Description
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewEastbound through Siberia, a work newly translated to English by two emerita language professors from the University of Alaska Anchorage, adds fascinating details to the life of Steller and his travels and discoveries just before joining Bering in Kamchatka to set sail. . . . This new addition to understanding the life of Steller and 18th-century conditions in Siberia will be welcomed by historians, ethnographers, naturalists and armchair adventurers.
-- Nancy Lord * Anchorage Daily News *
What emerges is a remarkable window into lifeboth human and animalin 18th century Siberia. Due to the secret nature of the expedition, Steller's findings were hidden in Russian archives for centuries, but the near-daily entries he recorded on journeys from the town of Irkutsk to Kamchatka are presented here in English for the first time. RECOMMENDATION: For those with an interest in Georg Steller and/or Russian history.
-- Ian Paulsen * Birdbooker Report *
I want to acknowledge the miracles the translators have performed with this material, synthesizing and rearranging it in ways that make sense of Steller's probable intentions for later editing.
-- Ryan Jones - University Of Oregon * H-NET Reviews Humanities & Social Sciences *
Table of ContentsContents
Foreword: The Steller Legacy / Jonathan C. Slaght
Translators' Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Instructions for Georg Wilhelm Steller from February 18, 1739, from Yeniseysk / Johann Georg Gmelin and Gerhard Friedrich Müller
Part I: Description of Irkutsk and Its Surroundings
1. About Irkutsk and Its Surroundings
2. About Irkutsk Itself
3. About the Public Offices
4. About the Clergy
5. About the Chinese Trade and Chinese Trade Goods
6. About Customs and Lifestyle in Irkutsk
7. About Transbaikalia
8. Report from the Uda River
Part II: Travel Journal from Irkutsk to Kamchatka
9. From Irkutsk to Ust'Ilginskaya (3/4-13)
10. From Ust'Ilginskaya to Kirensk (3/14-5/1)
11. From Kirensk to Yakutsk (5/2-24)
12. In Yakutsk and Yarmanka (5/25-6/19)
13. From Yarmanka to the Amga River (6/20-7/2)
14. From the Amga to the Yuna River (7/3-21)
15. From the Yuna River to Yudoma Cross (7/22-8/8)
16. From Yudoma Cross to Okhotsk (8/9-13)
17. In Okhotsk (8/14-26)
18. Salmon Fishing and Preserving (8/27)
19. From Okhotsk to Bol'sheretsk (8/28-9/16)
Afterword
Appendix A: Georg Wilhelm Steller's Life 11-20 – '18
Appendix B: Schnurbuch Account Ledger
Appendix C: Letter to Johann Daniel Schumacher
Appendix D: Plants Named After Steller
Glossary of Foreign Words
Glossary of People
Bibliography
Index
