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"A rare masterpiece of Soviet book-making, comprised of 35 superb photomontage plates celebrating the emancipation of Soviet women and their involvement in the early development of the country between 1922 and 1933. Beginning with the broadening of women’s suffrage in the 1920s,the book also covers the dynamics of increasing female membership of both party and administrative organizations, the structure of factories, and the Komsomol organization; the extent of women’s udarniki (shock brigades) by the end of the first Five Year Plan; the increasing educational attainment of Soviet women. Some crucially significant diagrams were dedicated to the demonstration of how the socialist daily routine liberated women from household duties. Each chart is designed as a separate poster on a single topic which visualizes statistical data in striking geometric figures. The leaves were also decorated with photomontages, varying by topic. A poster about female udarniki features a full-body drawing of a woman placed next to a pyramid split into sections denoting different industries and indicating different levels of worker enthusiasm in percentage terms. In the background, photographs are montaged of various work processes and a newspaper, Izvestia, about udarniki. Under the pyramid, an average measure of worker enthusiasm in different Soviet industries is shown, along with data on railroad and communal housing construction." A fine copy with OCLC finding just one other at the Library Congress." (Adam Gorfin, 2023)

In full color by province. This map is changed from the 1814 edition., Full color copy of the first atlas made in the United States to employ standard color on the maps; while the Carey 1795 American Atlas and the Carey 1811 General Atlas list color as an option on the title page, we have never seen any copies of a pre 1814 Carey atlas with original color - they may exist, but would be rare - color was first employed as standard in this 1814 edition - all copies that we have seen have been colored. The 1814 edition is almost entirely new, with most of the maps reengraved. The 1804 edition before this was essentially the same as the 1795 first edition. This 1815 edition changes two maps from the 1814 edition: North Carolina and the Russian Empire. The preface remains dated March 17th, 1814, the same as the 1814 edition preface. This 1815 edition should probably be called the 2.5 edition even though Carey does not label it as such, because Carey calls the 1818 edition the third edition and we call the 1814 edition the 2.0 edition. The Map of the United States is an updated copy of the U.S. map engraved by Henry Tanner that appeared in the first edition of Melish's Travels In the United States, published in 1812. A second Map of the United States of America by H.S. Tanner is tipped in after the standard U.S. map. It is from Tanner's 1812 College Atlas (see our 12139.009). Bound in quarter leather, brown paper covered boards. From Ruderman description: "An Extraordinary Full Original Color / Extra-Illustrated Example With An Important American Provenance The First Atlas in the United States With Standard Color on the Maps With Important Maps of the West (Including Texas) Beginning in 1814, Mathew Carey introduced several significant innovations to Carey's General Atlas. These included a new set of plates, replacing those in use since 1794-'96 in his American Atlas, General Atlas for Gutherie's Geography, and General Atlas. In addition, for the first time in America, Carey offered the atlas in original outline color, making it one of the earliest American color plate books and the first American Atlas to employ hand coloring. The present example, unlike the standard outline color, is offered here in full original wash color. This is only the second complete example of the atlas we have seen in full original color. In addition, the present example includes an extra map, A Map of the United States by H.S. Tanner, which was likely first issued in about 1822 or 1823 and intended to be folded into William Darby’s Universal Gazetteer, although the present example shows no signs of having been folded into another book. The present example bears an imprint date of 1815, which is also extremely rare. The maps in Carey's General Atlas represented a significant step forward in American cartographic content. Of particular note here is the map of the Missouri Territory, which incorporates recent information from Lewis & Clark (see below). Interestingly, this atlas was published 1814, the same year as the first edition of the official History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark (Philadelphia, 1814), with its famous and influential map of Western America. In fact, Matthew Carey had published Patrick Gass's journal, the first book length work stemming from the Lewis & Clark expedition, in 1810: Carey's interest in geography and exploration ran deep and helped shape both his own writing as well as the titles he published. Significant in Carey's connection to the Lewis and Clark Expedition was his publication of Thomas Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia (1794)... containing a "Map of Virginia" by Samuel Lewis...Carey also hired Samuel Lewis, a skilled cartographer who later redrew William Clark's map of the American West... - The Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, page 98. Carey is also considered America's first commercial publisher. In the lower margin of the first page of Carey's Prefatory Remarks is printed: (Price Fifteen Dollars), a princely sum in 1814 for an atlas or any book! Rumsey (4577) says of the 1814 edition of Carey's General Atlas: The first atlas made in the United States to employ standard color on the maps; while the Carey 1795 American Atlas and the Carey 1811 General Atlas list color as an option on the title page, we have never seen any copies of a pre 1814 Carey atlas with original color - they may exist, but would be rare - color was first employed as standard in this 1814 edition - all copies that we have seen have been colored. This edition is almost entirely new, with most of the maps reengraved. The 1804 edition before this was essentially the same as the 1795 first edition. The preface is dated March 17th, 1814. This edition should probably be called the second edition even though Carey does not label it as such, because Carey calls the 1818 edition the third edition. The Map of the United States is an updated copy of the U.S. map engraved by Henry Tanner that appeared in the first edition of Melish's Travels In the United States, published in 1812. This issue is late 1814. See our early 1814 for differences. Bound in quarter leather, brown paper covered boards. Likely Used by Fur Traders This 1814 Carey's General Atlas is among the small group of maps and atlases that Alson J. Smith has suggested were likely used by the fur traders and mountain men in their early western explorations in the West during the 1820s: Other maps of the day which the young partners [i.e. General Ashley, Jedidiah Smith, David Jackson, and William L. Sublette] may have had spread out before them on a rude table in a tent (Jedidiah Smith usually carried one) or an Indian lodge, with the drunken revelry of the rendezvous sounding about them, were M. Carey's General Atlas, Philadelphia, 1814 - Alson J. Smith, Men Against the Mountains, page 46. Samuel Lewis's map of Missouri Territory Formerly Louisiana - Freshly Influenced by Lewis and Clark: Lewis and Clark influence is apparent on the Upper Missouri and also along the Columbia. Missouri Territory extends west to the Pacific Coast, its probable northern and southern boundaries being shown by colored dotted lines. The northern line runs easterly from Mr. Rainier and includes most of the Columbia watershed, thence north of the Missouri drainage and including that of the Assiniboin (with its large lake), thence east to Lake of the Woods and south to the head of the Mississippi, which then forms the eastern boundary. The southern line leaves the coast just north of F. S. Francisco (whose Bay is not shown), thence easterly and slightly north of the headwaters of the Rio Grande, following south along the ridge east of that stream, southeast to the head of the Colorado (of Texas) and down that stream to the Gulf of Mexico at St. Bernardo B. The State of Louisiana (admitted 1812) appears near the north of the Mississippi - Wheat, Mapping the Transmississippi West 315. Mexico or New Spain (including Texas) Matthew Carey's double-page engraved map of Mexico includes Texas and New Mexico, and it is among the first regional maps of the Southwest and Mexico to be published in an American atlas. Published in the midst of Mexico's War of Independence (1809-1821), the map appears at a fascinating time in Mexico's history. Of note is that vast portion of Northern Texas, which is left blank, extending nearly to the Rio Grande River. As described below, this is almost certainly a direct result of the then raging political question over whether the United States had acquired Texas as part of the Louisiana Purchase (discussed below), in addition to the paucity of information available to mapmakers for a region which is here so conspicuously blank. Carey's map reflects the information from Alexander von Humboldt's seminal map of Mexico but pre-dates Pike's explorations. The map extends north to show Lake Timpanogos and covers most of Colorado and New Mexico, as well as providing details in Texas, including the naming of Bejax, Cibola, Provincia, S Josef, Nuestra Sra del Rosario, Galveston Bay, and the name Texas itself. The details along the Rio Grande and in Southern Arizona is also excellent. Historical Context of Carey's Mexico Map Carey's map was produced at time when the question of ownership of what would become Texas and New Mexico were still very much in dispute. In 1803 the United States acquired Louisiana from Napoleon Bonaparte, with the understanding that the purchase covered all territory ceded by France to Spain in 1762 and then back to France in 1800. As the line between France and Spain in the New World had never been clearly established, Thomas Jefferson's administration seized the opportunity to make the most of its claim to a vast, uninhibited, and largely unexplored land. Jefferson's vision is clearly reflected in the exploratory expeditions commissioned in the years immediately following the Louisiana Purchase. Within a few years of the purchase, Jefferson had authorized 4 expeditions to explore the newly acquired Territory. While the Lewis & Clark Expedition focused on the Northwestern portions the United States, the remaining 3 expeditions, The Dunbar Expedition (1804-1805), the Pike Expedition (1806-1807), and Red River (or Freeman-Custis) Expedition (1806) were all focused on lands that were the subject of competing Spanish claims, provoking diplomatic incidents as a result of American incursions into the disputed territory. While Jefferson's agents were busy testing the elastic boundaries of the Louisiana Purchase, the Spaniards were not idle. Wary of their new neighbor and fearful for their vulnerable possessions in Texas and New Mexico, Spanish officials in New Orleans and beyond hastened to establish their line of demarcation. The matter became even more complex when in December of 1803, the French Prefect of Louisiana, Pierre Clement de Laussat, declared that the western boundary of the Louisiana Purchase lay at the Rio Grande. In 1806, a military agreement was entered into between General James Wilkinson of the United States Army and General Simon Herrera of the Spanish forces, making the country between the Arroyo Hondo and the Sabine River temporarily neutral ground, over which neither the United States nor Spain should exercise political jurisdiction. The agreement was generally observed by both countries; the United States took possession of territory as far west as Natchitoches, while Spain maintained a small garrison at its eastern outpost, Nacogdoches. President Jefferson was convinced as early as 1804 that the territory included in the Louisiana Purchase extended to the Rio Grande. His insistence upon this and his efforts to promote the exploration of the western territory (to some of which Spain claimed unquestionable right), and the border dispute in the Sabine-Red River region, temporarily settled by the Wilkinson-Herrera agreement, brought the United States and Spain near to hostilities. Following a royal order issued in May 1805, Jose de Iturrigaray, the viceroy of New Spain, in January 1806, named Fray Melchior de Talamantes chief of an historical commission created to ascertain from all available sources the true boundaries of the provinces of Texas and Louisiana, before the latter was ceded to Spain in 1762. However, the arrest and deposition of Iturrigaray and the subsequent arrest of Talamantes for his separatist views by the Audiencia of Mexico in September 1808, interrupted the work of this commission. The following month, the Viceroy ad interim, Pedro de Garibay, appointed Fray Doctor Jose Antonio Pichardo (1748-1812), of the congregation of the Oratory of San Felipe Neri, to determine the historic limits of Louisiana and Texas. Over the next four years, Pichardo compiled a monumental defense of Spain's traditional Louisiana boundary with France. Pichardo's treatise was constructed as an argumentative historical treatise, intended to survey and describe "the true limits of the provinces of Louisiana and Texas." The purpose of the Treatise was to respond to and to disprove the claim of the United States that Texas was included in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. To augment his final report, Father Pichardo then created an elaborate new map, using only the most trustworthy sources--primarily the maps of Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville, a celebrated French geographer whom he regarded very highly, which he augmented with manuscript maps in the Spanish archives. Finally, the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819 resolved the land ownership dispute by conceding the validity of Spain's Claims to Texas and the lands east of the Rio Grande, in exchange for Spain's abandonment of its historical claims to Oregon and Florida. North America According to Wheat the North America map is based on much earlier work (compared to the aforementioned Missouri Territory map); he points to its many striking geographic affinities to the North America maps by Tanner (1812) and Lucas (1812). The map includes nice pre-Lewis & Clark information in the Transmississippi West. The "Columbia or River of the West" flows to the R. Oregan, a vestige from the first half of the 18th Century, with a short portage over to a tributary of the Upper Mississippi River. A wide open, convenient passage through the Rocky Mountains accommodates this unusual feature. Apacheria is shown, along with the Pimas, Yuma and other Indian Tribes. On the West Coast, most of the major California harbors are shown, including San Pedro. The Rocky Mountains are still largely unknown south of the Canadian Border. A number of Indian Tribes located. The Northwest Coast reflects the recent discoveries of Vancouver and La Perouse. Decorative swash letter title. Illustrates the still naïve engraving style of American mapmakers in the early 19th Century. One of the most interesting atlas maps of North America from this period. Early American Map Showing Capt. Cook's Discoveries in the Pacific Carey's map of Cook's Discoveries in the Pacific and Hearn's discoveries west of the Hudson, in search of the Arctic Sea, represents one of the earliest appearances of Cook in a map published in America. Excellent conjectural NW Coast of America, predating Vancouver's voyage. Sandwich Islands are shown. Cook's route in each of the years is shown, as is Hearn's trek to the Arctic Sea. Summary In sum, a cornerstone American atlas issued at a critical moment in western borderlands history, by America's first commercial publisher. Provenance: Dr. Thomas Chalkey James (1766 - 1835) The atlas is from the original contents of Dawesfield, Lewis Lane, Ambler, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania - an iconic American farmhouse built by Abraham Dawes and by descent through generations of the female line. It served as the Revolutionary Headquarters of General George Washington from 20th October until 2nd November, 1777. The book is from the personal library of Dr. Thomas Chalkey James (1766 - 1835) (signature on front pastedown) who was married to Hannah née Morris. Dr James was a Philadelphia physician and joined the staff of Pennsylvania hospital. In 1810 he was elected professor of midwifery at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr James was a member of the American Philosophical Society, the librarian of the College of Physicians and a founder of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Adams, April 1, 2024 (including approximately 80 lots from Dawesfield House, of which 28 lots were from the Library of Thomas Chalkey James. Rarity The 1815 edition is extremely rare. ", P722, 1372.

Translation: Our industry is still lagging behind the industries of capitalist countries. There are more factories, more machines, and more electricity. "We must catch up and overtake the capitalists," wrote Lenin. During the Five-Year Plan, the USSR's industry will grow five times. Production will reach 55 billion rubles. The Urals, Siberia, Ukraine, Leningrad, and Moscow regions are the places where new factories are being built. Many machines and metals will be produced for the country. Do you see these factories on the map? They will be connected to power stations by power lines. Electricity will run to the machines, spinning gears, and factories will appear across the country. The more there are, the stronger we will be. The Five-Year Plan will make the USSR strong! List of Factories and Plants: markdown Copy code 1. Leninakan Textile Plant 2. Tkvarchal Coal Mines 3. Stalingrad Tractor Plant 4. Rostov Agricultural Machinery 5. Rutchenkivsky Fertilizer Plant 6. Kramatorsk Heavy Machine Plant 7. Central Chemical Plant 8. Gomel Agricultural Machinery 9. Melange Plant 10. Slavyansk Paper Mill 11. Ust-Sysolsk Paper Factory 12. Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant 13. Magnitogorsk Plant 14. Oil Refineries 15. Nizhny Novgorod Automobile Plant 16. Sulfate Industry 17. Ashgabat Textile Factory 18. Koryazhma Pulp Mill 19. Kherson Cotton Factory 20. Spassk Cement Plant 21. Novosibirsk Chemical Plant 22. Semyonov Woodworking Plant 23. Mikhailovka Cement Plant 24. Automobile Chemical Plant 25. Krasnoselsk Porcelain Factory 26. Chernigov Cotton Mill 27. Biysk Chemical Plant 28. Ivanovo Agricultural Machinery Plant 29. Automotive Chemical Plant 30. Kemerovo Chemical Plant 31. Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Chemical Plant 32. Indigirka Sulfur Plant Explanation: The map shows the planned construction of various factories and plants across the Soviet Union as part of the Five-Year Plan. The goal is to industrialize the country rapidly, close the gap with capitalist nations, and strengthen the USSR's economy. Key points include: Locations: Factories and plants are strategically placed in various regions, such as the Urals, Siberia, Ukraine, Leningrad, and Moscow, which are critical for industrial development. Connections to Power: The new factories will be connected to power stations, ensuring they have the necessary electricity to operate efficiently. Industrial Growth: The plan aims for a significant increase in industrial production, reaching 55 billion rubles. Strategic Industries: The listed factories and plants cover a range of industries, including textiles, chemicals, machinery, and more, highlighting a diversified industrial base. The map and accompanying text serve to communicate the ambitious goals of the Five-Year Plan to the public, showcasing the expected growth in industrial capacity and the economic strength it will bring to the Soviet Union., "A fine copy of this rare complex Constructivist panorama produced by A.M. Laptev, a gifted Soviet avant-garde graphic artist and graduate of VKhUTEMAS-VEKhUTEIN. Created to promote the vast industrial progress of Stalin's Five Year Plan through maps, charts, "Isotypes" and flaps that fold out to form an engaging visual essay on the then current economic state of the USSR. The panorama can be read in two directions: "The reader finds three maps: one for the electrification of the country, the second for the construction of factories, and the last for the collectivization of farms. Through these maps, young readers become familiar with a synchronic view of the Five-Year Plan ... Turning the book over and starting from the back cover, the reader is presented with targets for ten aspects of Soviet industry: electricity, factory construction, iron, coal, oil, the chemical industry, bread production, forestry, transportation, and culture. Laptev illustrates the situation before the implementation of the 1927-28 Five-Year Plan with both the text and pictures. The reader is invited to open the flaps on the pages to unfold the dramatic changes caused by implementation of the Five-Year Plan in each of these industries" (Duda, Adventures in the Soviet Imaginary, U. of Chicago exhibition 2011, No. 1)." (Ursus Books, 2024)

"Folio Atlas, but here with Complete Contents contemporarily left unbound and presented as 47 separate copper engraved leaves, each with contemporary pink paper edging. Extremely rare and historically important – the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire, being the second edition of the work, made on the orders of Czar Paul I to present his new jurisdictional reforms, created by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, the Chief Geographer and Cartographer to the Imperial Court, from the best sources and surveys, a complete example with 43 maps and 2 preliminary leaves, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the Russian Empire with an important inset depicting the Gulf of Alaska and northern British Columbia coasts, dozens of maps of individual Russian ‘gubernia’ (provinces) of unprecedented accuracy, as well as a map focusing upon Alaska and Kamchatka predicated upon intelligence gained from numerous Russian and British exploring expeditions; all maps beautifully decorated with allegorical cartouches, with text in Russian Cyrillic, published in St. Petersburg by the Czar’s Geographical Department; an extraordinary example clearly never bound, but preserved ‘in plano’ with all leaves with original outline hand colour and contemporary pink paper edging. This work is the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire (which then included Alaska), and one of the foundational monuments of Russian scientific cartography and geographic intelligence. It is the revised second edition of a work first issued in 1792, and was made by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, an exceedingly talented geographer, cartographer, mathematician and astronomer, who was the chief geographer and mapmaker to the Imperial Court. This revised edition of the atlas was created on the orders of Czar Paul I especially to show the empire’s new internal jurisdictions which were imposed per his reforms. The folio atlas features 43 maps, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the entire Russian Empire featuring an inset bearing a historically significant map depicting Alaska and much of the coast of British Columbia; individual maps of all of Russia’s first-level jurisdictions predicated upon the best surveys and sources; plus, a large format map of Kamchatka, Alaska and the northern BC Coast, predated upon intelligence from ground-breaking exploring expeditions. All maps are beautifully adored with allegorical cartouches that portray Russia to be a powerful, autocratic state, enlightened by science, culture and commerce, and which vanquishes its enemies. The present example of the atlas is complete, featuring 47 engraved leaves (2 preliminaries, and 43 maps on 45 leaves – the maximum called for); however, it was clearly never bound (the sheets are of dissonant sizes), with the borders of each sheet contemporarily edged with pink paper, allowing the maps to be conveniently enjoyed in plano. The first edition of the atlas, Российский атлас, из сорока четырёх карт состоящий и на сорок два наместничества империю разделяющий [Russian Atlas, consisting of Forty- Four Maps and dividing the Empire into Forty-Two Vice-royalties] (1792), was created by Wilbrecht on the orders of Empress Catherine II the Great (r. 1762-96) to show the new internal jurisdictions of the Russian Empire as imposed by her decree, ‘Institutions for the Management of the Provinces’ (November 7, 1775). Changing the nature and boundaries of the first-level jurisdictions in Russa was not simply a bureaucratic matter, but rather it had a profound impact upon land rights, taxation and economic and infrastructure development. Catherine II’s jurisdictional reforms, which were fully implemented in 1785, saw the empire divided into 38 наместничества (namestnichestva / vice-royalties), 3 provinces, 1 region and 1 special autonomous entity (governed by the Don Cossacks). During the 1790s, Catherine ordered further revisions to the Russian jurisdictions, such that upon her death, in 1796, the empire had 48 namestnichestva. The Wilbrecht atlas was only the second official atlas of the Russian Empire, having been preceded only by the Imperial Academy of Sciences’s Атлас Российской, состоящий из девятнадцати специальных карт… [The Russian Atlas, consisting of Nineteen Special Maps…] (St. Petersburg, 1745), which while a triumph in its time, by the 1790s was considered so outdated as to be practically obsolete. Catherine II’s son and successor, Czar Paul I (r. 1796 - 1801), a clinically insane ruler (who was eventually murdered on the orders of his own son!) absolutely despised his mother and went to great efforts to erase or change virtually anything that he attributed to her rule – including her jurisdictional reforms. He dissolved the 51 namestnichestva and converted them into 42 губе́рния (gubernia / provinces), an act which had significant effects upon public affairs across the empire. Paul I’s jurisdictional reforms naturally made the 1792 Wilbrecht atlas in good measure obsolete. The present 1800 edition of the atlas features largely the same maps and topographical content but sees the plates heavily reworked to show the new jurisdictions, with the titles altered accordingly (ex. on the Title Page and on Map no. 1, Catherine II’s cypher had been replaced by that of Paul I). The atlas fully preserves its important depictions of the Alaska and the northern BC coasts. To clear up any confusion, in the period between 1792 and 1800, Wilbrecht seemingly issued many of the atlas’s constituent maps separately, while groupings of maps were consolidated into what seems to have been atlas factice, such that many surviving examples of the atlas, even some held by elite institutions, are today found incomplete. Thus, the present example is notable for being complete with the maximum number of maps called for. * While the present example of the Wilbrecht Atlas is not bound, it features all the contents as called for, including: 1 Title Page, 1 Contents Register, and 43 maps (1 of which is comprised of 3 un-joined sheets). Some Highlights of the Atlas All the maps in the atlas are of very high quality, and the individual maps of the gubernia are the finest and, in many cases, the first accurate maps of these regions. They are predicated upon a composite of sources, in some cases, good scientific surveys, while accompanied by spectacular iconographic adornment. From an international perspective, the most significant elements are the depictions of the Russian Far East, Russian America (Alaska), and the adjacent coastlines of what is today British Columbia, as the true scientific conception of these regions was then emerging due to on-going exploring expeditions conducted by both Russian and British mariners. Map no. 42B., Восточная часть Иркутской губернии с прилежащими островами и западным берегом Америки [The Eastern Part of the Irkutsk Province with Adjacent Islands and the Western Coast of America], showcases a historically important depiction of Alaska and Kamchatka, derived from expeditions ranging from the 1720s to the 1780s. It is derived from Wilbrecht’s separately issued Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [Map representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and of the English Captain Cook] (1787), although its projection is quite different. For the littoral areas of Alaska, the map shows a sophisticated awareness of the pre-Cook Russian expeditions of Vitus Bering, Aleksei Chirikov, Pyotyr Krenitsyn and Martin Spanberg, etc., while fully embracing the discoveries from Cook’s Third Voyage (1778-9). The map also presents recent revelations due to the likes of Gerasim Ismailov, who discovered the Kenai Peninsula, and Dimitry Bocharov’s exploration of Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula. In the deep interior (in the modern Northwest Territories), the map shows the discoveries of Samuel Hearn. In a similar vein, the inset on Map No. 1 (the general map of the Russian Empire), Карта представляющая частьзападного берега Америки от полуострова Аляски до залива Нутки положеннаго по новейшим открытиям зделанным Российскими и Английскими мореплавателями в 1784, 1786 и 1787 годах [A Map Representing Part of the Western Coast of America from the Alaska Peninsula to Nootka Bay based on the Latest Discoveries made by Russian and English Navigators in the years 1784, 1786 and 1787], shows the Pacific coast of North America, from the base of the Alaska Peninsula, in the northwest, down the just past Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, in the southeast. The depiction of the Alaska coast is, in some ways, more advanced than that of Map 42B, especially with respect to its portrayal of places like the Kodiak Archipelago and Prince William Sound. The BC Coast shows an awareness of the discoveries of George Dixon and Nathaniel Portlock (1786-7), especially with regards to the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) and vicinity. The mapping of north-central Siberia showcased by Map No. 41. Карта Тобольской губернии из 16 уездов [Map of the Tobolsk Province of 16 Counties], is quite interesting, capturing such details as the locations of villages, winter encampments, fortresses, monasteries, mines, salt and fishing works, and the routes of the exploration expeditions of Stepan Malygin (1734-5), Aleksei Ivanovich Skuratov (1734-5), Dmitry Ovtsyn (1735), Muraviev & Pavlov (1737) and Fedor Rozmyslov (1768), while also noting the place where Willem Barents’s expedition wintered in 1596. Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht: Leading Russian Cartographer of the Enlightnement Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht [Александр Михайлович Вильбрехт] (1757 - 1823) was a cartographer, geographer, astronomer and mathematician, who was the most important mapmaker in the Russian Empire during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and generally a major force in Enlightenment science in the country. Born to an affluent St. Peterburg family, of partial German ancestry, Wilbrecht studied at the Academy of Arts and the School of the Army Noble Corps. After his graduation, he became a map draughtsman at the Geographical Department of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, before working in more senior roles at the Geographical Department of the Cabinet, the Military Topographic Depot, and the Geographical Department of the Ministry of Education. Wilbrecht came to the personal attention of Catherine the Great and, in 1785, was appointed to head the Higher School of Mathematics of the Imperial Mining School, as well as being the Chief Geographer of the Geographical Department of the Cabinet of Her Imperial Majesty. In these capacities, Wilbrecht’s greatest achievement was the present atlas of the Russian Empire (1792, 1800), with other highlights including his important map of the North Pacific, Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [A Map Representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and the English Captain Cook] (1787); Карта театра войны Российской империи против шведов сочиненная [Map of the Theatre of War of the Russian Empire against the Swedes, Composed] (1789); and the Подробная карта Российской империи и близлежащих заграничных владений [A Detailed Map of the Russian Empire and nearby Foreign Possessions] (1804, revised 1816), nicknamed the “Stolist Map” a colossal 100-sheet map of the European Russia. As the Russia’s leading geographic educator, Wilbrecht published the important works Новый Атлас или собрание карт всех частей земного шара, почерпнутый из разных сочинителей и напечатанный в Санкт-Петербурге для употребления Юношества в 1793 году при Горном училище [The New Atlas or a Collection of Maps of all Parts of the Globe, drawn from Different Writers and Printed in St. Petersburg for the Use of Youth in 1793 at the Mining School] (1793) and Атлас Российской империи изданной для употребления юношества [Atlas of the Russian Empire published for the Use of the Youth] (1794). Late in life, Wilbrecht became the Director of the Military Topographic Depot, whereupon he introduced top-notch scientific cartography to the Russian Army. A Note on Rarity The atlas, in either the 1792 or 1800 editions, and its intermediate variations, is very rare, especially as complete with all maps as called for in the registers. While there are surely several complete examples of the atlas in various Russian institutions, the only complete example of the 1800 edition we could is trace is held by the National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg). Outside of Russia, the only complete examples of the atlas we can locate are two 1792 editions, held by the Royal Geographical Society and the Beinecke Library (Yale University), although it is possible that there could be a couple more examples that are not properly catalogued online. Incomplete examples of the 1792 edition are held by the Harvard University Library, British Library and the National Library of Scotland, while an incomplete example of the 1800 edition is held by the University of California-Berkeley. The only complete example of the atlas we can trace as having been on the market since 1969 is for an example of the 1792 edition, sold in 2006 at Bonhams’s New York. A substantially incomplete example of the 1792 edition, with only 30 maps, was sold at Sotheby’s London in 2019. (Alexander Johnson/Dasa Pahor, 2023), National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg): К 1-Росс 8/14; cf. [1792 ed.:] 1792: Royal Geographical Society: mr 1.C.112, Beinecke Library (Yale University): 1976 Folio 105; Leo BAGROW, ed. Henry W. Castner, A History of Russian Cartography up to 1800 (Wolfe Island, Ontario: Walker Press, 1975), Part V, pp. 212, 215.

