'By the Banks of the Neva': Chapters from the Lives and Careers of the British in Eighteenth-Century Russia

by Anthony Cross

Overview

This attractively-illustrated book offers a unique and fascinating investigation into the lives and careers of the British in eighteenth-century Russia and, more specifically, into the development of a vibrant British community in St. Petersburg during the city's first century of existence. Based on an extremely wide use of primary sources from Britain and Russia, the book concentrates on the British within various fields such as commerce, the navy, the medical profession, science and technology, and the arts, and as curious travelers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521552936
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/13/1996
Pages:	492
Product dimensions:	6.69(w) x 9.61(h) x 1.06(d)

Table of Contents

List of illustrations; Note on Russian dates; Preface; Introduction; 1. The colony by the banks of the Neva; 2. Factory matters and 'the honourable of the Earth'; 3. 'In Anglorum templo': the English Church and its chaplains; 4. 'Doctors are scarce and generally Scotch'; 5. 'Sur le pied anglais': shipbuilders and officers in the Russian navy; 6. 'Necessary foreigners': specialists and craftsmen in Russian service; 7. Masters of the Arts; 8. 'Out of curiosity': tourists and visitors; Epilogue; Notes; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"...full of revealing detail and lively anecdotes about social gaffes and cultural clashes." Matthew Reisz, London Review of Books

"...this book makes use of a great variety of resources, including various archives." W.G. Moss, Choice

"Cross has written a book which will be useful and fascinating to many....we have here a most impressive piece of scholarship which does fulfill most of the aims which Cross had in writing it." Roger L. Emerson, Canadian Journal of History

"This is at once the book on the subject and a major study of cultural and technical transfer....written primarily for professional historians, it has much to offer other readers." Jeremy Black, History

"The volume is gracefully written as well, surely a bonus these days, and handsomely, almost impeccably produced...." Slavic Review

"This is a most impressive and scholarly work by the recognized world expert in the field of British-Russian contacts in the eighteenth century. Anthony Cross demonstrates convincingly the extent and diversity of the British community in Russia." Janet Hartley, The International History Review

"This book is a rich source for the history of court culture and patronage, particularly during the reign of Catherine the Great. Specialists in Russian history will find this book an invaluable reference source; non-Russianists will be able to make fruitful comparisons for their own work on subjects suach as material culture, expatriate communities, military history, cultural production, government-sponsored modernization, and competing ‘enlightenments'. ...this is a work of prodigious scholarship and unquestioned accomplishment that gives us the first comprehensive study of the lives, careers, and interconnections of a group uniquely important in Russia's development." Brenda Meehan, American Historical Review

"This is a work of truly remarkable scholarship!" Canadian Slavonic Papers

From the Publisher