M & S Rare Books
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(title 17, U. S. Code).
(RUSSIA). (CHINA). BELL, JOHN. Journey of John Bell, Esq. from St. Petersburgh to Pekin. With an Embassy from his Imperial Majesty, Peter the Great, to Kamhi, Emperor of China. Philadelphia: Joseph and James Crukshank, 1803. 1st American edition. 18mo. 119 pp. Contemp. plain boards, waterstained. Text crisp & clean. $600.00
S & S 3781 (MWA only). Widely circulated in Europe beginning in 1763, with editions in French, this is the only American edition; not recorded at all by NUC.
A Scottish born and educated physician, Bell set out for St. Petersburg in 1714. He travelled in Persia as medical attendant to Valensky, minister to the embassy there in 1715-18. The next four years were spent at the embassy in China, travelling through Siberia and the Tatar deserts. Journey completed, he was called to attend Peter the Great in his perilous expedition to Derbend and the Caspian Gates. Bell's narrative of Peter the Great's activities is especially important. In 1738 Bell was sent amidst winter and war on a mission to Constantinople.