ALEXANDER VIL'BREKHT [Geographical Atlas of the Russian Empire]. Rossiskoi atlas iz soroka tyrekh kart sostoyashchii I na sorok odna guberniu imperiyu razdelyayuschii. [St Petersburg]: Geographical Department, 1800. Large oblong folio, 585 x 710mm. Engraved title printed as a half sheet embellished with a soaring imperial eagle, text and titles in Russian, engraved list of 42 maps , 43 engraved maps comprising a general map on three sheets, 42 maps of the provinces each hand-colored in outline (numbered 2- 42A, 42B), each map with a decorative title cartouche incorporating imagery relevant to the main occupations of the region. Early 20th century checkered-paper wrappers, cloth spine. Condition: Some light dampstaining affecting lower margins throughout just into the engraved area, margins of early leaves and outer margins lightly spotted, maps 14, 16, 18, 19 20 all printed off angle, dampstain at upper margin centre fold to maps 29-42B with loss of margin to some maps (maps 29-35) and to map image on maps 36-42B; wrappers chipped and creased. From 1745 a series of surveys were carried out to produce accurate maps of the rich and expanding Russian Imperial Empire. The first in 1745 was followed in 1792 when Catherine the Great commissioned a new map of her Empire. On her death in 1796, with various administrative boundary changes the 1792 Atlas was reissued as here in 1800.

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