Travelling Sketches In Russia And Sweden, During The Years 1805, 1806, 1807, 1808

London: T. Gillett for Richard Phillips, 1809. First edition. Hardcover. Modern three quarters navy morocco and marbled gray boards and matching endpapers. Very good/Near fine. vi, 302; vii, 296 pages. 30 x 23 cm. 41 engraved plates (3 folding, 29 hand-colored, 11 sepia-toned). Porter was commissioned by Tsar Alexander I of Russia as an historical painter (a genre at which he excelled), and he resided in St. Petersburg until 1806, until complications regarding an unfortunate romantic entanglement with a Russian princess, Princess Mary von Scherbatoff, caused him to hastily leave the country. This work reflects his experiences, covering life in St. Petersburg, the Russian nobility, peasantry and trades class, the Russian Orthodox Church, military events in Europe, the countryside in Finland and Sweden. The first folding plate rehinged, ink number foot of preface. some offsetting of plates to text with balance of text generally clean. Two volumes bound as one. ABBEY TRAVEL. COLAS 240. LIPPERHEIDE. 1346. TOOLEY 383.