DUNCAN, Jonathan & RABBE, Alphonse. History of Russia from the Foundation of the Empire by Rourick to the Close of the Hungarian War. FIRST EDITION. 2 vols. Herbert Ingram & Co. (National Illustrated Library.) 1854
Half titles, tinted fronts, titlepages & plates, folding maps, 8pp cata. vol. II. Orig. brown embossed cloth, spine dec. & lettered in gilt; spine vol. II v. sl. dulled, but still an attractive set.
¶Duncan writes in the Preface to vol. I, 'With the exception of the first chapter on the "Origin of the Russians," contributed by myself, the whole of this volume I have translated from Rabbe. The first chapter of the second volume is also translated from his work; for the remainder I am responsible'. He continues, 'some readers, too sensitive at the exposure of vice, may be shocked at the narrative of Catherine II... but the suppression of fact is an outrage of truth'.