"Folio Atlas, but here with Complete Contents contemporarily left unbound and presented as 47 separate copper engraved leaves, each with contemporary pink paper edging. Extremely rare and historically important – the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire, being the second edition of the work, made on the orders of Czar Paul I to present his new jurisdictional reforms, created by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, the Chief Geographer and Cartographer to the Imperial Court, from the best sources and surveys, a complete example with 43 maps and 2 preliminary leaves, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the Russian Empire with an important inset depicting the Gulf of Alaska and northern British Columbia coasts, dozens of maps of individual Russian ‘gubernia’ (provinces) of unprecedented accuracy, as well as a map focusing upon Alaska and Kamchatka predicated upon intelligence gained from numerous Russian and British exploring expeditions; all maps beautifully decorated with allegorical cartouches, with text in Russian Cyrillic, published in St. Petersburg by the Czar’s Geographical Department; an extraordinary example clearly never bound, but preserved ‘in plano’ with all leaves with original outline hand colour and contemporary pink paper edging. This work is the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire (which then included Alaska), and one of the foundational monuments of Russian scientific cartography and geographic intelligence. It is the revised second edition of a work first issued in 1792, and was made by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, an exceedingly talented geographer, cartographer, mathematician and astronomer, who was the chief geographer and mapmaker to the Imperial Court. This revised edition of the atlas was created on the orders of Czar Paul I especially to show the empire’s new internal jurisdictions which were imposed per his reforms. The folio atlas features 43 maps, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the entire Russian Empire featuring an inset bearing a historically significant map depicting Alaska and much of the coast of British Columbia; individual maps of all of Russia’s first-level jurisdictions predicated upon the best surveys and sources; plus, a large format map of Kamchatka, Alaska and the northern BC Coast, predated upon intelligence from ground-breaking exploring expeditions. All maps are beautifully adored with allegorical cartouches that portray Russia to be a powerful, autocratic state, enlightened by science, culture and commerce, and which vanquishes its enemies. The present example of the atlas is complete, featuring 47 engraved leaves (2 preliminaries, and 43 maps on 45 leaves – the maximum called for); however, it was clearly never bound (the sheets are of dissonant sizes), with the borders of each sheet contemporarily edged with pink paper, allowing the maps to be conveniently enjoyed in plano. The first edition of the atlas, Российский атлас, из сорока четырёх карт состоящий и на сорок два наместничества империю разделяющий [Russian Atlas, consisting of Forty- Four Maps and dividing the Empire into Forty-Two Vice-royalties] (1792), was created by Wilbrecht on the orders of Empress Catherine II the Great (r. 1762-96) to show the new internal jurisdictions of the Russian Empire as imposed by her decree, ‘Institutions for the Management of the Provinces’ (November 7, 1775). Changing the nature and boundaries of the first-level jurisdictions in Russa was not simply a bureaucratic matter, but rather it had a profound impact upon land rights, taxation and economic and infrastructure development. Catherine II’s jurisdictional reforms, which were fully implemented in 1785, saw the empire divided into 38 наместничества (namestnichestva / vice-royalties), 3 provinces, 1 region and 1 special autonomous entity (governed by the Don Cossacks). During the 1790s, Catherine ordered further revisions to the Russian jurisdictions, such that upon her death, in 1796, the empire had 48 namestnichestva. The Wilbrecht atlas was only the second official atlas of the Russian Empire, having been preceded only by the Imperial Academy of Sciences’s Атлас Российской, состоящий из девятнадцати специальных карт… [The Russian Atlas, consisting of Nineteen Special Maps…] (St. Petersburg, 1745), which while a triumph in its time, by the 1790s was considered so outdated as to be practically obsolete. Catherine II’s son and successor, Czar Paul I (r. 1796 - 1801), a clinically insane ruler (who was eventually murdered on the orders of his own son!) absolutely despised his mother and went to great efforts to erase or change virtually anything that he attributed to her rule – including her jurisdictional reforms. He dissolved the 51 namestnichestva and converted them into 42 губе́рния (gubernia / provinces), an act which had significant effects upon public affairs across the empire. Paul I’s jurisdictional reforms naturally made the 1792 Wilbrecht atlas in good measure obsolete. The present 1800 edition of the atlas features largely the same maps and topographical content but sees the plates heavily reworked to show the new jurisdictions, with the titles altered accordingly (ex. on the Title Page and on Map no. 1, Catherine II’s cypher had been replaced by that of Paul I). The atlas fully preserves its important depictions of the Alaska and the northern BC coasts. To clear up any confusion, in the period between 1792 and 1800, Wilbrecht seemingly issued many of the atlas’s constituent maps separately, while groupings of maps were consolidated into what seems to have been atlas factice, such that many surviving examples of the atlas, even some held by elite institutions, are today found incomplete. Thus, the present example is notable for being complete with the maximum number of maps called for. * While the present example of the Wilbrecht Atlas is not bound, it features all the contents as called for, including: 1 Title Page, 1 Contents Register, and 43 maps (1 of which is comprised of 3 un-joined sheets). Some Highlights of the Atlas All the maps in the atlas are of very high quality, and the individual maps of the gubernia are the finest and, in many cases, the first accurate maps of these regions. They are predicated upon a composite of sources, in some cases, good scientific surveys, while accompanied by spectacular iconographic adornment. From an international perspective, the most significant elements are the depictions of the Russian Far East, Russian America (Alaska), and the adjacent coastlines of what is today British Columbia, as the true scientific conception of these regions was then emerging due to on-going exploring expeditions conducted by both Russian and British mariners. Map no. 42B., Восточная часть Иркутской губернии с прилежащими островами и западным берегом Америки [The Eastern Part of the Irkutsk Province with Adjacent Islands and the Western Coast of America], showcases a historically important depiction of Alaska and Kamchatka, derived from expeditions ranging from the 1720s to the 1780s. It is derived from Wilbrecht’s separately issued Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [Map representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and of the English Captain Cook] (1787), although its projection is quite different. For the littoral areas of Alaska, the map shows a sophisticated awareness of the pre-Cook Russian expeditions of Vitus Bering, Aleksei Chirikov, Pyotyr Krenitsyn and Martin Spanberg, etc., while fully embracing the discoveries from Cook’s Third Voyage (1778-9). The map also presents recent revelations due to the likes of Gerasim Ismailov, who discovered the Kenai Peninsula, and Dimitry Bocharov’s exploration of Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula. In the deep interior (in the modern Northwest Territories), the map shows the discoveries of Samuel Hearn. In a similar vein, the inset on Map No. 1 (the general map of the Russian Empire), Карта представляющая частьзападного берега Америки от полуострова Аляски до залива Нутки положеннаго по новейшим открытиям зделанным Российскими и Английскими мореплавателями в 1784, 1786 и 1787 годах [A Map Representing Part of the Western Coast of America from the Alaska Peninsula to Nootka Bay based on the Latest Discoveries made by Russian and English Navigators in the years 1784, 1786 and 1787], shows the Pacific coast of North America, from the base of the Alaska Peninsula, in the northwest, down the just past Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, in the southeast. The depiction of the Alaska coast is, in some ways, more advanced than that of Map 42B, especially with respect to its portrayal of places like the Kodiak Archipelago and Prince William Sound. The BC Coast shows an awareness of the discoveries of George Dixon and Nathaniel Portlock (1786-7), especially with regards to the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) and vicinity. The mapping of north-central Siberia showcased by Map No. 41. Карта Тобольской губернии из 16 уездов [Map of the Tobolsk Province of 16 Counties], is quite interesting, capturing such details as the locations of villages, winter encampments, fortresses, monasteries, mines, salt and fishing works, and the routes of the exploration expeditions of Stepan Malygin (1734-5), Aleksei Ivanovich Skuratov (1734-5), Dmitry Ovtsyn (1735), Muraviev & Pavlov (1737) and Fedor Rozmyslov (1768), while also noting the place where Willem Barents’s expedition wintered in 1596. Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht: Leading Russian Cartographer of the Enlightnement Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht [Александр Михайлович Вильбрехт] (1757 - 1823) was a cartographer, geographer, astronomer and mathematician, who was the most important mapmaker in the Russian Empire during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and generally a major force in Enlightenment science in the country. Born to an affluent St. Peterburg family, of partial German ancestry, Wilbrecht studied at the Academy of Arts and the School of the Army Noble Corps. After his graduation, he became a map draughtsman at the Geographical Department of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, before working in more senior roles at the Geographical Department of the Cabinet, the Military Topographic Depot, and the Geographical Department of the Ministry of Education. Wilbrecht came to the personal attention of Catherine the Great and, in 1785, was appointed to head the Higher School of Mathematics of the Imperial Mining School, as well as being the Chief Geographer of the Geographical Department of the Cabinet of Her Imperial Majesty. In these capacities, Wilbrecht’s greatest achievement was the present atlas of the Russian Empire (1792, 1800), with other highlights including his important map of the North Pacific, Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [A Map Representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and the English Captain Cook] (1787); Карта театра войны Российской империи против шведов сочиненная [Map of the Theatre of War of the Russian Empire against the Swedes, Composed] (1789); and the Подробная карта Российской империи и близлежащих заграничных владений [A Detailed Map of the Russian Empire and nearby Foreign Possessions] (1804, revised 1816), nicknamed the “Stolist Map” a colossal 100-sheet map of the European Russia. As the Russia’s leading geographic educator, Wilbrecht published the important works Новый Атлас или собрание карт всех частей земного шара, почерпнутый из разных сочинителей и напечатанный в Санкт-Петербурге для употребления Юношества в 1793 году при Горном училище [The New Atlas or a Collection of Maps of all Parts of the Globe, drawn from Different Writers and Printed in St. Petersburg for the Use of Youth in 1793 at the Mining School] (1793) and Атлас Российской империи изданной для употребления юношества [Atlas of the Russian Empire published for the Use of the Youth] (1794). Late in life, Wilbrecht became the Director of the Military Topographic Depot, whereupon he introduced top-notch scientific cartography to the Russian Army. A Note on Rarity The atlas, in either the 1792 or 1800 editions, and its intermediate variations, is very rare, especially as complete with all maps as called for in the registers. While there are surely several complete examples of the atlas in various Russian institutions, the only complete example of the 1800 edition we could is trace is held by the National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg). Outside of Russia, the only complete examples of the atlas we can locate are two 1792 editions, held by the Royal Geographical Society and the Beinecke Library (Yale University), although it is possible that there could be a couple more examples that are not properly catalogued online. Incomplete examples of the 1792 edition are held by the Harvard University Library, British Library and the National Library of Scotland, while an incomplete example of the 1800 edition is held by the University of California-Berkeley. The only complete example of the atlas we can trace as having been on the market since 1969 is for an example of the 1792 edition, sold in 2006 at Bonhams’s New York. A substantially incomplete example of the 1792 edition, with only 30 maps, was sold at Sotheby’s London in 2019. (Alexander Johnson/Dasa Pahor, 2023), National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg): К 1-Росс 8/14; cf. [1792 ed.:] 1792: Royal Geographical Society: mr 1.C.112, Beinecke Library (Yale University): 1976 Folio 105; Leo BAGROW, ed. Henry W. Castner, A History of Russian Cartography up to 1800 (Wolfe Island, Ontario: Walker Press, 1975), Part V, pp. 212, 215.

"Folio Atlas, but here with Complete Contents contemporarily left unbound and presented as 47 separate copper engraved leaves, each with contemporary pink paper edging. Extremely rare and historically important – the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire, being the second edition of the work, made on the orders of Czar Paul I to present his new jurisdictional reforms, created by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, the Chief Geographer and Cartographer to the Imperial Court, from the best sources and surveys, a complete example with 43 maps and 2 preliminary leaves, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the Russian Empire with an important inset depicting the Gulf of Alaska and northern British Columbia coasts, dozens of maps of individual Russian ‘gubernia’ (provinces) of unprecedented accuracy, as well as a map focusing upon Alaska and Kamchatka predicated upon intelligence gained from numerous Russian and British exploring expeditions; all maps beautifully decorated with allegorical cartouches, with text in Russian Cyrillic, published in St. Petersburg by the Czar’s Geographical Department; an extraordinary example clearly never bound, but preserved ‘in plano’ with all leaves with original outline hand colour and contemporary pink paper edging. This work is the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire (which then included Alaska), and one of the foundational monuments of Russian scientific cartography and geographic intelligence. It is the revised second edition of a work first issued in 1792, and was made by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, an exceedingly talented geographer, cartographer, mathematician and astronomer, who was the chief geographer and mapmaker to the Imperial Court. This revised edition of the atlas was created on the orders of Czar Paul I especially to show the empire’s new internal jurisdictions which were imposed per his reforms. The folio atlas features 43 maps, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the entire Russian Empire featuring an inset bearing a historically significant map depicting Alaska and much of the coast of British Columbia; individual maps of all of Russia’s first-level jurisdictions predicated upon the best surveys and sources; plus, a large format map of Kamchatka, Alaska and the northern BC Coast, predated upon intelligence from ground-breaking exploring expeditions. All maps are beautifully adored with allegorical cartouches that portray Russia to be a powerful, autocratic state, enlightened by science, culture and commerce, and which vanquishes its enemies. The present example of the atlas is complete, featuring 47 engraved leaves (2 preliminaries, and 43 maps on 45 leaves – the maximum called for); however, it was clearly never bound (the sheets are of dissonant sizes), with the borders of each sheet contemporarily edged with pink paper, allowing the maps to be conveniently enjoyed in plano. The first edition of the atlas, Российский атлас, из сорока четырёх карт состоящий и на сорок два наместничества империю разделяющий [Russian Atlas, consisting of Forty- Four Maps and dividing the Empire into Forty-Two Vice-royalties] (1792), was created by Wilbrecht on the orders of Empress Catherine II the Great (r. 1762-96) to show the new internal jurisdictions of the Russian Empire as imposed by her decree, ‘Institutions for the Management of the Provinces’ (November 7, 1775). Changing the nature and boundaries of the first-level jurisdictions in Russa was not simply a bureaucratic matter, but rather it had a profound impact upon land rights, taxation and economic and infrastructure development. Catherine II’s jurisdictional reforms, which were fully implemented in 1785, saw the empire divided into 38 наместничества (namestnichestva / vice-royalties), 3 provinces, 1 region and 1 special autonomous entity (governed by the Don Cossacks). During the 1790s, Catherine ordered further revisions to the Russian jurisdictions, such that upon her death, in 1796, the empire had 48 namestnichestva. The Wilbrecht atlas was only the second official atlas of the Russian Empire, having been preceded only by the Imperial Academy of Sciences’s Атлас Российской, состоящий из девятнадцати специальных карт… [The Russian Atlas, consisting of Nineteen Special Maps…] (St. Petersburg, 1745), which while a triumph in its time, by the 1790s was considered so outdated as to be practically obsolete. Catherine II’s son and successor, Czar Paul I (r. 1796 - 1801), a clinically insane ruler (who was eventually murdered on the orders of his own son!) absolutely despised his mother and went to great efforts to erase or change virtually anything that he attributed to her rule – including her jurisdictional reforms. He dissolved the 51 namestnichestva and converted them into 42 губе́рния (gubernia / provinces), an act which had significant effects upon public affairs across the empire. Paul I’s jurisdictional reforms naturally made the 1792 Wilbrecht atlas in good measure obsolete. The present 1800 edition of the atlas features largely the same maps and topographical content but sees the plates heavily reworked to show the new jurisdictions, with the titles altered accordingly (ex. on the Title Page and on Map no. 1, Catherine II’s cypher had been replaced by that of Paul I). The atlas fully preserves its important depictions of the Alaska and the northern BC coasts. To clear up any confusion, in the period between 1792 and 1800, Wilbrecht seemingly issued many of the atlas’s constituent maps separately, while groupings of maps were consolidated into what seems to have been atlas factice, such that many surviving examples of the atlas, even some held by elite institutions, are today found incomplete. Thus, the present example is notable for being complete with the maximum number of maps called for. * While the present example of the Wilbrecht Atlas is not bound, it features all the contents as called for, including: 1 Title Page, 1 Contents Register, and 43 maps (1 of which is comprised of 3 un-joined sheets). Some Highlights of the Atlas All the maps in the atlas are of very high quality, and the individual maps of the gubernia are the finest and, in many cases, the first accurate maps of these regions. They are predicated upon a composite of sources, in some cases, good scientific surveys, while accompanied by spectacular iconographic adornment. From an international perspective, the most significant elements are the depictions of the Russian Far East, Russian America (Alaska), and the adjacent coastlines of what is today British Columbia, as the true scientific conception of these regions was then emerging due to on-going exploring expeditions conducted by both Russian and British mariners. Map no. 42B., Восточная часть Иркутской губернии с прилежащими островами и западным берегом Америки [The Eastern Part of the Irkutsk Province with Adjacent Islands and the Western Coast of America], showcases a historically important depiction of Alaska and Kamchatka, derived from expeditions ranging from the 1720s to the 1780s. It is derived from Wilbrecht’s separately issued Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [Map representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and of the English Captain Cook] (1787), although its projection is quite different. For the littoral areas of Alaska, the map shows a sophisticated awareness of the pre-Cook Russian expeditions of Vitus Bering, Aleksei Chirikov, Pyotyr Krenitsyn and Martin Spanberg, etc., while fully embracing the discoveries from Cook’s Third Voyage (1778-9). The map also presents recent revelations due to the likes of Gerasim Ismailov, who discovered the Kenai Peninsula, and Dimitry Bocharov’s exploration of Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula. In the deep interior (in the modern Northwest Territories), the map shows the discoveries of Samuel Hearn. In a similar vein, the inset on Map No. 1 (the general map of the Russian Empire), Карта представляющая частьзападного берега Америки от полуострова Аляски до залива Нутки положеннаго по новейшим открытиям зделанным Российскими и Английскими мореплавателями в 1784, 1786 и 1787 годах [A Map Representing Part of the Western Coast of America from the Alaska Peninsula to Nootka Bay based on the Latest Discoveries made by Russian and English Navigators in the years 1784, 1786 and 1787], shows the Pacific coast of North America, from the base of the Alaska Peninsula, in the northwest, down the just past Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, in the southeast. The depiction of the Alaska coast is, in some ways, more advanced than that of Map 42B, especially with respect to its portrayal of places like the Kodiak Archipelago and Prince William Sound. The BC Coast shows an awareness of the discoveries of George Dixon and Nathaniel Portlock (1786-7), especially with regards to the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) and vicinity. The mapping of north-central Siberia showcased by Map No. 41. Карта Тобольской губернии из 16 уездов [Map of the Tobolsk Province of 16 Counties], is quite interesting, capturing such details as the locations of villages, winter encampments, fortresses, monasteries, mines, salt and fishing works, and the routes of the exploration expeditions of Stepan Malygin (1734-5), Aleksei Ivanovich Skuratov (1734-5), Dmitry Ovtsyn (1735), Muraviev & Pavlov (1737) and Fedor Rozmyslov (1768), while also noting the place where Willem Barents’s expedition wintered in 1596. Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht: Leading Russian Cartographer of the Enlightnement Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht [Александр Михайлович Вильбрехт] (1757 - 1823) was a cartographer, geographer, astronomer and mathematician, who was the most important mapmaker in the Russian Empire during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and generally a major force in Enlightenment science in the country. Born to an affluent St. Peterburg family, of partial German ancestry, Wilbrecht studied at the Academy of Arts and the School of the Army Noble Corps. After his graduation, he became a map draughtsman at the Geographical Department of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, before working in more senior roles at the Geographical Department of the Cabinet, the Military Topographic Depot, and the Geographical Department of the Ministry of Education. Wilbrecht came to the personal attention of Catherine the Great and, in 1785, was appointed to head the Higher School of Mathematics of the Imperial Mining School, as well as being the Chief Geographer of the Geographical Department of the Cabinet of Her Imperial Majesty. In these capacities, Wilbrecht’s greatest achievement was the present atlas of the Russian Empire (1792, 1800), with other highlights including his important map of the North Pacific, Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [A Map Representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and the English Captain Cook] (1787); Карта театра войны Российской империи против шведов сочиненная [Map of the Theatre of War of the Russian Empire against the Swedes, Composed] (1789); and the Подробная карта Российской империи и близлежащих заграничных владений [A Detailed Map of the Russian Empire and nearby Foreign Possessions] (1804, revised 1816), nicknamed the “Stolist Map” a colossal 100-sheet map of the European Russia. As the Russia’s leading geographic educator, Wilbrecht published the important works Новый Атлас или собрание карт всех частей земного шара, почерпнутый из разных сочинителей и напечатанный в Санкт-Петербурге для употребления Юношества в 1793 году при Горном училище [The New Atlas or a Collection of Maps of all Parts of the Globe, drawn from Different Writers and Printed in St. Petersburg for the Use of Youth in 1793 at the Mining School] (1793) and Атлас Российской империи изданной для употребления юношества [Atlas of the Russian Empire published for the Use of the Youth] (1794). Late in life, Wilbrecht became the Director of the Military Topographic Depot, whereupon he introduced top-notch scientific cartography to the Russian Army. A Note on Rarity The atlas, in either the 1792 or 1800 editions, and its intermediate variations, is very rare, especially as complete with all maps as called for in the registers. While there are surely several complete examples of the atlas in various Russian institutions, the only complete example of the 1800 edition we could is trace is held by the National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg). Outside of Russia, the only complete examples of the atlas we can locate are two 1792 editions, held by the Royal Geographical Society and the Beinecke Library (Yale University), although it is possible that there could be a couple more examples that are not properly catalogued online. Incomplete examples of the 1792 edition are held by the Harvard University Library, British Library and the National Library of Scotland, while an incomplete example of the 1800 edition is held by the University of California-Berkeley. The only complete example of the atlas we can trace as having been on the market since 1969 is for an example of the 1792 edition, sold in 2006 at Bonhams’s New York. A substantially incomplete example of the 1792 edition, with only 30 maps, was sold at Sotheby’s London in 2019. (Alexander Johnson/Dasa Pahor, 2023), National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg): К 1-Росс 8/14; cf. [1792 ed.:] 1792: Royal Geographical Society: mr 1.C.112, Beinecke Library (Yale University): 1976 Folio 105; Leo BAGROW, ed. Henry W. Castner, A History of Russian Cartography up to 1800 (Wolfe Island, Ontario: Walker Press, 1975), Part V, pp. 212, 215.

