Maggs Bros.

Ides (1657-1709), a German of Dutch origin, was the chief negotiator serving Tsar Peter I of Russia from 1691 to 1695, when he was sent on the first successful Russian embassy to the Kangxi Emperor in Peking. The meeting alleviated some of the tension between the two countries and helped to establish a fur trade. The present work is an account of the 18 month long arduous journey of a caravan of some 250 advisors, merchants and soldiers who made their way through Siberia to Peking. Ides was accompanied by Adam Brand (1692?-1746) a German merchant and Ides’ secretary who is the author of the present work. This English translation is based on an account published in Hamburg (Beschreibung der Chinesischen Reise… B. Schillern) in the same year. It is a tribute to the speed with which information passed between countries. Both works are exceedingly rare. A fuller illustrated account of the embassy by Ides Ysbrand (’Three years travels from Moscow over-land to China’) was published in London in 1706. The book also includes “Some Curious Observations concerning Products of Russia, which may serve as a supplement to the Preceding Treatise. Written originally in Latin by Henry William Ludolf”.