Boris N. Komissarov

This is the first volume of a set of three magnificently produced volumes : a grand set in a slip case . Collectively the three volumes record the flora , fauna , landscapes, and people of Brazil in the early 19th century The originals are in the Academy of Sciences of Russia . Surprisingly this is not a Russian publication but is Brazilian collaborative project that worked on the Russian held material . The text is in Portuguese, Spanish and English . The story behind these volumes is fascinating . In 1821 the Russian Consul general in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil , Grigorii Ivanoitch Von Langsdorff proposed to the Russian czar, Alexander 1. an ambitious and sizable scientific expedition to explore Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo, the Midwest of Brazil and the Amazon . It was a serious Russian adventure . The object was to gather specimens of plants and examples of animals and to meet and find out more about the indigeneous people. The expedition was a large one , 40 people set out following long preparations in 1826 and there were rich rewards in the material gathered in botany, zoology and ethnography . Three artists were engaged to give make visual representations - Rugendas , Taunay and Florence . These three volumes presents the watercolours and drawings created by the these artists to provide a visual record. While the scientific specimens went back to Russia to form the basis of a number of emerging natural history collections the art work was forgotten and left unexplored in St Peteresberg archives for more than a century . It is a fascinating historical , scientific and artistic record of a time when travel was tough, dangerous , and the tropical world was unknown. Only one artist stuck with the expedition , one drowned and the third abandoned the venture. Other diaries and maps were published elsewhere but this is specifically the artistic record and the three volumes deserve appreciation not simply as beautiful books but as a visual link to the Brazilian past and a dense Amazon . They are now prized items in my library .… (meer)