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Photographs of Louis Choris' Illustrated Plates from Voyage Pittoresque Autour du Monde, approximately 1816-1817

Overview of the Collection

Title
Photographs of Louis Choris' Illustrated Plates from Voyage Pittoresque Autour du Monde
Dates
approximately 1816-1817 (inclusive)
Quantity
1 folder (22 photographs)
Collection Number
PH1035
Summary
Photographic copies of illustrations by Louis Choris published in Voyage Pittoresque Autour du Monde, a work of seven parts published between 1821 and 1823
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

Entire collection can be viewed on the Libraries' Digital Collections website. Permission is required to view originals. Contact Special Collections for more information.

Request at UW

Languages
English, French
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Biographical Note

Louis Choris (1795-1828) was a German-Russian painter and explorer. He was appointed the official painter on a three-year scientific expedition led by Russian explorer Otto von Kotzebue in 1815. Although he did not live a long life, dying near Vera Cruz, Mexico in 1828. He is remembered for his vibrant and lively ethnographic illustrations of native peoples from the Americas and Pacific Islands.

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Historical Background

In 1815, Russian naval officer Otto von Kotzebue embarked on a mission to explore and chart Oceania on behalf of the Russian Empire. Following his work in the region, he and his crew, including one Louis Choris, an illustrator, proceeded up the North American coast, charting the Alaskan coastline and documenting its inhabitants as they went. The expedition was unable to sail back to Russia through the Arctic Circle but did manage to discover and name Kotzebue Sound in northwestern Alaska. Louis Choris went on to publish his illustrations of Alaskan peoples, in addition to Hawaiians, Polynesians, American Indians of Chile and the American Southwest, and related flora and fauna, in the volume Voyage Pittoresque Autour du Monde ("A Picturesque Trip Around the World"), along with descriptions of those regions, in 1822. The book is primarily composed of a number of highly detailed lithographs based on Choris’s original watercolor paintings along with text written by J.B. Eyries.

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Content Description

This collection is composed of photographs taken of lithograph plates from Voyage Pittoresque Autour du Monde , specifically those illustrating Alaskan peoples, as well as related landscapes and fauna from the region. The illustrations themselves were likely made in 1816 or 1817, on the voyage commanded by Otto von Kotzebue, and were later published in Voyage Pittoresque Autour du Monde in 1822. These photographic copies were made in the late twentieth century. Some plates are not included in this collection as it currently stands, primarily those of Alaskan birds and geological formations.

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Use of the Collection

Alternative Forms Available

View the digital version of the collection

Restrictions on Use

Restrictions may exist on reproduction, quotation, or publication. Contact Special Collections at University of Washington Libraries for details.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

This collection is arranged according to the order the images were presented in the Voyage Pittoresque Autour du Monde , from which they were taken. The images span two separate sections of the volume, one concerning Kamchatka, Kotzebue Sound, and the land of the Chukchi people, and the other concerning the Aleutian Islands

Processing Note

Processed by Michael Lowry Lamble, November, 2018.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

 

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Subject Terms

  • Visual Materials Collections (University of Washington)

Personal Names

  • Choris, Louis, 1795-1828

Titles within the Collection

  • Voyage Pittoresque Autour du Monde
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