FRANKLAND, Captain Charles Colville. Narrative of a Visit to the Courts of Russia and Sweden in the Years 1830 and 1831.

FRANKLAND, Captain Charles Colville. Narrative of a Visit to the Courts of Russia and Sweden in the Years 1830 and 1831. London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. 1832. Two volumes, 8vo. Contemporary half-calf over marbled boards, rebacked, retaining most of the original spines (raised bands, ornamented and lettered in gilt); pp. xii, 399; viii, 464, folding hand-coloured aquatint view of the Red Square in Moscow, folding lithographic map of St. Petersburg with projected flood defences; upper edges of both title-pages with excised inscriptions and re-margined, illustrations a little spotted and with offsetting; otherwise a rather attractive set. First edition, one front fly-leaf and one initial blank inscribed in ink C. C. Frankland, dated 1866, manuscript copy of a review of the work published in the Revue de Paris (in the author's hand?) pasted onto front fly-leaf of volume one. The first 100 pages deal with Frankland's Scandinavian journey, before entering St. Petersburg, where he finds the city in the grip of a devastating cholera outbreak, which had spread from India into Russia, later to affect all of Europe. Charles Colville Frankland R.N. (1797-1876) presents here this detailed travelogue in diary entries. In Russia he is guest to the highest echelons of society taking in political gossip, the mood at the Imperial Court, attends parties, studies the character and social life of the Russians, and explains government and administration of the Empire, all interspersed with lively observations in the streets, cafes, restaurants and other public spaces. In the dedication to Lady Codrington Frankland writes "two topics will be found to predominate throughout the whole book, - the Cholera and the Polish War" (volume I, p. iv). SKU: 2124683