"Folio Atlas, but here with Complete Contents contemporarily left unbound and presented as 47 separate copper engraved leaves, each with contemporary pink paper edging. Extremely rare and historically important – the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire, being the second edition of the work, made on the orders of Czar Paul I to present his new jurisdictional reforms, created by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, the Chief Geographer and Cartographer to the Imperial Court, from the best sources and surveys, a complete example with 43 maps and 2 preliminary leaves, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the Russian Empire with an important inset depicting the Gulf of Alaska and northern British Columbia coasts, dozens of maps of individual Russian ‘gubernia’ (provinces) of unprecedented accuracy, as well as a map focusing upon Alaska and Kamchatka predicated upon intelligence gained from numerous Russian and British exploring expeditions; all maps beautifully decorated with allegorical cartouches, with text in Russian Cyrillic, published in St. Petersburg by the Czar’s Geographical Department; an extraordinary example clearly never bound, but preserved ‘in plano’ with all leaves with original outline hand colour and contemporary pink paper edging. This work is the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire (which then included Alaska), and one of the foundational monuments of Russian scientific cartography and geographic intelligence. It is the revised second edition of a work first issued in 1792, and was made by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, an exceedingly talented geographer, cartographer, mathematician and astronomer, who was the chief geographer and mapmaker to the Imperial Court. This revised edition of the atlas was created on the orders of Czar Paul I especially to show the empire’s new internal jurisdictions which were imposed per his reforms. The folio atlas features 43 maps, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the entire Russian Empire featuring an inset bearing a historically significant map depicting Alaska and much of the coast of British Columbia; individual maps of all of Russia’s first-level jurisdictions predicated upon the best surveys and sources; plus, a large format map of Kamchatka, Alaska and the northern BC Coast, predated upon intelligence from ground-breaking exploring expeditions. All maps are beautifully adored with allegorical cartouches that portray Russia to be a powerful, autocratic state, enlightened by science, culture and commerce, and which vanquishes its enemies. The present example of the atlas is complete, featuring 47 engraved leaves (2 preliminaries, and 43 maps on 45 leaves – the maximum called for); however, it was clearly never bound (the sheets are of dissonant sizes), with the borders of each sheet contemporarily edged with pink paper, allowing the maps to be conveniently enjoyed in plano. The first edition of the atlas, Российский атлас, из сорока четырёх карт состоящий и на сорок два наместничества империю разделяющий [Russian Atlas, consisting of Forty- Four Maps and dividing the Empire into Forty-Two Vice-royalties] (1792), was created by Wilbrecht on the orders of Empress Catherine II the Great (r. 1762-96) to show the new internal jurisdictions of the Russian Empire as imposed by her decree, ‘Institutions for the Management of the Provinces’ (November 7, 1775). Changing the nature and boundaries of the first-level jurisdictions in Russa was not simply a bureaucratic matter, but rather it had a profound impact upon land rights, taxation and economic and infrastructure development. Catherine II’s jurisdictional reforms, which were fully implemented in 1785, saw the empire divided into 38 наместничества (namestnichestva / vice-royalties), 3 provinces, 1 region and 1 special autonomous entity (governed by the Don Cossacks). During the 1790s, Catherine ordered further revisions to the Russian jurisdictions, such that upon her death, in 1796, the empire had 48 namestnichestva. The Wilbrecht atlas was only the second official atlas of the Russian Empire, having been preceded only by the Imperial Academy of Sciences’s Атлас Российской, состоящий из девятнадцати специальных карт… [The Russian Atlas, consisting of Nineteen Special Maps…] (St. Petersburg, 1745), which while a triumph in its time, by the 1790s was considered so outdated as to be practically obsolete. Catherine II’s son and successor, Czar Paul I (r. 1796 - 1801), a clinically insane ruler (who was eventually murdered on the orders of his own son!) absolutely despised his mother and went to great efforts to erase or change virtually anything that he attributed to her rule – including her jurisdictional reforms. He dissolved the 51 namestnichestva and converted them into 42 губе́рния (gubernia / provinces), an act which had significant effects upon public affairs across the empire. Paul I’s jurisdictional reforms naturally made the 1792 Wilbrecht atlas in good measure obsolete. The present 1800 edition of the atlas features largely the same maps and topographical content but sees the plates heavily reworked to show the new jurisdictions, with the titles altered accordingly (ex. on the Title Page and on Map no. 1, Catherine II’s cypher had been replaced by that of Paul I). The atlas fully preserves its important depictions of the Alaska and the northern BC coasts. To clear up any confusion, in the period between 1792 and 1800, Wilbrecht seemingly issued many of the atlas’s constituent maps separately, while groupings of maps were consolidated into what seems to have been atlas factice, such that many surviving examples of the atlas, even some held by elite institutions, are today found incomplete. Thus, the present example is notable for being complete with the maximum number of maps called for. * While the present example of the Wilbrecht Atlas is not bound, it features all the contents as called for, including: 1 Title Page, 1 Contents Register, and 43 maps (1 of which is comprised of 3 un-joined sheets). Some Highlights of the Atlas All the maps in the atlas are of very high quality, and the individual maps of the gubernia are the finest and, in many cases, the first accurate maps of these regions. They are predicated upon a composite of sources, in some cases, good scientific surveys, while accompanied by spectacular iconographic adornment. From an international perspective, the most significant elements are the depictions of the Russian Far East, Russian America (Alaska), and the adjacent coastlines of what is today British Columbia, as the true scientific conception of these regions was then emerging due to on-going exploring expeditions conducted by both Russian and British mariners. Map no. 42B., Восточная часть Иркутской губернии с прилежащими островами и западным берегом Америки [The Eastern Part of the Irkutsk Province with Adjacent Islands and the Western Coast of America], showcases a historically important depiction of Alaska and Kamchatka, derived from expeditions ranging from the 1720s to the 1780s. It is derived from Wilbrecht’s separately issued Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [Map representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and of the English Captain Cook] (1787), although its projection is quite different. For the littoral areas of Alaska, the map shows a sophisticated awareness of the pre-Cook Russian expeditions of Vitus Bering, Aleksei Chirikov, Pyotyr Krenitsyn and Martin Spanberg, etc., while fully embracing the discoveries from Cook’s Third Voyage (1778-9). The map also presents recent revelations due to the likes of Gerasim Ismailov, who discovered the Kenai Peninsula, and Dimitry Bocharov’s exploration of Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula. In the deep interior (in the modern Northwest Territories), the map shows the discoveries of Samuel Hearn. In a similar vein, the inset on Map No. 1 (the general map of the Russian Empire), Карта представляющая частьзападного берега Америки от полуострова Аляски до залива Нутки положеннаго по новейшим открытиям зделанным Российскими и Английскими мореплавателями в 1784, 1786 и 1787 годах [A Map Representing Part of the Western Coast of America from the Alaska Peninsula to Nootka Bay based on the Latest Discoveries made by Russian and English Navigators in the years 1784, 1786 and 1787], shows the Pacific coast of North America, from the base of the Alaska Peninsula, in the northwest, down the just past Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, in the southeast. The depiction of the Alaska coast is, in some ways, more advanced than that of Map 42B, especially with respect to its portrayal of places like the Kodiak Archipelago and Prince William Sound. The BC Coast shows an awareness of the discoveries of George Dixon and Nathaniel Portlock (1786-7), especially with regards to the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) and vicinity. The mapping of north-central Siberia showcased by Map No. 41. Карта Тобольской губернии из 16 уездов [Map of the Tobolsk Province of 16 Counties], is quite interesting, capturing such details as the locations of villages, winter encampments, fortresses, monasteries, mines, salt and fishing works, and the routes of the exploration expeditions of Stepan Malygin (1734-5), Aleksei Ivanovich Skuratov (1734-5), Dmitry Ovtsyn (1735), Muraviev & Pavlov (1737) and Fedor Rozmyslov (1768), while also noting the place where Willem Barents’s expedition wintered in 1596. Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht: Leading Russian Cartographer of the Enlightnement Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht [Александр Михайлович Вильбрехт] (1757 - 1823) was a cartographer, geographer, astronomer and mathematician, who was the most important mapmaker in the Russian Empire during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and generally a major force in Enlightenment science in the country. Born to an affluent St. Peterburg family, of partial German ancestry, Wilbrecht studied at the Academy of Arts and the School of the Army Noble Corps. After his graduation, he became a map draughtsman at the Geographical Department of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, before working in more senior roles at the Geographical Department of the Cabinet, the Military Topographic Depot, and the Geographical Department of the Ministry of Education. Wilbrecht came to the personal attention of Catherine the Great and, in 1785, was appointed to head the Higher School of Mathematics of the Imperial Mining School, as well as being the Chief Geographer of the Geographical Department of the Cabinet of Her Imperial Majesty. In these capacities, Wilbrecht’s greatest achievement was the present atlas of the Russian Empire (1792, 1800), with other highlights including his important map of the North Pacific, Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [A Map Representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and the English Captain Cook] (1787); Карта театра войны Российской империи против шведов сочиненная [Map of the Theatre of War of the Russian Empire against the Swedes, Composed] (1789); and the Подробная карта Российской империи и близлежащих заграничных владений [A Detailed Map of the Russian Empire and nearby Foreign Possessions] (1804, revised 1816), nicknamed the “Stolist Map” a colossal 100-sheet map of the European Russia. As the Russia’s leading geographic educator, Wilbrecht published the important works Новый Атлас или собрание карт всех частей земного шара, почерпнутый из разных сочинителей и напечатанный в Санкт-Петербурге для употребления Юношества в 1793 году при Горном училище [The New Atlas or a Collection of Maps of all Parts of the Globe, drawn from Different Writers and Printed in St. Petersburg for the Use of Youth in 1793 at the Mining School] (1793) and Атлас Российской империи изданной для употребления юношества [Atlas of the Russian Empire published for the Use of the Youth] (1794). Late in life, Wilbrecht became the Director of the Military Topographic Depot, whereupon he introduced top-notch scientific cartography to the Russian Army. A Note on Rarity The atlas, in either the 1792 or 1800 editions, and its intermediate variations, is very rare, especially as complete with all maps as called for in the registers. While there are surely several complete examples of the atlas in various Russian institutions, the only complete example of the 1800 edition we could is trace is held by the National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg). Outside of Russia, the only complete examples of the atlas we can locate are two 1792 editions, held by the Royal Geographical Society and the Beinecke Library (Yale University), although it is possible that there could be a couple more examples that are not properly catalogued online. Incomplete examples of the 1792 edition are held by the Harvard University Library, British Library and the National Library of Scotland, while an incomplete example of the 1800 edition is held by the University of California-Berkeley. The only complete example of the atlas we can trace as having been on the market since 1969 is for an example of the 1792 edition, sold in 2006 at Bonhams’s New York. A substantially incomplete example of the 1792 edition, with only 30 maps, was sold at Sotheby’s London in 2019. (Alexander Johnson/Dasa Pahor, 2023), National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg): К 1-Росс 8/14; cf. [1792 ed.:] 1792: Royal Geographical Society: mr 1.C.112, Beinecke Library (Yale University): 1976 Folio 105; Leo BAGROW, ed. Henry W. Castner, A History of Russian Cartography up to 1800 (Wolfe Island, Ontario: Walker Press, 1975), Part V, pp. 212, 215.

"Folio Atlas, but here with Complete Contents contemporarily left unbound and presented as 47 separate copper engraved leaves, each with contemporary pink paper edging. Extremely rare and historically important – the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire, being the second edition of the work, made on the orders of Czar Paul I to present his new jurisdictional reforms, created by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, the Chief Geographer and Cartographer to the Imperial Court, from the best sources and surveys, a complete example with 43 maps and 2 preliminary leaves, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the Russian Empire with an important inset depicting the Gulf of Alaska and northern British Columbia coasts, dozens of maps of individual Russian ‘gubernia’ (provinces) of unprecedented accuracy, as well as a map focusing upon Alaska and Kamchatka predicated upon intelligence gained from numerous Russian and British exploring expeditions; all maps beautifully decorated with allegorical cartouches, with text in Russian Cyrillic, published in St. Petersburg by the Czar’s Geographical Department; an extraordinary example clearly never bound, but preserved ‘in plano’ with all leaves with original outline hand colour and contemporary pink paper edging. This work is the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire (which then included Alaska), and one of the foundational monuments of Russian scientific cartography and geographic intelligence. It is the revised second edition of a work first issued in 1792, and was made by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, an exceedingly talented geographer, cartographer, mathematician and astronomer, who was the chief geographer and mapmaker to the Imperial Court. This revised edition of the atlas was created on the orders of Czar Paul I especially to show the empire’s new internal jurisdictions which were imposed per his reforms. The folio atlas features 43 maps, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the entire Russian Empire featuring an inset bearing a historically significant map depicting Alaska and much of the coast of British Columbia; individual maps of all of Russia’s first-level jurisdictions predicated upon the best surveys and sources; plus, a large format map of Kamchatka, Alaska and the northern BC Coast, predated upon intelligence from ground-breaking exploring expeditions. All maps are beautifully adored with allegorical cartouches that portray Russia to be a powerful, autocratic state, enlightened by science, culture and commerce, and which vanquishes its enemies. The present example of the atlas is complete, featuring 47 engraved leaves (2 preliminaries, and 43 maps on 45 leaves – the maximum called for); however, it was clearly never bound (the sheets are of dissonant sizes), with the borders of each sheet contemporarily edged with pink paper, allowing the maps to be conveniently enjoyed in plano. The first edition of the atlas, Российский атлас, из сорока четырёх карт состоящий и на сорок два наместничества империю разделяющий [Russian Atlas, consisting of Forty- Four Maps and dividing the Empire into Forty-Two Vice-royalties] (1792), was created by Wilbrecht on the orders of Empress Catherine II the Great (r. 1762-96) to show the new internal jurisdictions of the Russian Empire as imposed by her decree, ‘Institutions for the Management of the Provinces’ (November 7, 1775). Changing the nature and boundaries of the first-level jurisdictions in Russa was not simply a bureaucratic matter, but rather it had a profound impact upon land rights, taxation and economic and infrastructure development. Catherine II’s jurisdictional reforms, which were fully implemented in 1785, saw the empire divided into 38 наместничества (namestnichestva / vice-royalties), 3 provinces, 1 region and 1 special autonomous entity (governed by the Don Cossacks). During the 1790s, Catherine ordered further revisions to the Russian jurisdictions, such that upon her death, in 1796, the empire had 48 namestnichestva. The Wilbrecht atlas was only the second official atlas of the Russian Empire, having been preceded only by the Imperial Academy of Sciences’s Атлас Российской, состоящий из девятнадцати специальных карт… [The Russian Atlas, consisting of Nineteen Special Maps…] (St. Petersburg, 1745), which while a triumph in its time, by the 1790s was considered so outdated as to be practically obsolete. Catherine II’s son and successor, Czar Paul I (r. 1796 - 1801), a clinically insane ruler (who was eventually murdered on the orders of his own son!) absolutely despised his mother and went to great efforts to erase or change virtually anything that he attributed to her rule – including her jurisdictional reforms. He dissolved the 51 namestnichestva and converted them into 42 губе́рния (gubernia / provinces), an act which had significant effects upon public affairs across the empire. Paul I’s jurisdictional reforms naturally made the 1792 Wilbrecht atlas in good measure obsolete. The present 1800 edition of the atlas features largely the same maps and topographical content but sees the plates heavily reworked to show the new jurisdictions, with the titles altered accordingly (ex. on the Title Page and on Map no. 1, Catherine II’s cypher had been replaced by that of Paul I). The atlas fully preserves its important depictions of the Alaska and the northern BC coasts. To clear up any confusion, in the period between 1792 and 1800, Wilbrecht seemingly issued many of the atlas’s constituent maps separately, while groupings of maps were consolidated into what seems to have been atlas factice, such that many surviving examples of the atlas, even some held by elite institutions, are today found incomplete. Thus, the present example is notable for being complete with the maximum number of maps called for. * While the present example of the Wilbrecht Atlas is not bound, it features all the contents as called for, including: 1 Title Page, 1 Contents Register, and 43 maps (1 of which is comprised of 3 un-joined sheets). Some Highlights of the Atlas All the maps in the atlas are of very high quality, and the individual maps of the gubernia are the finest and, in many cases, the first accurate maps of these regions. They are predicated upon a composite of sources, in some cases, good scientific surveys, while accompanied by spectacular iconographic adornment. From an international perspective, the most significant elements are the depictions of the Russian Far East, Russian America (Alaska), and the adjacent coastlines of what is today British Columbia, as the true scientific conception of these regions was then emerging due to on-going exploring expeditions conducted by both Russian and British mariners. Map no. 42B., Восточная часть Иркутской губернии с прилежащими островами и западным берегом Америки [The Eastern Part of the Irkutsk Province with Adjacent Islands and the Western Coast of America], showcases a historically important depiction of Alaska and Kamchatka, derived from expeditions ranging from the 1720s to the 1780s. It is derived from Wilbrecht’s separately issued Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [Map representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and of the English Captain Cook] (1787), although its projection is quite different. For the littoral areas of Alaska, the map shows a sophisticated awareness of the pre-Cook Russian expeditions of Vitus Bering, Aleksei Chirikov, Pyotyr Krenitsyn and Martin Spanberg, etc., while fully embracing the discoveries from Cook’s Third Voyage (1778-9). The map also presents recent revelations due to the likes of Gerasim Ismailov, who discovered the Kenai Peninsula, and Dimitry Bocharov’s exploration of Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula. In the deep interior (in the modern Northwest Territories), the map shows the discoveries of Samuel Hearn. In a similar vein, the inset on Map No. 1 (the general map of the Russian Empire), Карта представляющая частьзападного берега Америки от полуострова Аляски до залива Нутки положеннаго по новейшим открытиям зделанным Российскими и Английскими мореплавателями в 1784, 1786 и 1787 годах [A Map Representing Part of the Western Coast of America from the Alaska Peninsula to Nootka Bay based on the Latest Discoveries made by Russian and English Navigators in the years 1784, 1786 and 1787], shows the Pacific coast of North America, from the base of the Alaska Peninsula, in the northwest, down the just past Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, in the southeast. The depiction of the Alaska coast is, in some ways, more advanced than that of Map 42B, especially with respect to its portrayal of places like the Kodiak Archipelago and Prince William Sound. The BC Coast shows an awareness of the discoveries of George Dixon and Nathaniel Portlock (1786-7), especially with regards to the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) and vicinity. The mapping of north-central Siberia showcased by Map No. 41. Карта Тобольской губернии из 16 уездов [Map of the Tobolsk Province of 16 Counties], is quite interesting, capturing such details as the locations of villages, winter encampments, fortresses, monasteries, mines, salt and fishing works, and the routes of the exploration expeditions of Stepan Malygin (1734-5), Aleksei Ivanovich Skuratov (1734-5), Dmitry Ovtsyn (1735), Muraviev & Pavlov (1737) and Fedor Rozmyslov (1768), while also noting the place where Willem Barents’s expedition wintered in 1596. Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht: Leading Russian Cartographer of the Enlightnement Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht [Александр Михайлович Вильбрехт] (1757 - 1823) was a cartographer, geographer, astronomer and mathematician, who was the most important mapmaker in the Russian Empire during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and generally a major force in Enlightenment science in the country. Born to an affluent St. Peterburg family, of partial German ancestry, Wilbrecht studied at the Academy of Arts and the School of the Army Noble Corps. After his graduation, he became a map draughtsman at the Geographical Department of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, before working in more senior roles at the Geographical Department of the Cabinet, the Military Topographic Depot, and the Geographical Department of the Ministry of Education. Wilbrecht came to the personal attention of Catherine the Great and, in 1785, was appointed to head the Higher School of Mathematics of the Imperial Mining School, as well as being the Chief Geographer of the Geographical Department of the Cabinet of Her Imperial Majesty. In these capacities, Wilbrecht’s greatest achievement was the present atlas of the Russian Empire (1792, 1800), with other highlights including his important map of the North Pacific, Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [A Map Representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and the English Captain Cook] (1787); Карта театра войны Российской империи против шведов сочиненная [Map of the Theatre of War of the Russian Empire against the Swedes, Composed] (1789); and the Подробная карта Российской империи и близлежащих заграничных владений [A Detailed Map of the Russian Empire and nearby Foreign Possessions] (1804, revised 1816), nicknamed the “Stolist Map” a colossal 100-sheet map of the European Russia. As the Russia’s leading geographic educator, Wilbrecht published the important works Новый Атлас или собрание карт всех частей земного шара, почерпнутый из разных сочинителей и напечатанный в Санкт-Петербурге для употребления Юношества в 1793 году при Горном училище [The New Atlas or a Collection of Maps of all Parts of the Globe, drawn from Different Writers and Printed in St. Petersburg for the Use of Youth in 1793 at the Mining School] (1793) and Атлас Российской империи изданной для употребления юношества [Atlas of the Russian Empire published for the Use of the Youth] (1794). Late in life, Wilbrecht became the Director of the Military Topographic Depot, whereupon he introduced top-notch scientific cartography to the Russian Army. A Note on Rarity The atlas, in either the 1792 or 1800 editions, and its intermediate variations, is very rare, especially as complete with all maps as called for in the registers. While there are surely several complete examples of the atlas in various Russian institutions, the only complete example of the 1800 edition we could is trace is held by the National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg). Outside of Russia, the only complete examples of the atlas we can locate are two 1792 editions, held by the Royal Geographical Society and the Beinecke Library (Yale University), although it is possible that there could be a couple more examples that are not properly catalogued online. Incomplete examples of the 1792 edition are held by the Harvard University Library, British Library and the National Library of Scotland, while an incomplete example of the 1800 edition is held by the University of California-Berkeley. The only complete example of the atlas we can trace as having been on the market since 1969 is for an example of the 1792 edition, sold in 2006 at Bonhams’s New York. A substantially incomplete example of the 1792 edition, with only 30 maps, was sold at Sotheby’s London in 2019. (Alexander Johnson/Dasa Pahor, 2023), National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg): К 1-Росс 8/14; cf. [1792 ed.:] 1792: Royal Geographical Society: mr 1.C.112, Beinecke Library (Yale University): 1976 Folio 105; Leo BAGROW, ed. Henry W. Castner, A History of Russian Cartography up to 1800 (Wolfe Island, Ontario: Walker Press, 1975), Part V, pp. 212, 215.

