Very rare first and only edition of the only Dutch translation of a Russian description of the United States of America. The title-page notes that it is translated from the German translation (1816) and the preface notes that the first edition, in Russian, appeared in 1815. A second Russian edition appeared at St. Petersburg in 1818 and has sometimes been described as the first.
The great Russian author Pavel Petrovic Svinyin or Svin'in, here westernized to "Paul Swinin", is best known for his Sketches of Russia, published in the West under the name "Suinine". The identity of the Dutch translator of the present work is unknown. It gives an interesting "picturesque" travel account of the United States spanning the year 1813 and provides five main accounts covering different subjects: a statistical survey; a religious overview with descriptions of the several Christian communities (naming Methodists, Quakers, Shakers, Baptists and more); a description of the different types of steamboats used in North America; a biography of the French general Jean Victor Moreau, who lived in exile in the United States from 1805 to 1812; and a description of the dancing rituals of indigenous American "Indians", naming the Osage, Arkansas, Sioux and Saki tribes, which the Russian author interestingly compares with tribes in the Caucasus.
With the bookplate of the society Doctrina & Amicitia on the front paste-down. Some browning on the first and last few pages. Covers very slightly rubbed. Otherwise in very good condition. NCC; Sabin 93997; WorldCat 10553560 & 656756512; not in Howgego.