This two-volume set of books is titled "Bering's Voyages, An Account of the Efforts of the Russians to Determine the Relation of Asia and America", By F.A. Golder, In Two Volumes. Volume I contains the log books and official reports of the First and Second Expeditions (from 1725 - 1730 and 1733 - 1742) with A Chart Of The Second Voyage By Ellsworth P. Bertholf; the book was published by the American Geographical Society in New York in 1922, and Volume II contains Steller's Journal of the Sea Voyage from Kamchatka to America and Return on the Second Expedition (1741 - 1742), translated and in part annotated by Leonhard Stejneger and published in 1925 by the American Geographical Society. Volume I is from the American Geographical Society Research Series No. 1 and Volume 2 is part of the American Geographical Society Research Series No. 2, both edited by W.L. Joerg, and the books are a first edition set, according to WorldCat. The two books have black labels with gilt lettering on the spines, black paste-down labels with gilt lettering on the covers, the original gray cloth, and blank endpapers. Volume 1 is 371 pages long, including fifteen illustrations, a large fold-out chart of the voyage of Bering and Chirikov in the St. Peter and the St. Paul from the Alaskan coast and their return in 1741, and a Bibliography that runs from page 349 to 371; Volume II is 290 pages long, with thirty illustrations and two fold-out maps, and errata for both books at the rear. Vitus Jonassen Bering (1681- 1741), also known as Ivan Ivanovich Bering, was a Danish cartographer and explorer in the service of Russia and an officer in the Russian Navy. He was selected by the Tsar to captain the First Kamchatka Expedition, which sailed north from outposts on the Kamchatka Peninsula with a charge to map the new areas visited and to establish whether Asia shared a land border with America. The expedition lasted for six years (from 1725 to 1731). He was also a leader of the Second Kamchatka Expedition, also called the Great Northern Expedition, one of the largest exploration enterprises in history, mapping most of the Arctic coast of Siberia and some parts of the North American coastline. It was conceived by Peter the Great, Russian Tsar and Emperor from 1682 until Peter's death in 1725, and it was all part of Peter's attempt to modernize Russia. Later implemented by Peter's daughter Empress Elizabeth, the expedition lasted roughly from 1733 to 1743, and the goal was to find and map the eastern reaches of Siberia and hopefully the western shores of North America, and both books mention whaling that occurred on both voyages. Bering was not the first Russian to sight North America - that was achieved by Mikhail Gvozdev in the 1730's - nor the first Russian to pass through the strait which now bears Bering's name. Nonetheless, his achievements as an individual explorer and as a leader of the second expedition were highly regarded, and the Bering Strait, the Bering Sea, and Bering Island were all named in his honor. The books measure 7 3/4 x 5 1/4 in. wide and are in very good condition. The bindings are tight, and the text, pages, and illustrations are very clean. The crowns and heels have very light bumps and there's a light mark on the back of Volume I, a couple of tips are turned in, and the large fold-out map in Volume I has a slight tear at one of the folds, and otherwise the books are an attractive set that fill in a lot of history about exploration of Russia territory and the American coastline in the 1700's. #141 #1526