"Folio Atlas, but here with Complete Contents contemporarily left unbound and presented as 47 separate copper engraved leaves, each with contemporary pink paper edging. Extremely rare and historically important – the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire, being the second edition of the work, made on the orders of Czar Paul I to present his new jurisdictional reforms, created by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, the Chief Geographer and Cartographer to the Imperial Court, from the best sources and surveys, a complete example with 43 maps and 2 preliminary leaves, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the Russian Empire with an important inset depicting the Gulf of Alaska and northern British Columbia coasts, dozens of maps of individual Russian ‘gubernia’ (provinces) of unprecedented accuracy, as well as a map focusing upon Alaska and Kamchatka predicated upon intelligence gained from numerous Russian and British exploring expeditions; all maps beautifully decorated with allegorical cartouches, with text in Russian Cyrillic, published in St. Petersburg by the Czar’s Geographical Department; an extraordinary example clearly never bound, but preserved ‘in plano’ with all leaves with original outline hand colour and contemporary pink paper edging. This work is the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire (which then included Alaska), and one of the foundational monuments of Russian scientific cartography and geographic intelligence. It is the revised second edition of a work first issued in 1792, and was made by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, an exceedingly talented geographer, cartographer, mathematician and astronomer, who was the chief geographer and mapmaker to the Imperial Court. This revised edition of the atlas was created on the orders of Czar Paul I especially to show the empire’s new internal jurisdictions which were imposed per his reforms. The folio atlas features 43 maps, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the entire Russian Empire featuring an inset bearing a historically significant map depicting Alaska and much of the coast of British Columbia; individual maps of all of Russia’s first-level jurisdictions predicated upon the best surveys and sources; plus, a large format map of Kamchatka, Alaska and the northern BC Coast, predated upon intelligence from ground-breaking exploring expeditions. All maps are beautifully adored with allegorical cartouches that portray Russia to be a powerful, autocratic state, enlightened by science, culture and commerce, and which vanquishes its enemies. The present example of the atlas is complete, featuring 47 engraved leaves (2 preliminaries, and 43 maps on 45 leaves – the maximum called for); however, it was clearly never bound (the sheets are of dissonant sizes), with the borders of each sheet contemporarily edged with pink paper, allowing the maps to be conveniently enjoyed in plano. The first edition of the atlas, Российский атлас, из сорока четырёх карт состоящий и на сорок два наместничества империю разделяющий [Russian Atlas, consisting of Forty- Four Maps and dividing the Empire into Forty-Two Vice-royalties] (1792), was created by Wilbrecht on the orders of Empress Catherine II the Great (r. 1762-96) to show the new internal jurisdictions of the Russian Empire as imposed by her decree, ‘Institutions for the Management of the Provinces’ (November 7, 1775). Changing the nature and boundaries of the first-level jurisdictions in Russa was not simply a bureaucratic matter, but rather it had a profound impact upon land rights, taxation and economic and infrastructure development. Catherine II’s jurisdictional reforms, which were fully implemented in 1785, saw the empire divided into 38 наместничества (namestnichestva / vice-royalties), 3 provinces, 1 region and 1 special autonomous entity (governed by the Don Cossacks). During the 1790s, Catherine ordered further revisions to the Russian jurisdictions, such that upon her death, in 1796, the empire had 48 namestnichestva. The Wilbrecht atlas was only the second official atlas of the Russian Empire, having been preceded only by the Imperial Academy of Sciences’s Атлас Российской, состоящий из девятнадцати специальных карт… [The Russian Atlas, consisting of Nineteen Special Maps…] (St. Petersburg, 1745), which while a triumph in its time, by the 1790s was considered so outdated as to be practically obsolete. Catherine II’s son and successor, Czar Paul I (r. 1796 - 1801), a clinically insane ruler (who was eventually murdered on the orders of his own son!) absolutely despised his mother and went to great efforts to erase or change virtually anything that he attributed to her rule – including her jurisdictional reforms. He dissolved the 51 namestnichestva and converted them into 42 губе́рния (gubernia / provinces), an act which had significant effects upon public affairs across the empire. Paul I’s jurisdictional reforms naturally made the 1792 Wilbrecht atlas in good measure obsolete. The present 1800 edition of the atlas features largely the same maps and topographical content but sees the plates heavily reworked to show the new jurisdictions, with the titles altered accordingly (ex. on the Title Page and on Map no. 1, Catherine II’s cypher had been replaced by that of Paul I). The atlas fully preserves its important depictions of the Alaska and the northern BC coasts. To clear up any confusion, in the period between 1792 and 1800, Wilbrecht seemingly issued many of the atlas’s constituent maps separately, while groupings of maps were consolidated into what seems to have been atlas factice, such that many surviving examples of the atlas, even some held by elite institutions, are today found incomplete. Thus, the present example is notable for being complete with the maximum number of maps called for. * While the present example of the Wilbrecht Atlas is not bound, it features all the contents as called for, including: 1 Title Page, 1 Contents Register, and 43 maps (1 of which is comprised of 3 un-joined sheets). Some Highlights of the Atlas All the maps in the atlas are of very high quality, and the individual maps of the gubernia are the finest and, in many cases, the first accurate maps of these regions. They are predicated upon a composite of sources, in some cases, good scientific surveys, while accompanied by spectacular iconographic adornment. From an international perspective, the most significant elements are the depictions of the Russian Far East, Russian America (Alaska), and the adjacent coastlines of what is today British Columbia, as the true scientific conception of these regions was then emerging due to on-going exploring expeditions conducted by both Russian and British mariners. Map no. 42B., Восточная часть Иркутской губернии с прилежащими островами и западным берегом Америки [The Eastern Part of the Irkutsk Province with Adjacent Islands and the Western Coast of America], showcases a historically important depiction of Alaska and Kamchatka, derived from expeditions ranging from the 1720s to the 1780s. It is derived from Wilbrecht’s separately issued Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [Map representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and of the English Captain Cook] (1787), although its projection is quite different. For the littoral areas of Alaska, the map shows a sophisticated awareness of the pre-Cook Russian expeditions of Vitus Bering, Aleksei Chirikov, Pyotyr Krenitsyn and Martin Spanberg, etc., while fully embracing the discoveries from Cook’s Third Voyage (1778-9). The map also presents recent revelations due to the likes of Gerasim Ismailov, who discovered the Kenai Peninsula, and Dimitry Bocharov’s exploration of Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula. In the deep interior (in the modern Northwest Territories), the map shows the discoveries of Samuel Hearn. In a similar vein, the inset on Map No. 1 (the general map of the Russian Empire), Карта представляющая частьзападного берега Америки от полуострова Аляски до залива Нутки положеннаго по новейшим открытиям зделанным Российскими и Английскими мореплавателями в 1784, 1786 и 1787 годах [A Map Representing Part of the Western Coast of America from the Alaska Peninsula to Nootka Bay based on the Latest Discoveries made by Russian and English Navigators in the years 1784, 1786 and 1787], shows the Pacific coast of North America, from the base of the Alaska Peninsula, in the northwest, down the just past Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, in the southeast. The depiction of the Alaska coast is, in some ways, more advanced than that of Map 42B, especially with respect to its portrayal of places like the Kodiak Archipelago and Prince William Sound. The BC Coast shows an awareness of the discoveries of George Dixon and Nathaniel Portlock (1786-7), especially with regards to the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) and vicinity. The mapping of north-central Siberia showcased by Map No. 41. Карта Тобольской губернии из 16 уездов [Map of the Tobolsk Province of 16 Counties], is quite interesting, capturing such details as the locations of villages, winter encampments, fortresses, monasteries, mines, salt and fishing works, and the routes of the exploration expeditions of Stepan Malygin (1734-5), Aleksei Ivanovich Skuratov (1734-5), Dmitry Ovtsyn (1735), Muraviev & Pavlov (1737) and Fedor Rozmyslov (1768), while also noting the place where Willem Barents’s expedition wintered in 1596. Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht: Leading Russian Cartographer of the Enlightnement Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht [Александр Михайлович Вильбрехт] (1757 - 1823) was a cartographer, geographer, astronomer and mathematician, who was the most important mapmaker in the Russian Empire during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and generally a major force in Enlightenment science in the country. Born to an affluent St. Peterburg family, of partial German ancestry, Wilbrecht studied at the Academy of Arts and the School of the Army Noble Corps. After his graduation, he became a map draughtsman at the Geographical Department of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, before working in more senior roles at the Geographical Department of the Cabinet, the Military Topographic Depot, and the Geographical Department of the Ministry of Education. Wilbrecht came to the personal attention of Catherine the Great and, in 1785, was appointed to head the Higher School of Mathematics of the Imperial Mining School, as well as being the Chief Geographer of the Geographical Department of the Cabinet of Her Imperial Majesty. In these capacities, Wilbrecht’s greatest achievement was the present atlas of the Russian Empire (1792, 1800), with other highlights including his important map of the North Pacific, Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [A Map Representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and the English Captain Cook] (1787); Карта театра войны Российской империи против шведов сочиненная [Map of the Theatre of War of the Russian Empire against the Swedes, Composed] (1789); and the Подробная карта Российской империи и близлежащих заграничных владений [A Detailed Map of the Russian Empire and nearby Foreign Possessions] (1804, revised 1816), nicknamed the “Stolist Map” a colossal 100-sheet map of the European Russia. As the Russia’s leading geographic educator, Wilbrecht published the important works Новый Атлас или собрание карт всех частей земного шара, почерпнутый из разных сочинителей и напечатанный в Санкт-Петербурге для употребления Юношества в 1793 году при Горном училище [The New Atlas or a Collection of Maps of all Parts of the Globe, drawn from Different Writers and Printed in St. Petersburg for the Use of Youth in 1793 at the Mining School] (1793) and Атлас Российской империи изданной для употребления юношества [Atlas of the Russian Empire published for the Use of the Youth] (1794). Late in life, Wilbrecht became the Director of the Military Topographic Depot, whereupon he introduced top-notch scientific cartography to the Russian Army. A Note on Rarity The atlas, in either the 1792 or 1800 editions, and its intermediate variations, is very rare, especially as complete with all maps as called for in the registers. While there are surely several complete examples of the atlas in various Russian institutions, the only complete example of the 1800 edition we could is trace is held by the National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg). Outside of Russia, the only complete examples of the atlas we can locate are two 1792 editions, held by the Royal Geographical Society and the Beinecke Library (Yale University), although it is possible that there could be a couple more examples that are not properly catalogued online. Incomplete examples of the 1792 edition are held by the Harvard University Library, British Library and the National Library of Scotland, while an incomplete example of the 1800 edition is held by the University of California-Berkeley. The only complete example of the atlas we can trace as having been on the market since 1969 is for an example of the 1792 edition, sold in 2006 at Bonhams’s New York. A substantially incomplete example of the 1792 edition, with only 30 maps, was sold at Sotheby’s London in 2019. (Alexander Johnson/Dasa Pahor, 2023), National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg): К 1-Росс 8/14; cf. [1792 ed.:] 1792: Royal Geographical Society: mr 1.C.112, Beinecke Library (Yale University): 1976 Folio 105; Leo BAGROW, ed. Henry W. Castner, A History of Russian Cartography up to 1800 (Wolfe Island, Ontario: Walker Press, 1975), Part V, pp. 212, 215.

"Folio Atlas, but here with Complete Contents contemporarily left unbound and presented as 47 separate copper engraved leaves, each with contemporary pink paper edging. Extremely rare and historically important – the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire, being the second edition of the work, made on the orders of Czar Paul I to present his new jurisdictional reforms, created by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, the Chief Geographer and Cartographer to the Imperial Court, from the best sources and surveys, a complete example with 43 maps and 2 preliminary leaves, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the Russian Empire with an important inset depicting the Gulf of Alaska and northern British Columbia coasts, dozens of maps of individual Russian ‘gubernia’ (provinces) of unprecedented accuracy, as well as a map focusing upon Alaska and Kamchatka predicated upon intelligence gained from numerous Russian and British exploring expeditions; all maps beautifully decorated with allegorical cartouches, with text in Russian Cyrillic, published in St. Petersburg by the Czar’s Geographical Department; an extraordinary example clearly never bound, but preserved ‘in plano’ with all leaves with original outline hand colour and contemporary pink paper edging. This work is the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire (which then included Alaska), and one of the foundational monuments of Russian scientific cartography and geographic intelligence. It is the revised second edition of a work first issued in 1792, and was made by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, an exceedingly talented geographer, cartographer, mathematician and astronomer, who was the chief geographer and mapmaker to the Imperial Court. This revised edition of the atlas was created on the orders of Czar Paul I especially to show the empire’s new internal jurisdictions which were imposed per his reforms. The folio atlas features 43 maps, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the entire Russian Empire featuring an inset bearing a historically significant map depicting Alaska and much of the coast of British Columbia; individual maps of all of Russia’s first-level jurisdictions predicated upon the best surveys and sources; plus, a large format map of Kamchatka, Alaska and the northern BC Coast, predated upon intelligence from ground-breaking exploring expeditions. All maps are beautifully adored with allegorical cartouches that portray Russia to be a powerful, autocratic state, enlightened by science, culture and commerce, and which vanquishes its enemies. The present example of the atlas is complete, featuring 47 engraved leaves (2 preliminaries, and 43 maps on 45 leaves – the maximum called for); however, it was clearly never bound (the sheets are of dissonant sizes), with the borders of each sheet contemporarily edged with pink paper, allowing the maps to be conveniently enjoyed in plano. The first edition of the atlas, Российский атлас, из сорока четырёх карт состоящий и на сорок два наместничества империю разделяющий [Russian Atlas, consisting of Forty- Four Maps and dividing the Empire into Forty-Two Vice-royalties] (1792), was created by Wilbrecht on the orders of Empress Catherine II the Great (r. 1762-96) to show the new internal jurisdictions of the Russian Empire as imposed by her decree, ‘Institutions for the Management of the Provinces’ (November 7, 1775). Changing the nature and boundaries of the first-level jurisdictions in Russa was not simply a bureaucratic matter, but rather it had a profound impact upon land rights, taxation and economic and infrastructure development. Catherine II’s jurisdictional reforms, which were fully implemented in 1785, saw the empire divided into 38 наместничества (namestnichestva / vice-royalties), 3 provinces, 1 region and 1 special autonomous entity (governed by the Don Cossacks). During the 1790s, Catherine ordered further revisions to the Russian jurisdictions, such that upon her death, in 1796, the empire had 48 namestnichestva. The Wilbrecht atlas was only the second official atlas of the Russian Empire, having been preceded only by the Imperial Academy of Sciences’s Атлас Российской, состоящий из девятнадцати специальных карт… [The Russian Atlas, consisting of Nineteen Special Maps…] (St. Petersburg, 1745), which while a triumph in its time, by the 1790s was considered so outdated as to be practically obsolete. Catherine II’s son and successor, Czar Paul I (r. 1796 - 1801), a clinically insane ruler (who was eventually murdered on the orders of his own son!) absolutely despised his mother and went to great efforts to erase or change virtually anything that he attributed to her rule – including her jurisdictional reforms. He dissolved the 51 namestnichestva and converted them into 42 губе́рния (gubernia / provinces), an act which had significant effects upon public affairs across the empire. Paul I’s jurisdictional reforms naturally made the 1792 Wilbrecht atlas in good measure obsolete. The present 1800 edition of the atlas features largely the same maps and topographical content but sees the plates heavily reworked to show the new jurisdictions, with the titles altered accordingly (ex. on the Title Page and on Map no. 1, Catherine II’s cypher had been replaced by that of Paul I). The atlas fully preserves its important depictions of the Alaska and the northern BC coasts. To clear up any confusion, in the period between 1792 and 1800, Wilbrecht seemingly issued many of the atlas’s constituent maps separately, while groupings of maps were consolidated into what seems to have been atlas factice, such that many surviving examples of the atlas, even some held by elite institutions, are today found incomplete. Thus, the present example is notable for being complete with the maximum number of maps called for. * While the present example of the Wilbrecht Atlas is not bound, it features all the contents as called for, including: 1 Title Page, 1 Contents Register, and 43 maps (1 of which is comprised of 3 un-joined sheets). Some Highlights of the Atlas All the maps in the atlas are of very high quality, and the individual maps of the gubernia are the finest and, in many cases, the first accurate maps of these regions. They are predicated upon a composite of sources, in some cases, good scientific surveys, while accompanied by spectacular iconographic adornment. From an international perspective, the most significant elements are the depictions of the Russian Far East, Russian America (Alaska), and the adjacent coastlines of what is today British Columbia, as the true scientific conception of these regions was then emerging due to on-going exploring expeditions conducted by both Russian and British mariners. Map no. 42B., Восточная часть Иркутской губернии с прилежащими островами и западным берегом Америки [The Eastern Part of the Irkutsk Province with Adjacent Islands and the Western Coast of America], showcases a historically important depiction of Alaska and Kamchatka, derived from expeditions ranging from the 1720s to the 1780s. It is derived from Wilbrecht’s separately issued Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [Map representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and of the English Captain Cook] (1787), although its projection is quite different. For the littoral areas of Alaska, the map shows a sophisticated awareness of the pre-Cook Russian expeditions of Vitus Bering, Aleksei Chirikov, Pyotyr Krenitsyn and Martin Spanberg, etc., while fully embracing the discoveries from Cook’s Third Voyage (1778-9). The map also presents recent revelations due to the likes of Gerasim Ismailov, who discovered the Kenai Peninsula, and Dimitry Bocharov’s exploration of Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula. In the deep interior (in the modern Northwest Territories), the map shows the discoveries of Samuel Hearn. In a similar vein, the inset on Map No. 1 (the general map of the Russian Empire), Карта представляющая частьзападного берега Америки от полуострова Аляски до залива Нутки положеннаго по новейшим открытиям зделанным Российскими и Английскими мореплавателями в 1784, 1786 и 1787 годах [A Map Representing Part of the Western Coast of America from the Alaska Peninsula to Nootka Bay based on the Latest Discoveries made by Russian and English Navigators in the years 1784, 1786 and 1787], shows the Pacific coast of North America, from the base of the Alaska Peninsula, in the northwest, down the just past Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, in the southeast. The depiction of the Alaska coast is, in some ways, more advanced than that of Map 42B, especially with respect to its portrayal of places like the Kodiak Archipelago and Prince William Sound. The BC Coast shows an awareness of the discoveries of George Dixon and Nathaniel Portlock (1786-7), especially with regards to the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) and vicinity. The mapping of north-central Siberia showcased by Map No. 41. Карта Тобольской губернии из 16 уездов [Map of the Tobolsk Province of 16 Counties], is quite interesting, capturing such details as the locations of villages, winter encampments, fortresses, monasteries, mines, salt and fishing works, and the routes of the exploration expeditions of Stepan Malygin (1734-5), Aleksei Ivanovich Skuratov (1734-5), Dmitry Ovtsyn (1735), Muraviev & Pavlov (1737) and Fedor Rozmyslov (1768), while also noting the place where Willem Barents’s expedition wintered in 1596. Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht: Leading Russian Cartographer of the Enlightnement Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht [Александр Михайлович Вильбрехт] (1757 - 1823) was a cartographer, geographer, astronomer and mathematician, who was the most important mapmaker in the Russian Empire during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and generally a major force in Enlightenment science in the country. Born to an affluent St. Peterburg family, of partial German ancestry, Wilbrecht studied at the Academy of Arts and the School of the Army Noble Corps. After his graduation, he became a map draughtsman at the Geographical Department of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, before working in more senior roles at the Geographical Department of the Cabinet, the Military Topographic Depot, and the Geographical Department of the Ministry of Education. Wilbrecht came to the personal attention of Catherine the Great and, in 1785, was appointed to head the Higher School of Mathematics of the Imperial Mining School, as well as being the Chief Geographer of the Geographical Department of the Cabinet of Her Imperial Majesty. In these capacities, Wilbrecht’s greatest achievement was the present atlas of the Russian Empire (1792, 1800), with other highlights including his important map of the North Pacific, Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [A Map Representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and the English Captain Cook] (1787); Карта театра войны Российской империи против шведов сочиненная [Map of the Theatre of War of the Russian Empire against the Swedes, Composed] (1789); and the Подробная карта Российской империи и близлежащих заграничных владений [A Detailed Map of the Russian Empire and nearby Foreign Possessions] (1804, revised 1816), nicknamed the “Stolist Map” a colossal 100-sheet map of the European Russia. As the Russia’s leading geographic educator, Wilbrecht published the important works Новый Атлас или собрание карт всех частей земного шара, почерпнутый из разных сочинителей и напечатанный в Санкт-Петербурге для употребления Юношества в 1793 году при Горном училище [The New Atlas or a Collection of Maps of all Parts of the Globe, drawn from Different Writers and Printed in St. Petersburg for the Use of Youth in 1793 at the Mining School] (1793) and Атлас Российской империи изданной для употребления юношества [Atlas of the Russian Empire published for the Use of the Youth] (1794). Late in life, Wilbrecht became the Director of the Military Topographic Depot, whereupon he introduced top-notch scientific cartography to the Russian Army. A Note on Rarity The atlas, in either the 1792 or 1800 editions, and its intermediate variations, is very rare, especially as complete with all maps as called for in the registers. While there are surely several complete examples of the atlas in various Russian institutions, the only complete example of the 1800 edition we could is trace is held by the National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg). Outside of Russia, the only complete examples of the atlas we can locate are two 1792 editions, held by the Royal Geographical Society and the Beinecke Library (Yale University), although it is possible that there could be a couple more examples that are not properly catalogued online. Incomplete examples of the 1792 edition are held by the Harvard University Library, British Library and the National Library of Scotland, while an incomplete example of the 1800 edition is held by the University of California-Berkeley. The only complete example of the atlas we can trace as having been on the market since 1969 is for an example of the 1792 edition, sold in 2006 at Bonhams’s New York. A substantially incomplete example of the 1792 edition, with only 30 maps, was sold at Sotheby’s London in 2019. (Alexander Johnson/Dasa Pahor, 2023), National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg): К 1-Росс 8/14; cf. [1792 ed.:] 1792: Royal Geographical Society: mr 1.C.112, Beinecke Library (Yale University): 1976 Folio 105; Leo BAGROW, ed. Henry W. Castner, A History of Russian Cartography up to 1800 (Wolfe Island, Ontario: Walker Press, 1975), Part V, pp. 212, 215.

