Book Description

Excerpt from An Illustrated Description of the Russian Empire: Embracing Its Geographical, Features, Political Divisions, Principal Cities and Towns, Population, Classes, Government, Resources, Commerce, Antiquities, Religion, Progress in Education, Literature, Art, and Science, Manners and Customs, Historic Summary The volume herewith presented to the public was in course of preparation (to the extent, at least, of collecting material out of which to digest the subject-matter of its pages), for a considerable period anterior to the commencement of hostilities between the two governments occupying the position of principals in the present European war. That event, however, with the solicitude it has very generally and very naturally created for reliable information, as to the character, history, and resources, of the Muscovite empire, whose position seems generally though perhaps erroneously to be regarded as so formidable and threatening toward other nations, has led to its publication at a somewhat earlier day than might otherwise have been determined on. But comparatively few of the descriptive works on Russia heretofore published, accessible to readers in the English language - those of recent as well as those of earlier date - have extended their range beyond St. Petersburg and Moscow, with perhaps the provinces immediately surrounding them. This is to be accounted for probably in the fact that (with few exceptions) they have emanated from tourists visiting that country for health or pleasure; and the restrictions with which the government everywhere trammels locomotion on Russian territory, with the miserable travelling facilities, and worse roadside accommodations, have generally been sufficient to deter them from penetrating or exploring to any considerable extent, the vast regions lying beyond the Muscovite capitals. And those works not comprised in this class, and which form the exceptions referred to above, do not cover, any one of them, but a fraction of this colossal empire. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.