George Kennan's Copy
Russia, Past and Present. Adapted from the German by Henrietta M. Chester.
London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1881.
Price: $200.00
About the item
First Edition in English. With map and Illustration. 1 vols. 8vo. George Kennan's Copy. Modern quarter black morocco and boards. Very Good.
Item #21931
Signed by the elder George Kennan, on endpaper in blue pencil. A great Russian-American Association
George Kennan (February 16, 1845 – 1924) was an American explorer noted for his travels in the Kamchatka and Caucasus regions of Russia. He was diplomat and historian George F. Kennan's cousin twice removed, with whom he shared his birthday.
Kennan was born in Norwalk, Ohio and was keenly interested in travel from an early age. Family finances, however, meant he began work at the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad Company telegraph office aged twelve. In 1864, he secured employment with the Russian American Telegraph Company to survey a route for a proposed overland telegraph line through Siberia and across the Bering Strait. Having spent two years in the wilds of Kamchatka, he returned to Ohio via St. Petersburg and soon became well-known through his lectures, articles and book about his travels.
In 1870, he returned to St. Petersburg and travelled to Dagestan, a northern area of the Caucasus region taken over by Russia only ten years previously. There he became the first American to explore its highlands, a remote Muslim region of herders, silversmiths, carpet-weavers and other craftsmen. He travelled on through the northern Caucasus area, stopping in Samashki and Grozny, before returning once more to America in 1871. In 1878, he became an Associated Press reporter based in Washington, D.C.
George Kennan (February 16, 1845 – 1924) was an American explorer noted for his travels in the Kamchatka and Caucasus regions of Russia. He was diplomat and historian George F. Kennan's cousin twice removed, with whom he shared his birthday.
Kennan was born in Norwalk, Ohio and was keenly interested in travel from an early age. Family finances, however, meant he began work at the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad Company telegraph office aged twelve. In 1864, he secured employment with the Russian American Telegraph Company to survey a route for a proposed overland telegraph line through Siberia and across the Bering Strait. Having spent two years in the wilds of Kamchatka, he returned to Ohio via St. Petersburg and soon became well-known through his lectures, articles and book about his travels.
In 1870, he returned to St. Petersburg and travelled to Dagestan, a northern area of the Caucasus region taken over by Russia only ten years previously. There he became the first American to explore its highlands, a remote Muslim region of herders, silversmiths, carpet-weavers and other craftsmen. He travelled on through the northern Caucasus area, stopping in Samashki and Grozny, before returning once more to America in 1871. In 1878, he became an Associated Press reporter based in Washington, D.C.
