travel accounts of Russia

[William Ryan]

A colleague of mine in the Hakluyt Society, Ray Howgego (author of the 
mighty /Encyclopedia of Exploration/), who shares my interest in western 
travel accounts of Russia, has sent me the following list of books which 
he suspects are all confected by writers who probably never went to Russia:

JOHN RICHARD, pseud?: /A Tour from London to Petersburgh, and from 
thence to Moscow, and Return to London by Way of Courland, Poland, 
Germany and Holland/, London, 1778, 1780; Dublin, 1781.

JOSEPH MARSHALL, pseud?: /Travels through Holland, Flanders, Germany, 
Denmark, Sweden, Lapland, Russia, the Ukraine and Poland in the Years 
1768, 1769, and 1770/, London, 1772, 1773; Dublin, 1772.

WILLIAM THOMSON (1746-1817), attrib: /Letters from Scandinavia on the 
Past and Present State of the Northern Nations of Europe/, London, 1796, 
2 vols.

PIERRE NICHOLAS CHANTREAU (1741-1808): /Voyage philosophique, politique 
et littéraire fait en Russie pendant les années 1788 et 1789, traduit du 
hollandais, avec une augmentation considérable, par le citoyen 
Chantreau/, Paris, 1794, 2 vols; English trans. as /Philosophical, 
Political and Literary Travels in Russia during the Years 1788 & 1789/, 
Perth, 1794, 2 vols; London, 1794.


He adds:

    My suspicions are based largely on the reviews these works received
    in contemporary journals. It's fairly certain that Chantreau copied
    almost everything from William Coxe's /Travels in Poland,
    Scandinavia, and Russia/ (London 1784). It's ironic that this work
    was then laboriously translated back into English, the language from
    which it was originally plagiarized! Nothing is known of John
    Richard and Joseph Marshall, which might be pseudonyms.

    William Thomson's alleged work, published anonymously, appears to be
    copied from Coxe, and from Andrew Swinton's /Travels in Norway,
    Denmark, and Russia, in the Years 1788, 1789, 1790, and 1791/
    (London 1792). Swinton, a shadowy figure, was once believed
    fictitious. The /DNB/ attributes both Swinton's /Travels/ and the
    /Letters from Scandinavia on the Past and Present State of the
    Northern Nations of Europe/ to Thomson, thereby condemning Swinton
    to non-existence and attributing two works to Thomson which he
    probably didn't write. But it's now known from genealogical records
    that Swinton was a real person, and that his travels are authentic.
    Swinton had strong connections with the Admiralty, and it's my
    opinion that he was a government agent, spying on the Kronstadt
    naval facilities.


If any SEELANGERs have further information/comment on these books or can 
offer the titles of other bogus travel accounts we would be most 
appreciative.

Will Ryan



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