"Folio Atlas, but here with Complete Contents contemporarily left unbound and presented as 47 separate copper engraved leaves, each with contemporary pink paper edging. Extremely rare and historically important – the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire, being the second edition of the work, made on the orders of Czar Paul I to present his new jurisdictional reforms, created by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, the Chief Geographer and Cartographer to the Imperial Court, from the best sources and surveys, a complete example with 43 maps and 2 preliminary leaves, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the Russian Empire with an important inset depicting the Gulf of Alaska and northern British Columbia coasts, dozens of maps of individual Russian ‘gubernia’ (provinces) of unprecedented accuracy, as well as a map focusing upon Alaska and Kamchatka predicated upon intelligence gained from numerous Russian and British exploring expeditions; all maps beautifully decorated with allegorical cartouches, with text in Russian Cyrillic, published in St. Petersburg by the Czar’s Geographical Department; an extraordinary example clearly never bound, but preserved ‘in plano’ with all leaves with original outline hand colour and contemporary pink paper edging. This work is the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire (which then included Alaska), and one of the foundational monuments of Russian scientific cartography and geographic intelligence. It is the revised second edition of a work first issued in 1792, and was made by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, an exceedingly talented geographer, cartographer, mathematician and astronomer, who was the chief geographer and mapmaker to the Imperial Court. This revised edition of the atlas was created on the orders of Czar Paul I especially to show the empire’s new internal jurisdictions which were imposed per his reforms. The folio atlas features 43 maps, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the entire Russian Empire featuring an inset bearing a historically significant map depicting Alaska and much of the coast of British Columbia; individual maps of all of Russia’s first-level jurisdictions predicated upon the best surveys and sources; plus, a large format map of Kamchatka, Alaska and the northern BC Coast, predated upon intelligence from ground-breaking exploring expeditions. All maps are beautifully adored with allegorical cartouches that portray Russia to be a powerful, autocratic state, enlightened by science, culture and commerce, and which vanquishes its enemies. The present example of the atlas is complete, featuring 47 engraved leaves (2 preliminaries, and 43 maps on 45 leaves – the maximum called for); however, it was clearly never bound (the sheets are of dissonant sizes), with the borders of each sheet contemporarily edged with pink paper, allowing the maps to be conveniently enjoyed in plano. The first edition of the atlas, Российский атлас, из сорока четырёх карт состоящий и на сорок два наместничества империю разделяющий [Russian Atlas, consisting of Forty- Four Maps and dividing the Empire into Forty-Two Vice-royalties] (1792), was created by Wilbrecht on the orders of Empress Catherine II the Great (r. 1762-96) to show the new internal jurisdictions of the Russian Empire as imposed by her decree, ‘Institutions for the Management of the Provinces’ (November 7, 1775). Changing the nature and boundaries of the first-level jurisdictions in Russa was not simply a bureaucratic matter, but rather it had a profound impact upon land rights, taxation and economic and infrastructure development. Catherine II’s jurisdictional reforms, which were fully implemented in 1785, saw the empire divided into 38 наместничества (namestnichestva / vice-royalties), 3 provinces, 1 region and 1 special autonomous entity (governed by the Don Cossacks). During the 1790s, Catherine ordered further revisions to the Russian jurisdictions, such that upon her death, in 1796, the empire had 48 namestnichestva. The Wilbrecht atlas was only the second official atlas of the Russian Empire, having been preceded only by the Imperial Academy of Sciences’s Атлас Российской, состоящий из девятнадцати специальных карт… [The Russian Atlas, consisting of Nineteen Special Maps…] (St. Petersburg, 1745), which while a triumph in its time, by the 1790s was considered so outdated as to be practically obsolete. Catherine II’s son and successor, Czar Paul I (r. 1796 - 1801), a clinically insane ruler (who was eventually murdered on the orders of his own son!) absolutely despised his mother and went to great efforts to erase or change virtually anything that he attributed to her rule – including her jurisdictional reforms. He dissolved the 51 namestnichestva and converted them into 42 губе́рния (gubernia / provinces), an act which had significant effects upon public affairs across the empire. Paul I’s jurisdictional reforms naturally made the 1792 Wilbrecht atlas in good measure obsolete. The present 1800 edition of the atlas features largely the same maps and topographical content but sees the plates heavily reworked to show the new jurisdictions, with the titles altered accordingly (ex. on the Title Page and on Map no. 1, Catherine II’s cypher had been replaced by that of Paul I). The atlas fully preserves its important depictions of the Alaska and the northern BC coasts. To clear up any confusion, in the period between 1792 and 1800, Wilbrecht seemingly issued many of the atlas’s constituent maps separately, while groupings of maps were consolidated into what seems to have been atlas factice, such that many surviving examples of the atlas, even some held by elite institutions, are today found incomplete. Thus, the present example is notable for being complete with the maximum number of maps called for. * While the present example of the Wilbrecht Atlas is not bound, it features all the contents as called for, including: 1 Title Page, 1 Contents Register, and 43 maps (1 of which is comprised of 3 un-joined sheets). Some Highlights of the Atlas All the maps in the atlas are of very high quality, and the individual maps of the gubernia are the finest and, in many cases, the first accurate maps of these regions. They are predicated upon a composite of sources, in some cases, good scientific surveys, while accompanied by spectacular iconographic adornment. From an international perspective, the most significant elements are the depictions of the Russian Far East, Russian America (Alaska), and the adjacent coastlines of what is today British Columbia, as the true scientific conception of these regions was then emerging due to on-going exploring expeditions conducted by both Russian and British mariners. Map no. 42B., Восточная часть Иркутской губернии с прилежащими островами и западным берегом Америки [The Eastern Part of the Irkutsk Province with Adjacent Islands and the Western Coast of America], showcases a historically important depiction of Alaska and Kamchatka, derived from expeditions ranging from the 1720s to the 1780s. It is derived from Wilbrecht’s separately issued Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [Map representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and of the English Captain Cook] (1787), although its projection is quite different. For the littoral areas of Alaska, the map shows a sophisticated awareness of the pre-Cook Russian expeditions of Vitus Bering, Aleksei Chirikov, Pyotyr Krenitsyn and Martin Spanberg, etc., while fully embracing the discoveries from Cook’s Third Voyage (1778-9). The map also presents recent revelations due to the likes of Gerasim Ismailov, who discovered the Kenai Peninsula, and Dimitry Bocharov’s exploration of Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula. In the deep interior (in the modern Northwest Territories), the map shows the discoveries of Samuel Hearn. In a similar vein, the inset on Map No. 1 (the general map of the Russian Empire), Карта представляющая частьзападного берега Америки от полуострова Аляски до залива Нутки положеннаго по новейшим открытиям зделанным Российскими и Английскими мореплавателями в 1784, 1786 и 1787 годах [A Map Representing Part of the Western Coast of America from the Alaska Peninsula to Nootka Bay based on the Latest Discoveries made by Russian and English Navigators in the years 1784, 1786 and 1787], shows the Pacific coast of North America, from the base of the Alaska Peninsula, in the northwest, down the just past Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, in the southeast. The depiction of the Alaska coast is, in some ways, more advanced than that of Map 42B, especially with respect to its portrayal of places like the Kodiak Archipelago and Prince William Sound. The BC Coast shows an awareness of the discoveries of George Dixon and Nathaniel Portlock (1786-7), especially with regards to the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) and vicinity. The mapping of north-central Siberia showcased by Map No. 41. Карта Тобольской губернии из 16 уездов [Map of the Tobolsk Province of 16 Counties], is quite interesting, capturing such details as the locations of villages, winter encampments, fortresses, monasteries, mines, salt and fishing works, and the routes of the exploration expeditions of Stepan Malygin (1734-5), Aleksei Ivanovich Skuratov (1734-5), Dmitry Ovtsyn (1735), Muraviev & Pavlov (1737) and Fedor Rozmyslov (1768), while also noting the place where Willem Barents’s expedition wintered in 1596. Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht: Leading Russian Cartographer of the Enlightnement Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht [Александр Михайлович Вильбрехт] (1757 - 1823) was a cartographer, geographer, astronomer and mathematician, who was the most important mapmaker in the Russian Empire during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and generally a major force in Enlightenment science in the country. Born to an affluent St. Peterburg family, of partial German ancestry, Wilbrecht studied at the Academy of Arts and the School of the Army Noble Corps. After his graduation, he became a map draughtsman at the Geographical Department of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, before working in more senior roles at the Geographical Department of the Cabinet, the Military Topographic Depot, and the Geographical Department of the Ministry of Education. Wilbrecht came to the personal attention of Catherine the Great and, in 1785, was appointed to head the Higher School of Mathematics of the Imperial Mining School, as well as being the Chief Geographer of the Geographical Department of the Cabinet of Her Imperial Majesty. In these capacities, Wilbrecht’s greatest achievement was the present atlas of the Russian Empire (1792, 1800), with other highlights including his important map of the North Pacific, Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [A Map Representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and the English Captain Cook] (1787); Карта театра войны Российской империи против шведов сочиненная [Map of the Theatre of War of the Russian Empire against the Swedes, Composed] (1789); and the Подробная карта Российской империи и близлежащих заграничных владений [A Detailed Map of the Russian Empire and nearby Foreign Possessions] (1804, revised 1816), nicknamed the “Stolist Map” a colossal 100-sheet map of the European Russia. As the Russia’s leading geographic educator, Wilbrecht published the important works Новый Атлас или собрание карт всех частей земного шара, почерпнутый из разных сочинителей и напечатанный в Санкт-Петербурге для употребления Юношества в 1793 году при Горном училище [The New Atlas or a Collection of Maps of all Parts of the Globe, drawn from Different Writers and Printed in St. Petersburg for the Use of Youth in 1793 at the Mining School] (1793) and Атлас Российской империи изданной для употребления юношества [Atlas of the Russian Empire published for the Use of the Youth] (1794). Late in life, Wilbrecht became the Director of the Military Topographic Depot, whereupon he introduced top-notch scientific cartography to the Russian Army. A Note on Rarity The atlas, in either the 1792 or 1800 editions, and its intermediate variations, is very rare, especially as complete with all maps as called for in the registers. While there are surely several complete examples of the atlas in various Russian institutions, the only complete example of the 1800 edition we could is trace is held by the National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg). Outside of Russia, the only complete examples of the atlas we can locate are two 1792 editions, held by the Royal Geographical Society and the Beinecke Library (Yale University), although it is possible that there could be a couple more examples that are not properly catalogued online. Incomplete examples of the 1792 edition are held by the Harvard University Library, British Library and the National Library of Scotland, while an incomplete example of the 1800 edition is held by the University of California-Berkeley. The only complete example of the atlas we can trace as having been on the market since 1969 is for an example of the 1792 edition, sold in 2006 at Bonhams’s New York. A substantially incomplete example of the 1792 edition, with only 30 maps, was sold at Sotheby’s London in 2019. (Alexander Johnson/Dasa Pahor, 2023), National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg): К 1-Росс 8/14; cf. [1792 ed.:] 1792: Royal Geographical Society: mr 1.C.112, Beinecke Library (Yale University): 1976 Folio 105; Leo BAGROW, ed. Henry W. Castner, A History of Russian Cartography up to 1800 (Wolfe Island, Ontario: Walker Press, 1975), Part V, pp. 212, 215.

"Folio Atlas, but here with Complete Contents contemporarily left unbound and presented as 47 separate copper engraved leaves, each with contemporary pink paper edging. Extremely rare and historically important – the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire, being the second edition of the work, made on the orders of Czar Paul I to present his new jurisdictional reforms, created by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, the Chief Geographer and Cartographer to the Imperial Court, from the best sources and surveys, a complete example with 43 maps and 2 preliminary leaves, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the Russian Empire with an important inset depicting the Gulf of Alaska and northern British Columbia coasts, dozens of maps of individual Russian ‘gubernia’ (provinces) of unprecedented accuracy, as well as a map focusing upon Alaska and Kamchatka predicated upon intelligence gained from numerous Russian and British exploring expeditions; all maps beautifully decorated with allegorical cartouches, with text in Russian Cyrillic, published in St. Petersburg by the Czar’s Geographical Department; an extraordinary example clearly never bound, but preserved ‘in plano’ with all leaves with original outline hand colour and contemporary pink paper edging. This work is the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire (which then included Alaska), and one of the foundational monuments of Russian scientific cartography and geographic intelligence. It is the revised second edition of a work first issued in 1792, and was made by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, an exceedingly talented geographer, cartographer, mathematician and astronomer, who was the chief geographer and mapmaker to the Imperial Court. This revised edition of the atlas was created on the orders of Czar Paul I especially to show the empire’s new internal jurisdictions which were imposed per his reforms. The folio atlas features 43 maps, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the entire Russian Empire featuring an inset bearing a historically significant map depicting Alaska and much of the coast of British Columbia; individual maps of all of Russia’s first-level jurisdictions predicated upon the best surveys and sources; plus, a large format map of Kamchatka, Alaska and the northern BC Coast, predated upon intelligence from ground-breaking exploring expeditions. All maps are beautifully adored with allegorical cartouches that portray Russia to be a powerful, autocratic state, enlightened by science, culture and commerce, and which vanquishes its enemies. The present example of the atlas is complete, featuring 47 engraved leaves (2 preliminaries, and 43 maps on 45 leaves – the maximum called for); however, it was clearly never bound (the sheets are of dissonant sizes), with the borders of each sheet contemporarily edged with pink paper, allowing the maps to be conveniently enjoyed in plano. The first edition of the atlas, Российский атлас, из сорока четырёх карт состоящий и на сорок два наместничества империю разделяющий [Russian Atlas, consisting of Forty- Four Maps and dividing the Empire into Forty-Two Vice-royalties] (1792), was created by Wilbrecht on the orders of Empress Catherine II the Great (r. 1762-96) to show the new internal jurisdictions of the Russian Empire as imposed by her decree, ‘Institutions for the Management of the Provinces’ (November 7, 1775). Changing the nature and boundaries of the first-level jurisdictions in Russa was not simply a bureaucratic matter, but rather it had a profound impact upon land rights, taxation and economic and infrastructure development. Catherine II’s jurisdictional reforms, which were fully implemented in 1785, saw the empire divided into 38 наместничества (namestnichestva / vice-royalties), 3 provinces, 1 region and 1 special autonomous entity (governed by the Don Cossacks). During the 1790s, Catherine ordered further revisions to the Russian jurisdictions, such that upon her death, in 1796, the empire had 48 namestnichestva. The Wilbrecht atlas was only the second official atlas of the Russian Empire, having been preceded only by the Imperial Academy of Sciences’s Атлас Российской, состоящий из девятнадцати специальных карт… [The Russian Atlas, consisting of Nineteen Special Maps…] (St. Petersburg, 1745), which while a triumph in its time, by the 1790s was considered so outdated as to be practically obsolete. Catherine II’s son and successor, Czar Paul I (r. 1796 - 1801), a clinically insane ruler (who was eventually murdered on the orders of his own son!) absolutely despised his mother and went to great efforts to erase or change virtually anything that he attributed to her rule – including her jurisdictional reforms. He dissolved the 51 namestnichestva and converted them into 42 губе́рния (gubernia / provinces), an act which had significant effects upon public affairs across the empire. Paul I’s jurisdictional reforms naturally made the 1792 Wilbrecht atlas in good measure obsolete. The present 1800 edition of the atlas features largely the same maps and topographical content but sees the plates heavily reworked to show the new jurisdictions, with the titles altered accordingly (ex. on the Title Page and on Map no. 1, Catherine II’s cypher had been replaced by that of Paul I). The atlas fully preserves its important depictions of the Alaska and the northern BC coasts. To clear up any confusion, in the period between 1792 and 1800, Wilbrecht seemingly issued many of the atlas’s constituent maps separately, while groupings of maps were consolidated into what seems to have been atlas factice, such that many surviving examples of the atlas, even some held by elite institutions, are today found incomplete. Thus, the present example is notable for being complete with the maximum number of maps called for. * While the present example of the Wilbrecht Atlas is not bound, it features all the contents as called for, including: 1 Title Page, 1 Contents Register, and 43 maps (1 of which is comprised of 3 un-joined sheets). Some Highlights of the Atlas All the maps in the atlas are of very high quality, and the individual maps of the gubernia are the finest and, in many cases, the first accurate maps of these regions. They are predicated upon a composite of sources, in some cases, good scientific surveys, while accompanied by spectacular iconographic adornment. From an international perspective, the most significant elements are the depictions of the Russian Far East, Russian America (Alaska), and the adjacent coastlines of what is today British Columbia, as the true scientific conception of these regions was then emerging due to on-going exploring expeditions conducted by both Russian and British mariners. Map no. 42B., Восточная часть Иркутской губернии с прилежащими островами и западным берегом Америки [The Eastern Part of the Irkutsk Province with Adjacent Islands and the Western Coast of America], showcases a historically important depiction of Alaska and Kamchatka, derived from expeditions ranging from the 1720s to the 1780s. It is derived from Wilbrecht’s separately issued Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [Map representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and of the English Captain Cook] (1787), although its projection is quite different. For the littoral areas of Alaska, the map shows a sophisticated awareness of the pre-Cook Russian expeditions of Vitus Bering, Aleksei Chirikov, Pyotyr Krenitsyn and Martin Spanberg, etc., while fully embracing the discoveries from Cook’s Third Voyage (1778-9). The map also presents recent revelations due to the likes of Gerasim Ismailov, who discovered the Kenai Peninsula, and Dimitry Bocharov’s exploration of Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula. In the deep interior (in the modern Northwest Territories), the map shows the discoveries of Samuel Hearn. In a similar vein, the inset on Map No. 1 (the general map of the Russian Empire), Карта представляющая частьзападного берега Америки от полуострова Аляски до залива Нутки положеннаго по новейшим открытиям зделанным Российскими и Английскими мореплавателями в 1784, 1786 и 1787 годах [A Map Representing Part of the Western Coast of America from the Alaska Peninsula to Nootka Bay based on the Latest Discoveries made by Russian and English Navigators in the years 1784, 1786 and 1787], shows the Pacific coast of North America, from the base of the Alaska Peninsula, in the northwest, down the just past Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, in the southeast. The depiction of the Alaska coast is, in some ways, more advanced than that of Map 42B, especially with respect to its portrayal of places like the Kodiak Archipelago and Prince William Sound. The BC Coast shows an awareness of the discoveries of George Dixon and Nathaniel Portlock (1786-7), especially with regards to the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) and vicinity. The mapping of north-central Siberia showcased by Map No. 41. Карта Тобольской губернии из 16 уездов [Map of the Tobolsk Province of 16 Counties], is quite interesting, capturing such details as the locations of villages, winter encampments, fortresses, monasteries, mines, salt and fishing works, and the routes of the exploration expeditions of Stepan Malygin (1734-5), Aleksei Ivanovich Skuratov (1734-5), Dmitry Ovtsyn (1735), Muraviev & Pavlov (1737) and Fedor Rozmyslov (1768), while also noting the place where Willem Barents’s expedition wintered in 1596. Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht: Leading Russian Cartographer of the Enlightnement Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht [Александр Михайлович Вильбрехт] (1757 - 1823) was a cartographer, geographer, astronomer and mathematician, who was the most important mapmaker in the Russian Empire during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and generally a major force in Enlightenment science in the country. Born to an affluent St. Peterburg family, of partial German ancestry, Wilbrecht studied at the Academy of Arts and the School of the Army Noble Corps. After his graduation, he became a map draughtsman at the Geographical Department of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, before working in more senior roles at the Geographical Department of the Cabinet, the Military Topographic Depot, and the Geographical Department of the Ministry of Education. Wilbrecht came to the personal attention of Catherine the Great and, in 1785, was appointed to head the Higher School of Mathematics of the Imperial Mining School, as well as being the Chief Geographer of the Geographical Department of the Cabinet of Her Imperial Majesty. In these capacities, Wilbrecht’s greatest achievement was the present atlas of the Russian Empire (1792, 1800), with other highlights including his important map of the North Pacific, Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [A Map Representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and the English Captain Cook] (1787); Карта театра войны Российской империи против шведов сочиненная [Map of the Theatre of War of the Russian Empire against the Swedes, Composed] (1789); and the Подробная карта Российской империи и близлежащих заграничных владений [A Detailed Map of the Russian Empire and nearby Foreign Possessions] (1804, revised 1816), nicknamed the “Stolist Map” a colossal 100-sheet map of the European Russia. As the Russia’s leading geographic educator, Wilbrecht published the important works Новый Атлас или собрание карт всех частей земного шара, почерпнутый из разных сочинителей и напечатанный в Санкт-Петербурге для употребления Юношества в 1793 году при Горном училище [The New Atlas or a Collection of Maps of all Parts of the Globe, drawn from Different Writers and Printed in St. Petersburg for the Use of Youth in 1793 at the Mining School] (1793) and Атлас Российской империи изданной для употребления юношества [Atlas of the Russian Empire published for the Use of the Youth] (1794). Late in life, Wilbrecht became the Director of the Military Topographic Depot, whereupon he introduced top-notch scientific cartography to the Russian Army. A Note on Rarity The atlas, in either the 1792 or 1800 editions, and its intermediate variations, is very rare, especially as complete with all maps as called for in the registers. While there are surely several complete examples of the atlas in various Russian institutions, the only complete example of the 1800 edition we could is trace is held by the National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg). Outside of Russia, the only complete examples of the atlas we can locate are two 1792 editions, held by the Royal Geographical Society and the Beinecke Library (Yale University), although it is possible that there could be a couple more examples that are not properly catalogued online. Incomplete examples of the 1792 edition are held by the Harvard University Library, British Library and the National Library of Scotland, while an incomplete example of the 1800 edition is held by the University of California-Berkeley. The only complete example of the atlas we can trace as having been on the market since 1969 is for an example of the 1792 edition, sold in 2006 at Bonhams’s New York. A substantially incomplete example of the 1792 edition, with only 30 maps, was sold at Sotheby’s London in 2019. (Alexander Johnson/Dasa Pahor, 2023), National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg): К 1-Росс 8/14; cf. [1792 ed.:] 1792: Royal Geographical Society: mr 1.C.112, Beinecke Library (Yale University): 1976 Folio 105; Leo BAGROW, ed. Henry W. Castner, A History of Russian Cartography up to 1800 (Wolfe Island, Ontario: Walker Press, 1975), Part V, pp. 212, 215.

