New York: William Edwin Rudge , 1930. Containing Copious Excerpts from his Account of his Travels in America with Fifty-Two Reproductions of Water Colors in his own Sketch-Book. Introduction by R.T.H. Halsey. xviii, 28, 2 leaves of music, 29-46, [10] p., frontispiece and 51 leaves of plates; 33 cm. (13 inches). Dark red cloth with gilt-stamped spine title. No dust jacket. Color frontispiece. One of only 1,000 copies made; typography by Frederic Warde. Pavel Petrovich Svinin spent about 20 months in the United States in 1811, 1812, and 1813. He was based in Philadelphia as the secretary to the Russian Consul General, but he also was able to travel up to Maine and down to Virginia in that period. He made 52 water-color sketches of scenes in Philadelphia and elsewhere. His observations of the United States were first published in St. Petersburg in 1815. The bound folio containing the original water colors was brought to the United States from Russia by a Red Cross worker after the Russian Revolution. This volume includes a lengthy biographical sketch of Svinin and all of the water colors he made in the United States. The views include several of New York City and Niagara Falls; the largest number are of Philadelphia and the area immediately adjacent to that city. It includes both well-known buildings, such as the First Bank of the United States, Christ Church, the Bank of Pennsylvania, the Chestnut Street Theatre, Centre Square, and Pennsylvania Hopsital, and street scenes of carriages, chimney sweeps, an oysterman, and the City Troop. The people portrayed by Svinin include black residents of Philadelphia and Native Americans. In Very Good- Condition: corners and head and tail of spine are rubbed; slight damp-staining on lower corners of front and back covers, not affecting pages; back cover slightly soiled; faint off-setting from frontispiece; half title partially separated. Pages and plates are clean and bright. A fascinating look at the United States in its early years through the eyes of a Russian diplomat.. Very Good-. Illus. by Svinin, Paul.