Collection of rare books of the Russian Geological Library

We continue the series of publications about the collection of rare books, digitized and stored in the Russian Geological Library of the Karpinsky Institute.
Today's topic will concern two unique books, two separate editions.

The first edition is a reprint of an article from Russia’s first monthly popular science and literary magazine Literary Works and Translations for the Benefit and Entertainment of Employees. The magazine was created on M.V. Lomonosov’s initiative and was published in the Printing House of the Academy of Sciences. The magazine published original and translated essays, scientific articles on various branches of knowledge. The reprint presents an article by the editor of the magazine, Gerhard Friedrich Miller, published in 1760 under the title News about Sand Gold in Bukharia, about voyages made for it and About the Construction of Fortresses on the Irtysh River, whose Names are: Omskaya, Zhelezenskaya, Yamyshevskaya, Semipalatnaya and Ust- Kamenogorskaya.

In the preface to the article the following description is given: “An important, but still little-known fact in the history of Peter the Great concerns the voyages to Bukharia , which were undertaken for sand gold, located in various local rivers. Truly speaking, they did not achieve the desired destination: many obstacles and endless difficulties that occur on the journey through unknown lands ... were the reason that the first voyages did not achieve the desired success. They produced, however, other very useful actions, for in this case fortresses were built along the Irtysh River... and more knowledge about different lands was gained, from which the Russian state can expect a lot of benefits from now on."

The second book is Description of the Cave in the Orenburg Province Near the Belaya River published in March 1760, the author of which was Pyotr Rychkov – an official, geographer, historian, local historian, and the first corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences.

Rychkov’s article Description of the Cave in the Orenburg Province Near the Belaya River is dedicated to the Kapova Cave (or Shulgan Tash), located on the right bank of the Belaya River below the village of Novoakbulatovo in the Burzyansky District, the Republic of Bashkortostan. The Kapova Cave is known all over the world thanks to the Paleolithic rock paintings discovered in the 20th century. It was also the first description of the halls and galleries of the cave. Rychkov's article is also considered the first scientific work on karst in Russia and the first speleological work in Russian.

Electronic versions of the editions can be found at the following links: Literary Works and Translations for the Benefit and Entertainment of Employees, Description of the Cave in the Orenburg Province near the Belaya River