GEORGI, Johann Gottlieb. Description de la Ville de St Petersbourg, et de ses environs traduite de l'allemand de Mr. Georgi... avec le plan de St. Pétersbourg.
A. St Perersbourg, Chez Jean Zach. Logan, Libraire, 1793
An extremely rare work, first French edition, printed in St. Petersburg. The work is enhanced by a large map of the city, engraved by Thoenert, entitled "Plan de la Residence Imperiale de St. Petersburg." The book describes the city in detail, and much space is devoted to its scientific and literary activities: it also mentions the libraries of Diderot and Voltaire; the latter was purchased in 1779 by Empress Catherine. Kopanev: “Le nombre des volumes s'élève à 6.760, la plupart dans des reliures françaises de qualité.”
Johann Gottlieb Georgi, 1729-1802, although born in Pomerania, studied at Uppsala University in Sweden, where he graduated in medicine, studied with Carl Linnaeus, and worked as a pharmacist. Georgi arrived in Russia at the request of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in 1770.
Georgi settled in St. Petersburg in 1776. He conducted chemical experiments in the city's first laboratory and described the flora of the surrounding countryside. He was appointed an academician of the Academy of Sciences in 1783 and in 1790 published in German a book detailing the architecture and layout of St. Petersburg and its surrounding landmarks, one of the first books dedicated to the young Russian capital. His last major work, a nine-volume work on the geography and natural history of the Russian Empire, was published from 1797 to 1802, the year of his death.
8vo. 195x120 mm. Full contemporary leather binding, gilt decorations and title on a red morocco label on the spine. Pages XVI, 404, (2). A folded table on page 146 and a large view of the city of St. Petersburg engraved by Thoener Medardus, folded several times and hand-colored. Slight sporadic foxing, a fine copy.
Cfr. Nikolaï Alexandrovitch Kopanev, La bibliothèque de Voltaire à Saint-Pétersbourg, in: https://gallica.bnf.fr/dossiers/html/dossiers/Voltaire/D2/Kopanev_VF.htm