian naval minister Jean Baptiste Prevost de Sansac, Marquis de Traversay. Published in the Russian magazine “Syn Otechestva” (SPb., 1821, part 69, No. 17, April 23, pp. 133-137), the article became the first known publication about the events and results of Bellingshausen’s expedition. The other Bellingshausen’s report was published in the official magazine of the Russian Admiralty in 1823 (Zapiski, izdavayemye gosudarstvennym Admiralteyskim Departamentom, SPb., 1823, Vol. 5, pp. 201-219). The other printed sources on Bellingshausen’s expedition include two articles, issued shortly after “Vostok” and “Mirny’s” return to Kronstadt (“Otechestvennye Zapiski,” part 7, No. 16, August 1821, pp. 233-242; and “Russky Invalid,” No. 196, 24 August 1821, pp. 786-788), and a publication of the diary of Nikolay Galkin, the surgeon from the “Mirny,” describing the expedition’s exploration in the South Pacific (Syn Otechestva, 11 December 1822, Part 82, No. 49, pp. 97-115; 17 March 1823, part 84, No. 11, pp. 157-170). No other Russian publications in Saint Petersburg nor Moscow magazines and newspapers were found. In the fiction genre, the poem “Russkiye morekhodtsy na Ledovitom Okeane” ([Russian navigators in the Icy Ocean]) by a prolific Russian author Dmitry Khvostov (1757-1835) should be mentioned. The Russian National Library registers three editions of the poem (1823, 1825, and 1826).

An important alternative source to the official publications about the events of Bellingshausen’s expedition became the articles and freestanding publications by the expedition astronomer Ivan Simonov. In 1821, “Kazansky Vestnik” - a little-known magazine published at the Kazan University, printed four of Simonov’s letters to the Trustee of the Kazan Educational District, Mikhail Magnitsky (1778-1844): in the issues for February (pp. 135-139), July (pp. 170-172), September (pp. 57-65), and October (pp. 98-107). The article in the February issue described the first leg of Bellingshausen’s voyage from Kronstadt to Rio de Janeiro, and for this reason, this article in the July issue is the first Simonov account and the second known printed account (after Bellingshausen’s report in the “Syn Otechestva” for April, 1821) of the expedition’s first Antarctic season.

In 1822, “Kazansky Vestnik” published Simonov’s private journal, kept during the expedition’s first Antarctic season (March, pp. 156-165; April, pp. 211-216; May, pp. 38-42; July, pp. 174-181; October, pp. 107-116; December, pp. 226-232). In the same year, Kazan University issued Simonov’s speech read at the university’s meeting on July 7, 1822. The 59-page brochure, titled “Slovo ob uspekhakh plavaniya shluypov Vostoka i Mirnogo okolo sveta i osobenno v Yuzhnom Ledovitom more, v 1819, 1820 I 1821 godakh” (“An address on the achievements of the voyage of sloops Vostok and Mirny around the world, and especially in the Southern Icy Ocean, in the years 1819-21,” Kazan: Univ. Typ., 1822) became the first account of Bellingshausen’s expedition published in a book form. It was this publication that received the most recognition in the European scientific community. In 1824, it was translated into German and was registered in most bibliographies of Antarctic literature, which often omitted the original Russian edition (Beschreibung einer neuen Entdeckungsreise in das südlische Eismeer [Description of a recent voyage of discovery into the Southern Ice Ocean]. Wien: Wallihausser, 1824). In 1825 and 1828, Simonov published two more works describing the scientific observations carried out during the expedition, which went largely unnoticed: “O raznosti temperatury v Yuzhnom i Severnom polusharyakh…” (Kazan: Univ. typ., 1825) and “Astronomicheskiye i fizicheskiye nabliudeniya prof. Simonova, delannye vo vriemya puteshestviya yego okolo sveta na shlupe Vostoke” (SPb.: Typ. Dep. Nar. Prosveshcheniya, 1828). These publications comprise the complete list of Russian printed sources on Bellingshausen’s expedition, issued before the official account (the statement is based on the study of the main Antarctic bibliographies provided below, including the first special work of the historiography of Bellingshausen’s voyage by R. Bulkeley, listing Russian printed materials).

Simonov’s letter to Magnitsky, published in the issue of “Kazansky Vestnik” for July 1821, is the first Simonov account and the second known printed account (after Bellingshausen’s report in the “Syn Otechestva” for April, 1821) of the expedition’s first Antarctic season. In the beginning, Simonov expresses his joy after the safe arrival to Port Jackson: “You will very much believe it, if you imagine, that for four and a half months we wandered in the shadows of fogs, concealing the masses of ice, which threatened to crush the daring navigators, we wandered in the lands where a sun ray very rarely warmed us, and where we were the victims of such cruel storms, which the navigators had never seen during their voyages. We have endured so many hardships, we have gone through so many dangers!” Talking about the expedition’s achievements, Simonov informed that they had reached “almost up to 70 degrees southern latitude, up to the places where the eternal ice suggested an impenetrable obstacle; described the southwestern shores of the Georg [South Georgia] Island and South Sandwich Islands, observed by Cook from a distance and appeared as a solid land [continent] to him; rounded it and discovered that this is nothing more than groups of barren islands, covered with eternal snow. We also discovered three new islands [Leskov, Zavodovsky and Thornson Islands of the Traversay group], of which one has a sopka [volcano]; we landed at that island and didn’t find even traces of life there; our eyes got tired with the sights of piles of rocks and snow; we encountered numerous penguins which were so fearless that they barely gave us way to pass them. This strange animal is a bird, it doesn’t fly, walks very slowly, but swims and dives with incredible speed”.