"Folio Atlas, but here with Complete Contents contemporarily left unbound and presented as 47 separate copper engraved leaves, each with contemporary pink paper edging. Extremely rare and historically important – the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire, being the second edition of the work, made on the orders of Czar Paul I to present his new jurisdictional reforms, created by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, the Chief Geographer and Cartographer to the Imperial Court, from the best sources and surveys, a complete example with 43 maps and 2 preliminary leaves, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the Russian Empire with an important inset depicting the Gulf of Alaska and northern British Columbia coasts, dozens of maps of individual Russian ‘gubernia’ (provinces) of unprecedented accuracy, as well as a map focusing upon Alaska and Kamchatka predicated upon intelligence gained from numerous Russian and British exploring expeditions; all maps beautifully decorated with allegorical cartouches, with text in Russian Cyrillic, published in St. Petersburg by the Czar’s Geographical Department; an extraordinary example clearly never bound, but preserved ‘in plano’ with all leaves with original outline hand colour and contemporary pink paper edging. This work is the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire (which then included Alaska), and one of the foundational monuments of Russian scientific cartography and geographic intelligence. It is the revised second edition of a work first issued in 1792, and was made by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, an exceedingly talented geographer, cartographer, mathematician and astronomer, who was the chief geographer and mapmaker to the Imperial Court. This revised edition of the atlas was created on the orders of Czar Paul I especially to show the empire’s new internal jurisdictions which were imposed per his reforms. The folio atlas features 43 maps, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the entire Russian Empire featuring an inset bearing a historically significant map depicting Alaska and much of the coast of British Columbia; individual maps of all of Russia’s first-level jurisdictions predicated upon the best surveys and sources; plus, a large format map of Kamchatka, Alaska and the northern BC Coast, predated upon intelligence from ground-breaking exploring expeditions. All maps are beautifully adored with allegorical cartouches that portray Russia to be a powerful, autocratic state, enlightened by science, culture and commerce, and which vanquishes its enemies. The present example of the atlas is complete, featuring 47 engraved leaves (2 preliminaries, and 43 maps on 45 leaves – the maximum called for); however, it was clearly never bound (the sheets are of dissonant sizes), with the borders of each sheet contemporarily edged with pink paper, allowing the maps to be conveniently enjoyed in plano. The first edition of the atlas, Российский атлас, из сорока четырёх карт состоящий и на сорок два наместничества империю разделяющий [Russian Atlas, consisting of Forty- Four Maps and dividing the Empire into Forty-Two Vice-royalties] (1792), was created by Wilbrecht on the orders of Empress Catherine II the Great (r. 1762-96) to show the new internal jurisdictions of the Russian Empire as imposed by her decree, ‘Institutions for the Management of the Provinces’ (November 7, 1775). Changing the nature and boundaries of the first-level jurisdictions in Russa was not simply a bureaucratic matter, but rather it had a profound impact upon land rights, taxation and economic and infrastructure development. Catherine II’s jurisdictional reforms, which were fully implemented in 1785, saw the empire divided into 38 наместничества (namestnichestva / vice-royalties), 3 provinces, 1 region and 1 special autonomous entity (governed by the Don Cossacks). During the 1790s, Catherine ordered further revisions to the Russian jurisdictions, such that upon her death, in 1796, the empire had 48 namestnichestva. The Wilbrecht atlas was only the second official atlas of the Russian Empire, having been preceded only by the Imperial Academy of Sciences’s Атлас Российской, состоящий из девятнадцати специальных карт… [The Russian Atlas, consisting of Nineteen Special Maps…] (St. Petersburg, 1745), which while a triumph in its time, by the 1790s was considered so outdated as to be practically obsolete. Catherine II’s son and successor, Czar Paul I (r. 1796 - 1801), a clinically insane ruler (who was eventually murdered on the orders of his own son!) absolutely despised his mother and went to great efforts to erase or change virtually anything that he attributed to her rule – including her jurisdictional reforms. He dissolved the 51 namestnichestva and converted them into 42 губе́рния (gubernia / provinces), an act which had significant effects upon public affairs across the empire. Paul I’s jurisdictional reforms naturally made the 1792 Wilbrecht atlas in good measure obsolete. The present 1800 edition of the atlas features largely the same maps and topographical content but sees the plates heavily reworked to show the new jurisdictions, with the titles altered accordingly (ex. on the Title Page and on Map no. 1, Catherine II’s cypher had been replaced by that of Paul I). The atlas fully preserves its important depictions of the Alaska and the northern BC coasts. To clear up any confusion, in the period between 1792 and 1800, Wilbrecht seemingly issued many of the atlas’s constituent maps separately, while groupings of maps were consolidated into what seems to have been atlas factice, such that many surviving examples of the atlas, even some held by elite institutions, are today found incomplete. Thus, the present example is notable for being complete with the maximum number of maps called for. * While the present example of the Wilbrecht Atlas is not bound, it features all the contents as called for, including: 1 Title Page, 1 Contents Register, and 43 maps (1 of which is comprised of 3 un-joined sheets). Some Highlights of the Atlas All the maps in the atlas are of very high quality, and the individual maps of the gubernia are the finest and, in many cases, the first accurate maps of these regions. They are predicated upon a composite of sources, in some cases, good scientific surveys, while accompanied by spectacular iconographic adornment. From an international perspective, the most significant elements are the depictions of the Russian Far East, Russian America (Alaska), and the adjacent coastlines of what is today British Columbia, as the true scientific conception of these regions was then emerging due to on-going exploring expeditions conducted by both Russian and British mariners. Map no. 42B., Восточная часть Иркутской губернии с прилежащими островами и западным берегом Америки [The Eastern Part of the Irkutsk Province with Adjacent Islands and the Western Coast of America], showcases a historically important depiction of Alaska and Kamchatka, derived from expeditions ranging from the 1720s to the 1780s. It is derived from Wilbrecht’s separately issued Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [Map representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and of the English Captain Cook] (1787), although its projection is quite different. For the littoral areas of Alaska, the map shows a sophisticated awareness of the pre-Cook Russian expeditions of Vitus Bering, Aleksei Chirikov, Pyotyr Krenitsyn and Martin Spanberg, etc., while fully embracing the discoveries from Cook’s Third Voyage (1778-9). The map also presents recent revelations due to the likes of Gerasim Ismailov, who discovered the Kenai Peninsula, and Dimitry Bocharov’s exploration of Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula. In the deep interior (in the modern Northwest Territories), the map shows the discoveries of Samuel Hearn. In a similar vein, the inset on Map No. 1 (the general map of the Russian Empire), Карта представляющая частьзападного берега Америки от полуострова Аляски до залива Нутки положеннаго по новейшим открытиям зделанным Российскими и Английскими мореплавателями в 1784, 1786 и 1787 годах [A Map Representing Part of the Western Coast of America from the Alaska Peninsula to Nootka Bay based on the Latest Discoveries made by Russian and English Navigators in the years 1784, 1786 and 1787], shows the Pacific coast of North America, from the base of the Alaska Peninsula, in the northwest, down the just past Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, in the southeast. The depiction of the Alaska coast is, in some ways, more advanced than that of Map 42B, especially with respect to its portrayal of places like the Kodiak Archipelago and Prince William Sound. The BC Coast shows an awareness of the discoveries of George Dixon and Nathaniel Portlock (1786-7), especially with regards to the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) and vicinity. The mapping of north-central Siberia showcased by Map No. 41. Карта Тобольской губернии из 16 уездов [Map of the Tobolsk Province of 16 Counties], is quite interesting, capturing such details as the locations of villages, winter encampments, fortresses, monasteries, mines, salt and fishing works, and the routes of the exploration expeditions of Stepan Malygin (1734-5), Aleksei Ivanovich Skuratov (1734-5), Dmitry Ovtsyn (1735), Muraviev & Pavlov (1737) and Fedor Rozmyslov (1768), while also noting the place where Willem Barents’s expedition wintered in 1596. Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht: Leading Russian Cartographer of the Enlightnement Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht [Александр Михайлович Вильбрехт] (1757 - 1823) was a cartographer, geographer, astronomer and mathematician, who was the most important mapmaker in the Russian Empire during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and generally a major force in Enlightenment science in the country. Born to an affluent St. Peterburg family, of partial German ancestry, Wilbrecht studied at the Academy of Arts and the School of the Army Noble Corps. After his graduation, he became a map draughtsman at the Geographical Department of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, before working in more senior roles at the Geographical Department of the Cabinet, the Military Topographic Depot, and the Geographical Department of the Ministry of Education. Wilbrecht came to the personal attention of Catherine the Great and, in 1785, was appointed to head the Higher School of Mathematics of the Imperial Mining School, as well as being the Chief Geographer of the Geographical Department of the Cabinet of Her Imperial Majesty. In these capacities, Wilbrecht’s greatest achievement was the present atlas of the Russian Empire (1792, 1800), with other highlights including his important map of the North Pacific, Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [A Map Representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and the English Captain Cook] (1787); Карта театра войны Российской империи против шведов сочиненная [Map of the Theatre of War of the Russian Empire against the Swedes, Composed] (1789); and the Подробная карта Российской империи и близлежащих заграничных владений [A Detailed Map of the Russian Empire and nearby Foreign Possessions] (1804, revised 1816), nicknamed the “Stolist Map” a colossal 100-sheet map of the European Russia. As the Russia’s leading geographic educator, Wilbrecht published the important works Новый Атлас или собрание карт всех частей земного шара, почерпнутый из разных сочинителей и напечатанный в Санкт-Петербурге для употребления Юношества в 1793 году при Горном училище [The New Atlas or a Collection of Maps of all Parts of the Globe, drawn from Different Writers and Printed in St. Petersburg for the Use of Youth in 1793 at the Mining School] (1793) and Атлас Российской империи изданной для употребления юношества [Atlas of the Russian Empire published for the Use of the Youth] (1794). Late in life, Wilbrecht became the Director of the Military Topographic Depot, whereupon he introduced top-notch scientific cartography to the Russian Army. A Note on Rarity The atlas, in either the 1792 or 1800 editions, and its intermediate variations, is very rare, especially as complete with all maps as called for in the registers. While there are surely several complete examples of the atlas in various Russian institutions, the only complete example of the 1800 edition we could is trace is held by the National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg). Outside of Russia, the only complete examples of the atlas we can locate are two 1792 editions, held by the Royal Geographical Society and the Beinecke Library (Yale University), although it is possible that there could be a couple more examples that are not properly catalogued online. Incomplete examples of the 1792 edition are held by the Harvard University Library, British Library and the National Library of Scotland, while an incomplete example of the 1800 edition is held by the University of California-Berkeley. The only complete example of the atlas we can trace as having been on the market since 1969 is for an example of the 1792 edition, sold in 2006 at Bonhams’s New York. A substantially incomplete example of the 1792 edition, with only 30 maps, was sold at Sotheby’s London in 2019. (Alexander Johnson/Dasa Pahor, 2023), National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg): К 1-Росс 8/14; cf. [1792 ed.:] 1792: Royal Geographical Society: mr 1.C.112, Beinecke Library (Yale University): 1976 Folio 105; Leo BAGROW, ed. Henry W. Castner, A History of Russian Cartography up to 1800 (Wolfe Island, Ontario: Walker Press, 1975), Part V, pp. 212, 215.

Righthand side of map focuses upon Alaska., "Folio Atlas, but here with Complete Contents contemporarily left unbound and presented as 47 separate copper engraved leaves, each with contemporary pink paper edging. Extremely rare and historically important – the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire, being the second edition of the work, made on the orders of Czar Paul I to present his new jurisdictional reforms, created by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, the Chief Geographer and Cartographer to the Imperial Court, from the best sources and surveys, a complete example with 43 maps and 2 preliminary leaves, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the Russian Empire with an important inset depicting the Gulf of Alaska and northern British Columbia coasts, dozens of maps of individual Russian ‘gubernia’ (provinces) of unprecedented accuracy, as well as a map focusing upon Alaska and Kamchatka predicated upon intelligence gained from numerous Russian and British exploring expeditions; all maps beautifully decorated with allegorical cartouches, with text in Russian Cyrillic, published in St. Petersburg by the Czar’s Geographical Department; an extraordinary example clearly never bound, but preserved ‘in plano’ with all leaves with original outline hand colour and contemporary pink paper edging. This work is the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire (which then included Alaska), and one of the foundational monuments of Russian scientific cartography and geographic intelligence. It is the revised second edition of a work first issued in 1792, and was made by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, an exceedingly talented geographer, cartographer, mathematician and astronomer, who was the chief geographer and mapmaker to the Imperial Court. This revised edition of the atlas was created on the orders of Czar Paul I especially to show the empire’s new internal jurisdictions which were imposed per his reforms. The folio atlas features 43 maps, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the entire Russian Empire featuring an inset bearing a historically significant map depicting Alaska and much of the coast of British Columbia; individual maps of all of Russia’s first-level jurisdictions predicated upon the best surveys and sources; plus, a large format map of Kamchatka, Alaska and the northern BC Coast, predated upon intelligence from ground-breaking exploring expeditions. All maps are beautifully adored with allegorical cartouches that portray Russia to be a powerful, autocratic state, enlightened by science, culture and commerce, and which vanquishes its enemies. The present example of the atlas is complete, featuring 47 engraved leaves (2 preliminaries, and 43 maps on 45 leaves – the maximum called for); however, it was clearly never bound (the sheets are of dissonant sizes), with the borders of each sheet contemporarily edged with pink paper, allowing the maps to be conveniently enjoyed in plano. The first edition of the atlas, Российский атлас, из сорока четырёх карт состоящий и на сорок два наместничества империю разделяющий [Russian Atlas, consisting of Forty- Four Maps and dividing the Empire into Forty-Two Vice-royalties] (1792), was created by Wilbrecht on the orders of Empress Catherine II the Great (r. 1762-96) to show the new internal jurisdictions of the Russian Empire as imposed by her decree, ‘Institutions for the Management of the Provinces’ (November 7, 1775). Changing the nature and boundaries of the first-level jurisdictions in Russa was not simply a bureaucratic matter, but rather it had a profound impact upon land rights, taxation and economic and infrastructure development. Catherine II’s jurisdictional reforms, which were fully implemented in 1785, saw the empire divided into 38 наместничества (namestnichestva / vice-royalties), 3 provinces, 1 region and 1 special autonomous entity (governed by the Don Cossacks). During the 1790s, Catherine ordered further revisions to the Russian jurisdictions, such that upon her death, in 1796, the empire had 48 namestnichestva. The Wilbrecht atlas was only the second official atlas of the Russian Empire, having been preceded only by the Imperial Academy of Sciences’s Атлас Российской, состоящий из девятнадцати специальных карт… [The Russian Atlas, consisting of Nineteen Special Maps…] (St. Petersburg, 1745), which while a triumph in its time, by the 1790s was considered so outdated as to be practically obsolete. Catherine II’s son and successor, Czar Paul I (r. 1796 - 1801), a clinically insane ruler (who was eventually murdered on the orders of his own son!) absolutely despised his mother and went to great efforts to erase or change virtually anything that he attributed to her rule – including her jurisdictional reforms. He dissolved the 51 namestnichestva and converted them into 42 губе́рния (gubernia / provinces), an act which had significant effects upon public affairs across the empire. Paul I’s jurisdictional reforms naturally made the 1792 Wilbrecht atlas in good measure obsolete. The present 1800 edition of the atlas features largely the same maps and topographical content but sees the plates heavily reworked to show the new jurisdictions, with the titles altered accordingly (ex. on the Title Page and on Map no. 1, Catherine II’s cypher had been replaced by that of Paul I). The atlas fully preserves its important depictions of the Alaska and the northern BC coasts. To clear up any confusion, in the period between 1792 and 1800, Wilbrecht seemingly issued many of the atlas’s constituent maps separately, while groupings of maps were consolidated into what seems to have been atlas factice, such that many surviving examples of the atlas, even some held by elite institutions, are today found incomplete. Thus, the present example is notable for being complete with the maximum number of maps called for. * While the present example of the Wilbrecht Atlas is not bound, it features all the contents as called for, including: 1 Title Page, 1 Contents Register, and 43 maps (1 of which is comprised of 3 un-joined sheets). Some Highlights of the Atlas All the maps in the atlas are of very high quality, and the individual maps of the gubernia are the finest and, in many cases, the first accurate maps of these regions. They are predicated upon a composite of sources, in some cases, good scientific surveys, while accompanied by spectacular iconographic adornment. From an international perspective, the most significant elements are the depictions of the Russian Far East, Russian America (Alaska), and the adjacent coastlines of what is today British Columbia, as the true scientific conception of these regions was then emerging due to on-going exploring expeditions conducted by both Russian and British mariners. Map no. 42B., Восточная часть Иркутской губернии с прилежащими островами и западным берегом Америки [The Eastern Part of the Irkutsk Province with Adjacent Islands and the Western Coast of America], showcases a historically important depiction of Alaska and Kamchatka, derived from expeditions ranging from the 1720s to the 1780s. It is derived from Wilbrecht’s separately issued Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [Map representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and of the English Captain Cook] (1787), although its projection is quite different. For the littoral areas of Alaska, the map shows a sophisticated awareness of the pre-Cook Russian expeditions of Vitus Bering, Aleksei Chirikov, Pyotyr Krenitsyn and Martin Spanberg, etc., while fully embracing the discoveries from Cook’s Third Voyage (1778-9). The map also presents recent revelations due to the likes of Gerasim Ismailov, who discovered the Kenai Peninsula, and Dimitry Bocharov’s exploration of Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula. In the deep interior (in the modern Northwest Territories), the map shows the discoveries of Samuel Hearn. In a similar vein, the inset on Map No. 1 (the general map of the Russian Empire), Карта представляющая частьзападного берега Америки от полуострова Аляски до залива Нутки положеннаго по новейшим открытиям зделанным Российскими и Английскими мореплавателями в 1784, 1786 и 1787 годах [A Map Representing Part of the Western Coast of America from the Alaska Peninsula to Nootka Bay based on the Latest Discoveries made by Russian and English Navigators in the years 1784, 1786 and 1787], shows the Pacific coast of North America, from the base of the Alaska Peninsula, in the northwest, down the just past Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, in the southeast. The depiction of the Alaska coast is, in some ways, more advanced than that of Map 42B, especially with respect to its portrayal of places like the Kodiak Archipelago and Prince William Sound. The BC Coast shows an awareness of the discoveries of George Dixon and Nathaniel Portlock (1786-7), especially with regards to the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) and vicinity. The mapping of north-central Siberia showcased by Map No. 41. Карта Тобольской губернии из 16 уездов [Map of the Tobolsk Province of 16 Counties], is quite interesting, capturing such details as the locations of villages, winter encampments, fortresses, monasteries, mines, salt and fishing works, and the routes of the exploration expeditions of Stepan Malygin (1734-5), Aleksei Ivanovich Skuratov (1734-5), Dmitry Ovtsyn (1735), Muraviev & Pavlov (1737) and Fedor Rozmyslov (1768), while also noting the place where Willem Barents’s expedition wintered in 1596. Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht: Leading Russian Cartographer of the Enlightnement Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht [Александр Михайлович Вильбрехт] (1757 - 1823) was a cartographer, geographer, astronomer and mathematician, who was the most important mapmaker in the Russian Empire during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and generally a major force in Enlightenment science in the country. Born to an affluent St. Peterburg family, of partial German ancestry, Wilbrecht studied at the Academy of Arts and the School of the Army Noble Corps. After his graduation, he became a map draughtsman at the Geographical Department of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, before working in more senior roles at the Geographical Department of the Cabinet, the Military Topographic Depot, and the Geographical Department of the Ministry of Education. Wilbrecht came to the personal attention of Catherine the Great and, in 1785, was appointed to head the Higher School of Mathematics of the Imperial Mining School, as well as being the Chief Geographer of the Geographical Department of the Cabinet of Her Imperial Majesty. In these capacities, Wilbrecht’s greatest achievement was the present atlas of the Russian Empire (1792, 1800), with other highlights including his important map of the North Pacific, Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [A Map Representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and the English Captain Cook] (1787); Карта театра войны Российской империи против шведов сочиненная [Map of the Theatre of War of the Russian Empire against the Swedes, Composed] (1789); and the Подробная карта Российской империи и близлежащих заграничных владений [A Detailed Map of the Russian Empire and nearby Foreign Possessions] (1804, revised 1816), nicknamed the “Stolist Map” a colossal 100-sheet map of the European Russia. As the Russia’s leading geographic educator, Wilbrecht published the important works Новый Атлас или собрание карт всех частей земного шара, почерпнутый из разных сочинителей и напечатанный в Санкт-Петербурге для употребления Юношества в 1793 году при Горном училище [The New Atlas or a Collection of Maps of all Parts of the Globe, drawn from Different Writers and Printed in St. Petersburg for the Use of Youth in 1793 at the Mining School] (1793) and Атлас Российской империи изданной для употребления юношества [Atlas of the Russian Empire published for the Use of the Youth] (1794). Late in life, Wilbrecht became the Director of the Military Topographic Depot, whereupon he introduced top-notch scientific cartography to the Russian Army. A Note on Rarity The atlas, in either the 1792 or 1800 editions, and its intermediate variations, is very rare, especially as complete with all maps as called for in the registers. While there are surely several complete examples of the atlas in various Russian institutions, the only complete example of the 1800 edition we could is trace is held by the National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg). Outside of Russia, the only complete examples of the atlas we can locate are two 1792 editions, held by the Royal Geographical Society and the Beinecke Library (Yale University), although it is possible that there could be a couple more examples that are not properly catalogued online. Incomplete examples of the 1792 edition are held by the Harvard University Library, British Library and the National Library of Scotland, while an incomplete example of the 1800 edition is held by the University of California-Berkeley. The only complete example of the atlas we can trace as having been on the market since 1969 is for an example of the 1792 edition, sold in 2006 at Bonhams’s New York. A substantially incomplete example of the 1792 edition, with only 30 maps, was sold at Sotheby’s London in 2019. (Alexander Johnson/Dasa Pahor, 2023), National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg): К 1-Росс 8/14; cf. [1792 ed.:] 1792: Royal Geographical Society: mr 1.C.112, Beinecke Library (Yale University): 1976 Folio 105; Leo BAGROW, ed. Henry W. Castner, A History of Russian Cartography up to 1800 (Wolfe Island, Ontario: Walker Press, 1975), Part V, pp. 212, 215.

