Cross, Anthony In the Lands of the Romanovs: An Annotated Bibliography of First-hand English-language Accounts of the Russian Empire (1613–1917) (review)

Abstract

SEER, 94, 2, APRIL 2016 352 Theseareveryminormatters,however.PatronsofHistoryisareadable,informative and valuable book. Given the importance of the nobility for Poland, this book is worthy of attention indeed. Department of History M. B. B. Biskupski Central Connecticut State University Cross, Anthony. In the Lands of the Romanovs: An Annotated Bibliography of First-hand English-language Accounts of the Russian Empire (1613–1917). Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, 2014. xvi + 419 pp. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography of bibliographies. Index. £39.95; £18.95; £5.95 (e-book); (free online). It is hard to believe that anyone has ever known more about relations between Britain and Russia than Anthony Cross and impossible to imagine that his expertise will be surpassed in the foreseeable future. Over the course of a long and distinguished career devoted to the exploration of that multi-faceted relationship since the mid sixteenth century, his energy and productivity have been unparalleled. The most recent fruit of those labours is the bibliography under review, which will not only remain the indispensable starting-point for novices in years to come, but is also guaranteed to pay immediate dividends even to those with established interests in the subject. Surely everyone will discover something new to them here. Whereas Harry W. Nerhood’s To Russia and Return: An Annotated Bibliography of Travelers’ English-Language Accounts of Russia from the Ninth Century to the Present (Columbus, OH, 1968), listed some 630 travel accounts relating to the three centuries of Romanov rule, Cross’s work includes almost twice as many items, ranging more widely in genre. The entries are ‘arranged chronologically in accord with the date of the writer’s arrival in Russia or the beginning of an account’ (p. xiv), a strategy which serves to highlight the compiler’s analytical priorities. Since Professor Cross is more interested in what these accounts can tell us objectively about Russia than in the subjective strategies of their authors or the cultural-political contexts from which they emerged (the joint focuses of a recent strand of scholarship on travel writing, not discussed in the lengthy Introduction, pp. 1–61), ‘reliable’ is one of his greatest compliments. Translations of books by Casanova, Pallas, de Miranda, Kohl, Berlioz and the émigré Prince Anatolii Demidov feature alongside those of many less celebrated continental authors. And, as Cross points out, it is indicative of a growing interest in the United States that no fewer than sixty-three of the 142 items relating to the reign of Alexander III should be American in origin (p. 45). He provides a major service by specifying the times and places of their visits in a series of succinct commentaries, which also REVIEWS 353 identify five ‘armchair travellers’ in the reign of Catherine II. And although all manner of unsuspected riches are revealed in particularly extensive sections on the Crimean War and the reign of Nicholas II, the same indefatigable detective work is evident throughout. Where else could one have learned that the only known copy of the mysterious W. Stephens, Travels through Russia and Poland in the Years 1840–41–42 (London, 1843) (G74) — a line-by-line reproduction of Rayford Ramble, Travelling Opinions and Sketches, in Russia and Poland (London, 1836) (F80) — is held by the National Library of Ireland? In addition to bibliographical curiosities, the aspiration to comprehensiveness is bound to throw up a few unappetizing prospects. Charles Boileau Elliott’s account of his travels in 1837 is ‘boringly described and true to the words of the preface that the authoroffers“littlethat isneworerudite”’(G58).Inthe followingyear,Adolphus Slade passed his time in Odessa ‘seemingly doing very little and noting less’ (G60). Nevertheless, even the most unpromising accounts may contain nuggets of one sort or another, and the vast majority of entries refer to more rewarding sources. The only one that seems likely to be universally useless, save perhaps to a student of anniversary publications, is The Corsican: A diary of Napoleon’s life in his own words (London, 1911), which contains ‘relatively few words by the French Emperor […] about the disastrous Russian campaign […] re-arranged from various sources in diary form’ (F31). Since there is always a question, at the margins of projects such as this...