The second half of the letter contains his early Russian account of Sydney, mentioning the Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie (1762-1824) and sharing Simonov’s impressions on indigenous Australians: “For about three weeks we have been staying at Port Jackson, a wonderful land. Although the English colony was founded not more than thirty years ago, the city of Sydney can compare with good European cities. Local Governor, Makvari, greatly contributed to its welfare. All the best establishments were founded during his term. Hospital, three schools, one for boys, one for girls and the third one for the indigenous peoples of this land, owe their existence to him. Wild hunters send their children to him, and those, having received a bit of education, become ashamed of the savage way of life. Old men rejoice in the successes of their children, and themselves leave to forests, like animals. They are modest and kind, though. We often visit them without any fear. Their houses are very much not stunning. Several tree branches, thrown around, comprise the walls of their dwellings, sky serves as the roof. The interior is also very simple: a smoking fire replaces all decorations; it is an only convenience in the life of these savages.”

Overall, a historically significant, very early and rare Russian original account of Bellingshausen’s Antarctic expedition.

“Kazansky Vestnik” is famous for the first publication of Nikolay Lobachevsky’s grounding work on the non-Euclidean geometry “On the Origin of Geometry” (printed in five parts of the magazine for 1829-1830, see more in the Christie’s 1998 catalogue of Haskell F. Norman’s library’s sale). The magazine was published at the Kazan University monthly in 1821-1833. According to the authoritative Russian Brockhaus & Efron Encyclopedia, the magazine’s print run was 500 copies for the first year (1821), 300 copies for the second year (1822) and 205 copies for the “last” year (1833). Among its other important publications are Lobachevsky’s article on pedagogics (“O vazhneishikh nachalakh vospitaniya,” August 1832), reviews to Nikolay Karamzin’s famous “Istoria Gosudarstva Rossiiskogo” (“History of the Russian State”), articles on the history of Yekaterinburg, travels to Central Asia, &c.

Worldcat doesn’t find any paper copies of “Kazansky Vestnik’s” complete yearly sets in European or North American libraries. This issue (part 2, May-August 1821) was also not found in Worldcat. The list of odd volumes, found in Worldcat: the University of California, Berkeley (part 5, May-August 1822), University of Chicago (part 10, January-April 1824), University of Illinois (part 12, 1824), Stanford University (part 34, 1832), and University of Göttingen (March, April, July and August 1830).

Among the other materials in the volume are:

Slovtsov, A. About the sights of Transbaikalia, answering the question: what hillforts are in the Irkutsk Province? (May 1821, pp. 3-12);
A brief report about the state of the Kazan gymnasium, 1820-21 (August, pp. 196-206);
An extract from a private letter from Bukhara from January 18, 1821 (pp. 207-217) – an eye-witness account of Georg von Meyendorff’s embassy to the Khanate of Bukhara in 1820-1821.

Selected bibliography:
Bulkeley, R. Bellingshausen’s first accounts of his Antarctic voyage of 1819-1821// Polar Record 49 (248). 2013, pp. 9-23.
Bulkeley, R. Bellingshausen’ and the Russian Antarctic Expedition, 1819-21. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
Bulkeley, R. The Historiography of the First Russian Antarctic Expedition, 1819-21. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021.
Conrad, L.J. Bibliography of Antarctic exploration: Expedition accounts from 1768 to 1960. Washington, 1999.
Chavanne, J., Karpf, A., Chelavier de Le Monnier, F. Die Literatur über die Polar-Regionen der Erde. Wien, 1878. Nos. 5736, 5789-5791, 5796, 5798, 5800, 6399, and others.
Denuce, J. Bibliographie Antarctique. Bruxelles, 1913. Nos. 2843-2853.
Howgego, R.J. Encyclopedia of Exploration, 1800 to 1850. Hordern House, 2004.
[Roscoe, J.] Antarctic Bibliography / U.S. Naval Photographic Interpretation Centre. Washington, 1951. Nos. 23-13.1 – 23.-13.12.
Rosove, M.H. Antarctica, 1772-1922. Freestanding publications through 1999. Santa Monica, 2001.
Spence, S.A. Antarctic Miscellany: books, periodicals & maps relating to the discovery and exploration of Antarctica. London, 1980.