Pallas, Peter Simon. SAMMLUNGEN HISTORISCHER NACHRICHTEN UBER DIE MONGOLISCHEN VOLFERSCHAFTEN…. ERSTER THEIL. Frankfurt and Leipzig: Fleischer, 1779. 8vo. viii, 350 pp., plus 8 folding plates (including frontis) and 5 folding tables. Early 1/2 morocco, labels absent, spine with small chips and a few small worm holes. Title with ink-stamp and early ink note at foot, front blank with early ink notes, very light worming to upper/inner gutter of first few leaves, one table with old paper repair to verso and a few other leaves with small marginal old paper repairs, else a rather clean book throughout. Very Good. ********************* A very scarce work and a scarce edition. The work was first published in St. Petersburg in 1776, and the second volume (this is the first) would not be published until 1801. The author travelled to Russia at the request of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. He toured Russian provinces to research their natural history, people, customs, and economy. He would eventually travel across central Asia to Siberia, and he was one of the first to describe Mongolian Lamaism, idolatry, and ceremonies.