The Russian Shores of the Black Sea in the Autumn of 1852
With a Voyage down the Volga, and a Tour through the Country of the Don Cossacks

First published in 1853, this book is a narrative of the British writer Laurence Oliphant's journey through mid-nineteenth-century Russia.

Laurence Oliphant (Author)

9781108045438, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 8 March 2012

392 pages, 34 b/w illus. 2 maps
21.6 x 14 x 2.2 cm, 0.5 kg

The British diplomat and writer Laurence Oliphant (1829–88) was the author of travel diaries and novels, including the very successful Piccadilly (1870). A keen traveller, he worked as a correspondent for The Times during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1) and served as Secretary to British Diplomat Lord Elgin in Canada, China and Japan. This book is a narrative of the journey Oliphant made to Russia as a young man, with his friend Oswald Smith. Its publication in 1853 coincided with the beginning of the Crimean War, turning the book into an immediate success. From the splendour of mid-nineteenth-century St Petersburg, to the annexation of the Crimea, and the international consequences of Russian foreign policy for Europe, this illustrated book is also full of witty anecdotes and captivating descriptions. Very influential in its time, it remains an important resource for cultural and political historians.

Preface
1. St. Petersburg
2. The great fair of Nijni Novgorod
3. Volga steam-tugs
4. Kazan
5. Another wood-station
6. Simbirsk: its trade
7. Singular misapplication of steam
8. Dubovka
9. Parting sensations
10. Don Cossack steppes
11. Don Cossacks: their origin
12. Colonies
13. Taganrog as a port
14. The Bertha
15. Kertch: its disadvantages as a port
16. Tartar quarter
17. Tartar village of Alushta
18. Stupendous cliffs
19. The harbour of Sevastopol
20. Bagtchè Seria
21. Annexation of the Crimea
22. Ascent to a deserted fortress
23. Yalta
24. Arrival at Odessa
25. Trade of Moldavia
26. Orsova: its political associations.

Subject Areas: European history [HBJD]