'By the Banks of the Neva'
Subtitle: Chapters from the Lives and Careers of the British in Eighteenth-Century Russia
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: November 13, 1996
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 490
ISBN-13: 9780521552936
Subjects: European history: c 1500 to c 1750; History - General History; Great Britain - History - 18th Century; Russia - History; History: World; Russia; Europe - Great Britain - General; Europe - Russia & the Former Soviet Union; British--Russia; History / Europe / General; 1689-1801; British; History
First sentence: The view upon the banks of the Neva exhibit the most grand and lively scenes I ever beheld.
Description: This 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 as the new capital of an ever-expanding Russian empire.

Based on an extremely wide use of primary sources, particularly archival, from Britain and Russia, the book concentrates on the activities of the British within various fields such as commerce, the navy, the medical profession, science and technology and the arts, and ends with a broad survey of travellers and of travel accounts, many of them completely unknown. Also included are many attractive and unusual illustrations which help demonstrate the variety and character of Russia's British community.