"Folio Atlas, but here with Complete Contents contemporarily left unbound and presented as 47 separate copper engraved leaves, each with contemporary pink paper edging. Extremely rare and historically important – the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire, being the second edition of the work, made on the orders of Czar Paul I to present his new jurisdictional reforms, created by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, the Chief Geographer and Cartographer to the Imperial Court, from the best sources and surveys, a complete example with 43 maps and 2 preliminary leaves, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the Russian Empire with an important inset depicting the Gulf of Alaska and northern British Columbia coasts, dozens of maps of individual Russian ‘gubernia’ (provinces) of unprecedented accuracy, as well as a map focusing upon Alaska and Kamchatka predicated upon intelligence gained from numerous Russian and British exploring expeditions; all maps beautifully decorated with allegorical cartouches, with text in Russian Cyrillic, published in St. Petersburg by the Czar’s Geographical Department; an extraordinary example clearly never bound, but preserved ‘in plano’ with all leaves with original outline hand colour and contemporary pink paper edging. This work is the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire (which then included Alaska), and one of the foundational monuments of Russian scientific cartography and geographic intelligence. It is the revised second edition of a work first issued in 1792, and was made by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, an exceedingly talented geographer, cartographer, mathematician and astronomer, who was the chief geographer and mapmaker to the Imperial Court. This revised edition of the atlas was created on the orders of Czar Paul I especially to show the empire’s new internal jurisdictions which were imposed per his reforms. The folio atlas features 43 maps, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the entire Russian Empire featuring an inset bearing a historically significant map depicting Alaska and much of the coast of British Columbia; individual maps of all of Russia’s first-level jurisdictions predicated upon the best surveys and sources; plus, a large format map of Kamchatka, Alaska and the northern BC Coast, predated upon intelligence from ground-breaking exploring expeditions. All maps are beautifully adored with allegorical cartouches that portray Russia to be a powerful, autocratic state, enlightened by science, culture and commerce, and which vanquishes its enemies. The present example of the atlas is complete, featuring 47 engraved leaves (2 preliminaries, and 43 maps on 45 leaves – the maximum called for); however, it was clearly never bound (the sheets are of dissonant sizes), with the borders of each sheet contemporarily edged with pink paper, allowing the maps to be conveniently enjoyed in plano. The first edition of the atlas, Российский атлас, из сорока четырёх карт состоящий и на сорок два наместничества империю разделяющий [Russian Atlas, consisting of Forty- Four Maps and dividing the Empire into Forty-Two Vice-royalties] (1792), was created by Wilbrecht on the orders of Empress Catherine II the Great (r. 1762-96) to show the new internal jurisdictions of the Russian Empire as imposed by her decree, ‘Institutions for the Management of the Provinces’ (November 7, 1775). Changing the nature and boundaries of the first-level jurisdictions in Russa was not simply a bureaucratic matter, but rather it had a profound impact upon land rights, taxation and economic and infrastructure development. Catherine II’s jurisdictional reforms, which were fully implemented in 1785, saw the empire divided into 38 наместничества (namestnichestva / vice-royalties), 3 provinces, 1 region and 1 special autonomous entity (governed by the Don Cossacks). During the 1790s, Catherine ordered further revisions to the Russian jurisdictions, such that upon her death, in 1796, the empire had 48 namestnichestva. The Wilbrecht atlas was only the second official atlas of the Russian Empire, having been preceded only by the Imperial Academy of Sciences’s Атлас Российской, состоящий из девятнадцати специальных карт… [The Russian Atlas, consisting of Nineteen Special Maps…] (St. Petersburg, 1745), which while a triumph in its time, by the 1790s was considered so outdated as to be practically obsolete. Catherine II’s son and successor, Czar Paul I (r. 1796 - 1801), a clinically insane ruler (who was eventually murdered on the orders of his own son!) absolutely despised his mother and went to great efforts to erase or change virtually anything that he attributed to her rule – including her jurisdictional reforms. He dissolved the 51 namestnichestva and converted them into 42 губе́рния (gubernia / provinces), an act which had significant effects upon public affairs across the empire. Paul I’s jurisdictional reforms naturally made the 1792 Wilbrecht atlas in good measure obsolete. The present 1800 edition of the atlas features largely the same maps and topographical content but sees the plates heavily reworked to show the new jurisdictions, with the titles altered accordingly (ex. on the Title Page and on Map no. 1, Catherine II’s cypher had been replaced by that of Paul I). The atlas fully preserves its important depictions of the Alaska and the northern BC coasts. To clear up any confusion, in the period between 1792 and 1800, Wilbrecht seemingly issued many of the atlas’s constituent maps separately, while groupings of maps were consolidated into what seems to have been atlas factice, such that many surviving examples of the atlas, even some held by elite institutions, are today found incomplete. Thus, the present example is notable for being complete with the maximum number of maps called for. * While the present example of the Wilbrecht Atlas is not bound, it features all the contents as called for, including: 1 Title Page, 1 Contents Register, and 43 maps (1 of which is comprised of 3 un-joined sheets). Some Highlights of the Atlas All the maps in the atlas are of very high quality, and the individual maps of the gubernia are the finest and, in many cases, the first accurate maps of these regions. They are predicated upon a composite of sources, in some cases, good scientific surveys, while accompanied by spectacular iconographic adornment. From an international perspective, the most significant elements are the depictions of the Russian Far East, Russian America (Alaska), and the adjacent coastlines of what is today British Columbia, as the true scientific conception of these regions was then emerging due to on-going exploring expeditions conducted by both Russian and British mariners. Map no. 42B., Восточная часть Иркутской губернии с прилежащими островами и западным берегом Америки [The Eastern Part of the Irkutsk Province with Adjacent Islands and the Western Coast of America], showcases a historically important depiction of Alaska and Kamchatka, derived from expeditions ranging from the 1720s to the 1780s. It is derived from Wilbrecht’s separately issued Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [Map representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and of the English Captain Cook] (1787), although its projection is quite different. For the littoral areas of Alaska, the map shows a sophisticated awareness of the pre-Cook Russian expeditions of Vitus Bering, Aleksei Chirikov, Pyotyr Krenitsyn and Martin Spanberg, etc., while fully embracing the discoveries from Cook’s Third Voyage (1778-9). The map also presents recent revelations due to the likes of Gerasim Ismailov, who discovered the Kenai Peninsula, and Dimitry Bocharov’s exploration of Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula. In the deep interior (in the modern Northwest Territories), the map shows the discoveries of Samuel Hearn. In a similar vein, the inset on Map No. 1 (the general map of the Russian Empire), Карта представляющая частьзападного берега Америки от полуострова Аляски до залива Нутки положеннаго по новейшим открытиям зделанным Российскими и Английскими мореплавателями в 1784, 1786 и 1787 годах [A Map Representing Part of the Western Coast of America from the Alaska Peninsula to Nootka Bay based on the Latest Discoveries made by Russian and English Navigators in the years 1784, 1786 and 1787], shows the Pacific coast of North America, from the base of the Alaska Peninsula, in the northwest, down the just past Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, in the southeast. The depiction of the Alaska coast is, in some ways, more advanced than that of Map 42B, especially with respect to its portrayal of places like the Kodiak Archipelago and Prince William Sound. The BC Coast shows an awareness of the discoveries of George Dixon and Nathaniel Portlock (1786-7), especially with regards to the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) and vicinity. The mapping of north-central Siberia showcased by Map No. 41. Карта Тобольской губернии из 16 уездов [Map of the Tobolsk Province of 16 Counties], is quite interesting, capturing such details as the locations of villages, winter encampments, fortresses, monasteries, mines, salt and fishing works, and the routes of the exploration expeditions of Stepan Malygin (1734-5), Aleksei Ivanovich Skuratov (1734-5), Dmitry Ovtsyn (1735), Muraviev & Pavlov (1737) and Fedor Rozmyslov (1768), while also noting the place where Willem Barents’s expedition wintered in 1596. Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht: Leading Russian Cartographer of the Enlightnement Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht [Александр Михайлович Вильбрехт] (1757 - 1823) was a cartographer, geographer, astronomer and mathematician, who was the most important mapmaker in the Russian Empire during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and generally a major force in Enlightenment science in the country. Born to an affluent St. Peterburg family, of partial German ancestry, Wilbrecht studied at the Academy of Arts and the School of the Army Noble Corps. After his graduation, he became a map draughtsman at the Geographical Department of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, before working in more senior roles at the Geographical Department of the Cabinet, the Military Topographic Depot, and the Geographical Department of the Ministry of Education. Wilbrecht came to the personal attention of Catherine the Great and, in 1785, was appointed to head the Higher School of Mathematics of the Imperial Mining School, as well as being the Chief Geographer of the Geographical Department of the Cabinet of Her Imperial Majesty. In these capacities, Wilbrecht’s greatest achievement was the present atlas of the Russian Empire (1792, 1800), with other highlights including his important map of the North Pacific, Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [A Map Representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and the English Captain Cook] (1787); Карта театра войны Российской империи против шведов сочиненная [Map of the Theatre of War of the Russian Empire against the Swedes, Composed] (1789); and the Подробная карта Российской империи и близлежащих заграничных владений [A Detailed Map of the Russian Empire and nearby Foreign Possessions] (1804, revised 1816), nicknamed the “Stolist Map” a colossal 100-sheet map of the European Russia. As the Russia’s leading geographic educator, Wilbrecht published the important works Новый Атлас или собрание карт всех частей земного шара, почерпнутый из разных сочинителей и напечатанный в Санкт-Петербурге для употребления Юношества в 1793 году при Горном училище [The New Atlas or a Collection of Maps of all Parts of the Globe, drawn from Different Writers and Printed in St. Petersburg for the Use of Youth in 1793 at the Mining School] (1793) and Атлас Российской империи изданной для употребления юношества [Atlas of the Russian Empire published for the Use of the Youth] (1794). Late in life, Wilbrecht became the Director of the Military Topographic Depot, whereupon he introduced top-notch scientific cartography to the Russian Army. A Note on Rarity The atlas, in either the 1792 or 1800 editions, and its intermediate variations, is very rare, especially as complete with all maps as called for in the registers. While there are surely several complete examples of the atlas in various Russian institutions, the only complete example of the 1800 edition we could is trace is held by the National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg). Outside of Russia, the only complete examples of the atlas we can locate are two 1792 editions, held by the Royal Geographical Society and the Beinecke Library (Yale University), although it is possible that there could be a couple more examples that are not properly catalogued online. Incomplete examples of the 1792 edition are held by the Harvard University Library, British Library and the National Library of Scotland, while an incomplete example of the 1800 edition is held by the University of California-Berkeley. The only complete example of the atlas we can trace as having been on the market since 1969 is for an example of the 1792 edition, sold in 2006 at Bonhams’s New York. A substantially incomplete example of the 1792 edition, with only 30 maps, was sold at Sotheby’s London in 2019. (Alexander Johnson/Dasa Pahor, 2023), National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg): К 1-Росс 8/14; cf. [1792 ed.:] 1792: Royal Geographical Society: mr 1.C.112, Beinecke Library (Yale University): 1976 Folio 105; Leo BAGROW, ed. Henry W. Castner, A History of Russian Cartography up to 1800 (Wolfe Island, Ontario: Walker Press, 1975), Part V, pp. 212, 215.

"Folio Atlas, but here with Complete Contents contemporarily left unbound and presented as 47 separate copper engraved leaves, each with contemporary pink paper edging. Extremely rare and historically important – the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire, being the second edition of the work, made on the orders of Czar Paul I to present his new jurisdictional reforms, created by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, the Chief Geographer and Cartographer to the Imperial Court, from the best sources and surveys, a complete example with 43 maps and 2 preliminary leaves, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the Russian Empire with an important inset depicting the Gulf of Alaska and northern British Columbia coasts, dozens of maps of individual Russian ‘gubernia’ (provinces) of unprecedented accuracy, as well as a map focusing upon Alaska and Kamchatka predicated upon intelligence gained from numerous Russian and British exploring expeditions; all maps beautifully decorated with allegorical cartouches, with text in Russian Cyrillic, published in St. Petersburg by the Czar’s Geographical Department; an extraordinary example clearly never bound, but preserved ‘in plano’ with all leaves with original outline hand colour and contemporary pink paper edging. This work is the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire (which then included Alaska), and one of the foundational monuments of Russian scientific cartography and geographic intelligence. It is the revised second edition of a work first issued in 1792, and was made by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, an exceedingly talented geographer, cartographer, mathematician and astronomer, who was the chief geographer and mapmaker to the Imperial Court. This revised edition of the atlas was created on the orders of Czar Paul I especially to show the empire’s new internal jurisdictions which were imposed per his reforms. The folio atlas features 43 maps, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the entire Russian Empire featuring an inset bearing a historically significant map depicting Alaska and much of the coast of British Columbia; individual maps of all of Russia’s first-level jurisdictions predicated upon the best surveys and sources; plus, a large format map of Kamchatka, Alaska and the northern BC Coast, predated upon intelligence from ground-breaking exploring expeditions. All maps are beautifully adored with allegorical cartouches that portray Russia to be a powerful, autocratic state, enlightened by science, culture and commerce, and which vanquishes its enemies. The present example of the atlas is complete, featuring 47 engraved leaves (2 preliminaries, and 43 maps on 45 leaves – the maximum called for); however, it was clearly never bound (the sheets are of dissonant sizes), with the borders of each sheet contemporarily edged with pink paper, allowing the maps to be conveniently enjoyed in plano. The first edition of the atlas, Российский атлас, из сорока четырёх карт состоящий и на сорок два наместничества империю разделяющий [Russian Atlas, consisting of Forty- Four Maps and dividing the Empire into Forty-Two Vice-royalties] (1792), was created by Wilbrecht on the orders of Empress Catherine II the Great (r. 1762-96) to show the new internal jurisdictions of the Russian Empire as imposed by her decree, ‘Institutions for the Management of the Provinces’ (November 7, 1775). Changing the nature and boundaries of the first-level jurisdictions in Russa was not simply a bureaucratic matter, but rather it had a profound impact upon land rights, taxation and economic and infrastructure development. Catherine II’s jurisdictional reforms, which were fully implemented in 1785, saw the empire divided into 38 наместничества (namestnichestva / vice-royalties), 3 provinces, 1 region and 1 special autonomous entity (governed by the Don Cossacks). During the 1790s, Catherine ordered further revisions to the Russian jurisdictions, such that upon her death, in 1796, the empire had 48 namestnichestva. The Wilbrecht atlas was only the second official atlas of the Russian Empire, having been preceded only by the Imperial Academy of Sciences’s Атлас Российской, состоящий из девятнадцати специальных карт… [The Russian Atlas, consisting of Nineteen Special Maps…] (St. Petersburg, 1745), which while a triumph in its time, by the 1790s was considered so outdated as to be practically obsolete. Catherine II’s son and successor, Czar Paul I (r. 1796 - 1801), a clinically insane ruler (who was eventually murdered on the orders of his own son!) absolutely despised his mother and went to great efforts to erase or change virtually anything that he attributed to her rule – including her jurisdictional reforms. He dissolved the 51 namestnichestva and converted them into 42 губе́рния (gubernia / provinces), an act which had significant effects upon public affairs across the empire. Paul I’s jurisdictional reforms naturally made the 1792 Wilbrecht atlas in good measure obsolete. The present 1800 edition of the atlas features largely the same maps and topographical content but sees the plates heavily reworked to show the new jurisdictions, with the titles altered accordingly (ex. on the Title Page and on Map no. 1, Catherine II’s cypher had been replaced by that of Paul I). The atlas fully preserves its important depictions of the Alaska and the northern BC coasts. To clear up any confusion, in the period between 1792 and 1800, Wilbrecht seemingly issued many of the atlas’s constituent maps separately, while groupings of maps were consolidated into what seems to have been atlas factice, such that many surviving examples of the atlas, even some held by elite institutions, are today found incomplete. Thus, the present example is notable for being complete with the maximum number of maps called for. * While the present example of the Wilbrecht Atlas is not bound, it features all the contents as called for, including: 1 Title Page, 1 Contents Register, and 43 maps (1 of which is comprised of 3 un-joined sheets). Some Highlights of the Atlas All the maps in the atlas are of very high quality, and the individual maps of the gubernia are the finest and, in many cases, the first accurate maps of these regions. They are predicated upon a composite of sources, in some cases, good scientific surveys, while accompanied by spectacular iconographic adornment. From an international perspective, the most significant elements are the depictions of the Russian Far East, Russian America (Alaska), and the adjacent coastlines of what is today British Columbia, as the true scientific conception of these regions was then emerging due to on-going exploring expeditions conducted by both Russian and British mariners. Map no. 42B., Восточная часть Иркутской губернии с прилежащими островами и западным берегом Америки [The Eastern Part of the Irkutsk Province with Adjacent Islands and the Western Coast of America], showcases a historically important depiction of Alaska and Kamchatka, derived from expeditions ranging from the 1720s to the 1780s. It is derived from Wilbrecht’s separately issued Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [Map representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and of the English Captain Cook] (1787), although its projection is quite different. For the littoral areas of Alaska, the map shows a sophisticated awareness of the pre-Cook Russian expeditions of Vitus Bering, Aleksei Chirikov, Pyotyr Krenitsyn and Martin Spanberg, etc., while fully embracing the discoveries from Cook’s Third Voyage (1778-9). The map also presents recent revelations due to the likes of Gerasim Ismailov, who discovered the Kenai Peninsula, and Dimitry Bocharov’s exploration of Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula. In the deep interior (in the modern Northwest Territories), the map shows the discoveries of Samuel Hearn. In a similar vein, the inset on Map No. 1 (the general map of the Russian Empire), Карта представляющая частьзападного берега Америки от полуострова Аляски до залива Нутки положеннаго по новейшим открытиям зделанным Российскими и Английскими мореплавателями в 1784, 1786 и 1787 годах [A Map Representing Part of the Western Coast of America from the Alaska Peninsula to Nootka Bay based on the Latest Discoveries made by Russian and English Navigators in the years 1784, 1786 and 1787], shows the Pacific coast of North America, from the base of the Alaska Peninsula, in the northwest, down the just past Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, in the southeast. The depiction of the Alaska coast is, in some ways, more advanced than that of Map 42B, especially with respect to its portrayal of places like the Kodiak Archipelago and Prince William Sound. The BC Coast shows an awareness of the discoveries of George Dixon and Nathaniel Portlock (1786-7), especially with regards to the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) and vicinity. The mapping of north-central Siberia showcased by Map No. 41. Карта Тобольской губернии из 16 уездов [Map of the Tobolsk Province of 16 Counties], is quite interesting, capturing such details as the locations of villages, winter encampments, fortresses, monasteries, mines, salt and fishing works, and the routes of the exploration expeditions of Stepan Malygin (1734-5), Aleksei Ivanovich Skuratov (1734-5), Dmitry Ovtsyn (1735), Muraviev & Pavlov (1737) and Fedor Rozmyslov (1768), while also noting the place where Willem Barents’s expedition wintered in 1596. Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht: Leading Russian Cartographer of the Enlightnement Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht [Александр Михайлович Вильбрехт] (1757 - 1823) was a cartographer, geographer, astronomer and mathematician, who was the most important mapmaker in the Russian Empire during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and generally a major force in Enlightenment science in the country. Born to an affluent St. Peterburg family, of partial German ancestry, Wilbrecht studied at the Academy of Arts and the School of the Army Noble Corps. After his graduation, he became a map draughtsman at the Geographical Department of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, before working in more senior roles at the Geographical Department of the Cabinet, the Military Topographic Depot, and the Geographical Department of the Ministry of Education. Wilbrecht came to the personal attention of Catherine the Great and, in 1785, was appointed to head the Higher School of Mathematics of the Imperial Mining School, as well as being the Chief Geographer of the Geographical Department of the Cabinet of Her Imperial Majesty. In these capacities, Wilbrecht’s greatest achievement was the present atlas of the Russian Empire (1792, 1800), with other highlights including his important map of the North Pacific, Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [A Map Representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and the English Captain Cook] (1787); Карта театра войны Российской империи против шведов сочиненная [Map of the Theatre of War of the Russian Empire against the Swedes, Composed] (1789); and the Подробная карта Российской империи и близлежащих заграничных владений [A Detailed Map of the Russian Empire and nearby Foreign Possessions] (1804, revised 1816), nicknamed the “Stolist Map” a colossal 100-sheet map of the European Russia. As the Russia’s leading geographic educator, Wilbrecht published the important works Новый Атлас или собрание карт всех частей земного шара, почерпнутый из разных сочинителей и напечатанный в Санкт-Петербурге для употребления Юношества в 1793 году при Горном училище [The New Atlas or a Collection of Maps of all Parts of the Globe, drawn from Different Writers and Printed in St. Petersburg for the Use of Youth in 1793 at the Mining School] (1793) and Атлас Российской империи изданной для употребления юношества [Atlas of the Russian Empire published for the Use of the Youth] (1794). Late in life, Wilbrecht became the Director of the Military Topographic Depot, whereupon he introduced top-notch scientific cartography to the Russian Army. A Note on Rarity The atlas, in either the 1792 or 1800 editions, and its intermediate variations, is very rare, especially as complete with all maps as called for in the registers. While there are surely several complete examples of the atlas in various Russian institutions, the only complete example of the 1800 edition we could is trace is held by the National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg). Outside of Russia, the only complete examples of the atlas we can locate are two 1792 editions, held by the Royal Geographical Society and the Beinecke Library (Yale University), although it is possible that there could be a couple more examples that are not properly catalogued online. Incomplete examples of the 1792 edition are held by the Harvard University Library, British Library and the National Library of Scotland, while an incomplete example of the 1800 edition is held by the University of California-Berkeley. The only complete example of the atlas we can trace as having been on the market since 1969 is for an example of the 1792 edition, sold in 2006 at Bonhams’s New York. A substantially incomplete example of the 1792 edition, with only 30 maps, was sold at Sotheby’s London in 2019. (Alexander Johnson/Dasa Pahor, 2023), National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg): К 1-Росс 8/14; cf. [1792 ed.:] 1792: Royal Geographical Society: mr 1.C.112, Beinecke Library (Yale University): 1976 Folio 105; Leo BAGROW, ed. Henry W. Castner, A History of Russian Cartography up to 1800 (Wolfe Island, Ontario: Walker Press, 1975), Part V, pp. 212, 215.

