CHAPPE D'AUTEROCHE (Jean). Voyage en Sibérie fait par ordre du Roi en 1761 contenant les mœurs, les usages des Russes et l'état actuel de cette puissance..., l'Histoire naturelle..., des Observations astronomiques, & des Expériences sur l'Electricité naturelle. Paris, de Bure père, 1768; 2 volumes in 3 vols. and an atlas, i.e. 4 vol. in-folio (342 x 251 mm), red morocco, ribbed spine decorated with gilt fleurons, straight and curved fillets on covers, blue tabis endpapers framed with gilt dent., gilt edges (Bradel l'aîné). FIRST EDITION. 2 frontispieces and 53 plates engraved after Le Prince, Moreau le Jeune and Caresme de Fécamp; 33 maps and one table (Cohen, 225; Raynaud, 83). A MAGNIFICENT WORK, ONE OF THE FIRST TO DESCRIBE THE REAL STATE OF RUSSIA AND SIBERIA in the 18th century in political, military, scientific and intellectual terms, as well as with regard to the often very primitive customs and habits of its population. The beautiful illustrations, mainly by Jean-Baptiste Le Prince, who took part in the voyage, depict Easter and nuptial customs, public baths, rustic interiors, as well as the tortures of the batogues, the ordinary knout and the great knout, and views of towns and ports. Catherine II, accustomed to the incense of Diderot, Voltaire and the entire philosophical clan, had little sympathy for Chappe d'Auteroche's outspokenness and his criticism of Russian despotism. She countered with a virulent rebuttal entitled Antidote, ou Examen du mauvais livre superbalement imprimé intitulé Voyage en Sibérie. The third volume, by the explorer, botanist and geographer Stepan Kracheninnikov, is devoted to Kamchatka, which he was the first to describe (hot springs of the Bolshaya river, customs of the Kamchadales, bear and sable hunting, flora and fauna, etc.). SUPERB EXEMPLAIRE, VERY ELEGANTLY BINDED IN MAROQUIN BY BRADEL, SUCCESSOR OF DEROME (label), EXCEPTIONAL CONDITION. One plate detached (margins shorter). Paper yellowed in places.