"Folio Atlas, but here with Complete Contents contemporarily left unbound and presented as 47 separate copper engraved leaves, each with contemporary pink paper edging. Extremely rare and historically important – the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire, being the second edition of the work, made on the orders of Czar Paul I to present his new jurisdictional reforms, created by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, the Chief Geographer and Cartographer to the Imperial Court, from the best sources and surveys, a complete example with 43 maps and 2 preliminary leaves, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the Russian Empire with an important inset depicting the Gulf of Alaska and northern British Columbia coasts, dozens of maps of individual Russian ‘gubernia’ (provinces) of unprecedented accuracy, as well as a map focusing upon Alaska and Kamchatka predicated upon intelligence gained from numerous Russian and British exploring expeditions; all maps beautifully decorated with allegorical cartouches, with text in Russian Cyrillic, published in St. Petersburg by the Czar’s Geographical Department; an extraordinary example clearly never bound, but preserved ‘in plano’ with all leaves with original outline hand colour and contemporary pink paper edging. This work is the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire (which then included Alaska), and one of the foundational monuments of Russian scientific cartography and geographic intelligence. It is the revised second edition of a work first issued in 1792, and was made by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, an exceedingly talented geographer, cartographer, mathematician and astronomer, who was the chief geographer and mapmaker to the Imperial Court. This revised edition of the atlas was created on the orders of Czar Paul I especially to show the empire’s new internal jurisdictions which were imposed per his reforms. The folio atlas features 43 maps, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the entire Russian Empire featuring an inset bearing a historically significant map depicting Alaska and much of the coast of British Columbia; individual maps of all of Russia’s first-level jurisdictions predicated upon the best surveys and sources; plus, a large format map of Kamchatka, Alaska and the northern BC Coast, predated upon intelligence from ground-breaking exploring expeditions. All maps are beautifully adored with allegorical cartouches that portray Russia to be a powerful, autocratic state, enlightened by science, culture and commerce, and which vanquishes its enemies. The present example of the atlas is complete, featuring 47 engraved leaves (2 preliminaries, and 43 maps on 45 leaves – the maximum called for); however, it was clearly never bound (the sheets are of dissonant sizes), with the borders of each sheet contemporarily edged with pink paper, allowing the maps to be conveniently enjoyed in plano. The first edition of the atlas, Российский атлас, из сорока четырёх карт состоящий и на сорок два наместничества империю разделяющий [Russian Atlas, consisting of Forty- Four Maps and dividing the Empire into Forty-Two Vice-royalties] (1792), was created by Wilbrecht on the orders of Empress Catherine II the Great (r. 1762-96) to show the new internal jurisdictions of the Russian Empire as imposed by her decree, ‘Institutions for the Management of the Provinces’ (November 7, 1775). Changing the nature and boundaries of the first-level jurisdictions in Russa was not simply a bureaucratic matter, but rather it had a profound impact upon land rights, taxation and economic and infrastructure development. Catherine II’s jurisdictional reforms, which were fully implemented in 1785, saw the empire divided into 38 наместничества (namestnichestva / vice-royalties), 3 provinces, 1 region and 1 special autonomous entity (governed by the Don Cossacks). During the 1790s, Catherine ordered further revisions to the Russian jurisdictions, such that upon her death, in 1796, the empire had 48 namestnichestva. The Wilbrecht atlas was only the second official atlas of the Russian Empire, having been preceded only by the Imperial Academy of Sciences’s Атлас Российской, состоящий из девятнадцати специальных карт… [The Russian Atlas, consisting of Nineteen Special Maps…] (St. Petersburg, 1745), which while a triumph in its time, by the 1790s was considered so outdated as to be practically obsolete. Catherine II’s son and successor, Czar Paul I (r. 1796 - 1801), a clinically insane ruler (who was eventually murdered on the orders of his own son!) absolutely despised his mother and went to great efforts to erase or change virtually anything that he attributed to her rule – including her jurisdictional reforms. He dissolved the 51 namestnichestva and converted them into 42 губе́рния (gubernia / provinces), an act which had significant effects upon public affairs across the empire. Paul I’s jurisdictional reforms naturally made the 1792 Wilbrecht atlas in good measure obsolete. The present 1800 edition of the atlas features largely the same maps and topographical content but sees the plates heavily reworked to show the new jurisdictions, with the titles altered accordingly (ex. on the Title Page and on Map no. 1, Catherine II’s cypher had been replaced by that of Paul I). The atlas fully preserves its important depictions of the Alaska and the northern BC coasts. To clear up any confusion, in the period between 1792 and 1800, Wilbrecht seemingly issued many of the atlas’s constituent maps separately, while groupings of maps were consolidated into what seems to have been atlas factice, such that many surviving examples of the atlas, even some held by elite institutions, are today found incomplete. Thus, the present example is notable for being complete with the maximum number of maps called for. * While the present example of the Wilbrecht Atlas is not bound, it features all the contents as called for, including: 1 Title Page, 1 Contents Register, and 43 maps (1 of which is comprised of 3 un-joined sheets). Some Highlights of the Atlas All the maps in the atlas are of very high quality, and the individual maps of the gubernia are the finest and, in many cases, the first accurate maps of these regions. They are predicated upon a composite of sources, in some cases, good scientific surveys, while accompanied by spectacular iconographic adornment. From an international perspective, the most significant elements are the depictions of the Russian Far East, Russian America (Alaska), and the adjacent coastlines of what is today British Columbia, as the true scientific conception of these regions was then emerging due to on-going exploring expeditions conducted by both Russian and British mariners. Map no. 42B., Восточная часть Иркутской губернии с прилежащими островами и западным берегом Америки [The Eastern Part of the Irkutsk Province with Adjacent Islands and the Western Coast of America], showcases a historically important depiction of Alaska and Kamchatka, derived from expeditions ranging from the 1720s to the 1780s. It is derived from Wilbrecht’s separately issued Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [Map representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and of the English Captain Cook] (1787), although its projection is quite different. For the littoral areas of Alaska, the map shows a sophisticated awareness of the pre-Cook Russian expeditions of Vitus Bering, Aleksei Chirikov, Pyotyr Krenitsyn and Martin Spanberg, etc., while fully embracing the discoveries from Cook’s Third Voyage (1778-9). The map also presents recent revelations due to the likes of Gerasim Ismailov, who discovered the Kenai Peninsula, and Dimitry Bocharov’s exploration of Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula. In the deep interior (in the modern Northwest Territories), the map shows the discoveries of Samuel Hearn. In a similar vein, the inset on Map No. 1 (the general map of the Russian Empire), Карта представляющая частьзападного берега Америки от полуострова Аляски до залива Нутки положеннаго по новейшим открытиям зделанным Российскими и Английскими мореплавателями в 1784, 1786 и 1787 годах [A Map Representing Part of the Western Coast of America from the Alaska Peninsula to Nootka Bay based on the Latest Discoveries made by Russian and English Navigators in the years 1784, 1786 and 1787], shows the Pacific coast of North America, from the base of the Alaska Peninsula, in the northwest, down the just past Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, in the southeast. The depiction of the Alaska coast is, in some ways, more advanced than that of Map 42B, especially with respect to its portrayal of places like the Kodiak Archipelago and Prince William Sound. The BC Coast shows an awareness of the discoveries of George Dixon and Nathaniel Portlock (1786-7), especially with regards to the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) and vicinity. The mapping of north-central Siberia showcased by Map No. 41. Карта Тобольской губернии из 16 уездов [Map of the Tobolsk Province of 16 Counties], is quite interesting, capturing such details as the locations of villages, winter encampments, fortresses, monasteries, mines, salt and fishing works, and the routes of the exploration expeditions of Stepan Malygin (1734-5), Aleksei Ivanovich Skuratov (1734-5), Dmitry Ovtsyn (1735), Muraviev & Pavlov (1737) and Fedor Rozmyslov (1768), while also noting the place where Willem Barents’s expedition wintered in 1596. Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht: Leading Russian Cartographer of the Enlightnement Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht [Александр Михайлович Вильбрехт] (1757 - 1823) was a cartographer, geographer, astronomer and mathematician, who was the most important mapmaker in the Russian Empire during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and generally a major force in Enlightenment science in the country. Born to an affluent St. Peterburg family, of partial German ancestry, Wilbrecht studied at the Academy of Arts and the School of the Army Noble Corps. After his graduation, he became a map draughtsman at the Geographical Department of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, before working in more senior roles at the Geographical Department of the Cabinet, the Military Topographic Depot, and the Geographical Department of the Ministry of Education. Wilbrecht came to the personal attention of Catherine the Great and, in 1785, was appointed to head the Higher School of Mathematics of the Imperial Mining School, as well as being the Chief Geographer of the Geographical Department of the Cabinet of Her Imperial Majesty. In these capacities, Wilbrecht’s greatest achievement was the present atlas of the Russian Empire (1792, 1800), with other highlights including his important map of the North Pacific, Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [A Map Representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and the English Captain Cook] (1787); Карта театра войны Российской империи против шведов сочиненная [Map of the Theatre of War of the Russian Empire against the Swedes, Composed] (1789); and the Подробная карта Российской империи и близлежащих заграничных владений [A Detailed Map of the Russian Empire and nearby Foreign Possessions] (1804, revised 1816), nicknamed the “Stolist Map” a colossal 100-sheet map of the European Russia. As the Russia’s leading geographic educator, Wilbrecht published the important works Новый Атлас или собрание карт всех частей земного шара, почерпнутый из разных сочинителей и напечатанный в Санкт-Петербурге для употребления Юношества в 1793 году при Горном училище [The New Atlas or a Collection of Maps of all Parts of the Globe, drawn from Different Writers and Printed in St. Petersburg for the Use of Youth in 1793 at the Mining School] (1793) and Атлас Российской империи изданной для употребления юношества [Atlas of the Russian Empire published for the Use of the Youth] (1794). Late in life, Wilbrecht became the Director of the Military Topographic Depot, whereupon he introduced top-notch scientific cartography to the Russian Army. A Note on Rarity The atlas, in either the 1792 or 1800 editions, and its intermediate variations, is very rare, especially as complete with all maps as called for in the registers. While there are surely several complete examples of the atlas in various Russian institutions, the only complete example of the 1800 edition we could is trace is held by the National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg). Outside of Russia, the only complete examples of the atlas we can locate are two 1792 editions, held by the Royal Geographical Society and the Beinecke Library (Yale University), although it is possible that there could be a couple more examples that are not properly catalogued online. Incomplete examples of the 1792 edition are held by the Harvard University Library, British Library and the National Library of Scotland, while an incomplete example of the 1800 edition is held by the University of California-Berkeley. The only complete example of the atlas we can trace as having been on the market since 1969 is for an example of the 1792 edition, sold in 2006 at Bonhams’s New York. A substantially incomplete example of the 1792 edition, with only 30 maps, was sold at Sotheby’s London in 2019. (Alexander Johnson/Dasa Pahor, 2023), National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg): К 1-Росс 8/14; cf. [1792 ed.:] 1792: Royal Geographical Society: mr 1.C.112, Beinecke Library (Yale University): 1976 Folio 105; Leo BAGROW, ed. Henry W. Castner, A History of Russian Cartography up to 1800 (Wolfe Island, Ontario: Walker Press, 1975), Part V, pp. 212, 215.

"Folio Atlas, but here with Complete Contents contemporarily left unbound and presented as 47 separate copper engraved leaves, each with contemporary pink paper edging. Extremely rare and historically important – the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire, being the second edition of the work, made on the orders of Czar Paul I to present his new jurisdictional reforms, created by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, the Chief Geographer and Cartographer to the Imperial Court, from the best sources and surveys, a complete example with 43 maps and 2 preliminary leaves, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the Russian Empire with an important inset depicting the Gulf of Alaska and northern British Columbia coasts, dozens of maps of individual Russian ‘gubernia’ (provinces) of unprecedented accuracy, as well as a map focusing upon Alaska and Kamchatka predicated upon intelligence gained from numerous Russian and British exploring expeditions; all maps beautifully decorated with allegorical cartouches, with text in Russian Cyrillic, published in St. Petersburg by the Czar’s Geographical Department; an extraordinary example clearly never bound, but preserved ‘in plano’ with all leaves with original outline hand colour and contemporary pink paper edging. This work is the finest Enlightenment Era atlas of the Russian Empire (which then included Alaska), and one of the foundational monuments of Russian scientific cartography and geographic intelligence. It is the revised second edition of a work first issued in 1792, and was made by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht, an exceedingly talented geographer, cartographer, mathematician and astronomer, who was the chief geographer and mapmaker to the Imperial Court. This revised edition of the atlas was created on the orders of Czar Paul I especially to show the empire’s new internal jurisdictions which were imposed per his reforms. The folio atlas features 43 maps, including a giant 3-sheet general map of the entire Russian Empire featuring an inset bearing a historically significant map depicting Alaska and much of the coast of British Columbia; individual maps of all of Russia’s first-level jurisdictions predicated upon the best surveys and sources; plus, a large format map of Kamchatka, Alaska and the northern BC Coast, predated upon intelligence from ground-breaking exploring expeditions. All maps are beautifully adored with allegorical cartouches that portray Russia to be a powerful, autocratic state, enlightened by science, culture and commerce, and which vanquishes its enemies. The present example of the atlas is complete, featuring 47 engraved leaves (2 preliminaries, and 43 maps on 45 leaves – the maximum called for); however, it was clearly never bound (the sheets are of dissonant sizes), with the borders of each sheet contemporarily edged with pink paper, allowing the maps to be conveniently enjoyed in plano. The first edition of the atlas, Российский атлас, из сорока четырёх карт состоящий и на сорок два наместничества империю разделяющий [Russian Atlas, consisting of Forty- Four Maps and dividing the Empire into Forty-Two Vice-royalties] (1792), was created by Wilbrecht on the orders of Empress Catherine II the Great (r. 1762-96) to show the new internal jurisdictions of the Russian Empire as imposed by her decree, ‘Institutions for the Management of the Provinces’ (November 7, 1775). Changing the nature and boundaries of the first-level jurisdictions in Russa was not simply a bureaucratic matter, but rather it had a profound impact upon land rights, taxation and economic and infrastructure development. Catherine II’s jurisdictional reforms, which were fully implemented in 1785, saw the empire divided into 38 наместничества (namestnichestva / vice-royalties), 3 provinces, 1 region and 1 special autonomous entity (governed by the Don Cossacks). During the 1790s, Catherine ordered further revisions to the Russian jurisdictions, such that upon her death, in 1796, the empire had 48 namestnichestva. The Wilbrecht atlas was only the second official atlas of the Russian Empire, having been preceded only by the Imperial Academy of Sciences’s Атлас Российской, состоящий из девятнадцати специальных карт… [The Russian Atlas, consisting of Nineteen Special Maps…] (St. Petersburg, 1745), which while a triumph in its time, by the 1790s was considered so outdated as to be practically obsolete. Catherine II’s son and successor, Czar Paul I (r. 1796 - 1801), a clinically insane ruler (who was eventually murdered on the orders of his own son!) absolutely despised his mother and went to great efforts to erase or change virtually anything that he attributed to her rule – including her jurisdictional reforms. He dissolved the 51 namestnichestva and converted them into 42 губе́рния (gubernia / provinces), an act which had significant effects upon public affairs across the empire. Paul I’s jurisdictional reforms naturally made the 1792 Wilbrecht atlas in good measure obsolete. The present 1800 edition of the atlas features largely the same maps and topographical content but sees the plates heavily reworked to show the new jurisdictions, with the titles altered accordingly (ex. on the Title Page and on Map no. 1, Catherine II’s cypher had been replaced by that of Paul I). The atlas fully preserves its important depictions of the Alaska and the northern BC coasts. To clear up any confusion, in the period between 1792 and 1800, Wilbrecht seemingly issued many of the atlas’s constituent maps separately, while groupings of maps were consolidated into what seems to have been atlas factice, such that many surviving examples of the atlas, even some held by elite institutions, are today found incomplete. Thus, the present example is notable for being complete with the maximum number of maps called for. * While the present example of the Wilbrecht Atlas is not bound, it features all the contents as called for, including: 1 Title Page, 1 Contents Register, and 43 maps (1 of which is comprised of 3 un-joined sheets). Some Highlights of the Atlas All the maps in the atlas are of very high quality, and the individual maps of the gubernia are the finest and, in many cases, the first accurate maps of these regions. They are predicated upon a composite of sources, in some cases, good scientific surveys, while accompanied by spectacular iconographic adornment. From an international perspective, the most significant elements are the depictions of the Russian Far East, Russian America (Alaska), and the adjacent coastlines of what is today British Columbia, as the true scientific conception of these regions was then emerging due to on-going exploring expeditions conducted by both Russian and British mariners. Map no. 42B., Восточная часть Иркутской губернии с прилежащими островами и западным берегом Америки [The Eastern Part of the Irkutsk Province with Adjacent Islands and the Western Coast of America], showcases a historically important depiction of Alaska and Kamchatka, derived from expeditions ranging from the 1720s to the 1780s. It is derived from Wilbrecht’s separately issued Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [Map representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and of the English Captain Cook] (1787), although its projection is quite different. For the littoral areas of Alaska, the map shows a sophisticated awareness of the pre-Cook Russian expeditions of Vitus Bering, Aleksei Chirikov, Pyotyr Krenitsyn and Martin Spanberg, etc., while fully embracing the discoveries from Cook’s Third Voyage (1778-9). The map also presents recent revelations due to the likes of Gerasim Ismailov, who discovered the Kenai Peninsula, and Dimitry Bocharov’s exploration of Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula. In the deep interior (in the modern Northwest Territories), the map shows the discoveries of Samuel Hearn. In a similar vein, the inset on Map No. 1 (the general map of the Russian Empire), Карта представляющая частьзападного берега Америки от полуострова Аляски до залива Нутки положеннаго по новейшим открытиям зделанным Российскими и Английскими мореплавателями в 1784, 1786 и 1787 годах [A Map Representing Part of the Western Coast of America from the Alaska Peninsula to Nootka Bay based on the Latest Discoveries made by Russian and English Navigators in the years 1784, 1786 and 1787], shows the Pacific coast of North America, from the base of the Alaska Peninsula, in the northwest, down the just past Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, in the southeast. The depiction of the Alaska coast is, in some ways, more advanced than that of Map 42B, especially with respect to its portrayal of places like the Kodiak Archipelago and Prince William Sound. The BC Coast shows an awareness of the discoveries of George Dixon and Nathaniel Portlock (1786-7), especially with regards to the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) and vicinity. The mapping of north-central Siberia showcased by Map No. 41. Карта Тобольской губернии из 16 уездов [Map of the Tobolsk Province of 16 Counties], is quite interesting, capturing such details as the locations of villages, winter encampments, fortresses, monasteries, mines, salt and fishing works, and the routes of the exploration expeditions of Stepan Malygin (1734-5), Aleksei Ivanovich Skuratov (1734-5), Dmitry Ovtsyn (1735), Muraviev & Pavlov (1737) and Fedor Rozmyslov (1768), while also noting the place where Willem Barents’s expedition wintered in 1596. Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht: Leading Russian Cartographer of the Enlightnement Aleksandr Mikhailovich Wilbrecht [Александр Михайлович Вильбрехт] (1757 - 1823) was a cartographer, geographer, astronomer and mathematician, who was the most important mapmaker in the Russian Empire during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and generally a major force in Enlightenment science in the country. Born to an affluent St. Peterburg family, of partial German ancestry, Wilbrecht studied at the Academy of Arts and the School of the Army Noble Corps. After his graduation, he became a map draughtsman at the Geographical Department of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, before working in more senior roles at the Geographical Department of the Cabinet, the Military Topographic Depot, and the Geographical Department of the Ministry of Education. Wilbrecht came to the personal attention of Catherine the Great and, in 1785, was appointed to head the Higher School of Mathematics of the Imperial Mining School, as well as being the Chief Geographer of the Geographical Department of the Cabinet of Her Imperial Majesty. In these capacities, Wilbrecht’s greatest achievement was the present atlas of the Russian Empire (1792, 1800), with other highlights including his important map of the North Pacific, Карта представляющая открытия Российских мореплавателей на Тихом океане и английского капитана Кукка [A Map Representing the Discoveries of Russian Navigators in the Pacific Ocean and the English Captain Cook] (1787); Карта театра войны Российской империи против шведов сочиненная [Map of the Theatre of War of the Russian Empire against the Swedes, Composed] (1789); and the Подробная карта Российской империи и близлежащих заграничных владений [A Detailed Map of the Russian Empire and nearby Foreign Possessions] (1804, revised 1816), nicknamed the “Stolist Map” a colossal 100-sheet map of the European Russia. As the Russia’s leading geographic educator, Wilbrecht published the important works Новый Атлас или собрание карт всех частей земного шара, почерпнутый из разных сочинителей и напечатанный в Санкт-Петербурге для употребления Юношества в 1793 году при Горном училище [The New Atlas or a Collection of Maps of all Parts of the Globe, drawn from Different Writers and Printed in St. Petersburg for the Use of Youth in 1793 at the Mining School] (1793) and Атлас Российской империи изданной для употребления юношества [Atlas of the Russian Empire published for the Use of the Youth] (1794). Late in life, Wilbrecht became the Director of the Military Topographic Depot, whereupon he introduced top-notch scientific cartography to the Russian Army. A Note on Rarity The atlas, in either the 1792 or 1800 editions, and its intermediate variations, is very rare, especially as complete with all maps as called for in the registers. While there are surely several complete examples of the atlas in various Russian institutions, the only complete example of the 1800 edition we could is trace is held by the National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg). Outside of Russia, the only complete examples of the atlas we can locate are two 1792 editions, held by the Royal Geographical Society and the Beinecke Library (Yale University), although it is possible that there could be a couple more examples that are not properly catalogued online. Incomplete examples of the 1792 edition are held by the Harvard University Library, British Library and the National Library of Scotland, while an incomplete example of the 1800 edition is held by the University of California-Berkeley. The only complete example of the atlas we can trace as having been on the market since 1969 is for an example of the 1792 edition, sold in 2006 at Bonhams’s New York. A substantially incomplete example of the 1792 edition, with only 30 maps, was sold at Sotheby’s London in 2019. (Alexander Johnson/Dasa Pahor, 2023), National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg): К 1-Росс 8/14; cf. [1792 ed.:] 1792: Royal Geographical Society: mr 1.C.112, Beinecke Library (Yale University): 1976 Folio 105; Leo BAGROW, ed. Henry W. Castner, A History of Russian Cartography up to 1800 (Wolfe Island, Ontario: Walker Press, 1975), Part V, pp. 212, 215.