Contemporary Memoirs of Russia from the Year 1727 to 1744 (Russia Through European Eyes, No. 7)

xv, [1], 416 pp. 8vo. The memoirs of General C.H. Manstein were first published in London in 1770, "under the auspices of the celebrated historian, David Hume," who in order to make the work available to the British public convinced a bookseller to have it translated from the original French. That original translation was, according to the editor of the second edition, performed by "most incompetent hands," an opinion shared by the editor of a later French edition, who called that English translation "mutilated." Huber's edition was also purportedly produced from a manuscript version of the work obtained from a friend of the author, and contained material not present in the original English translation. The second edition, based on Huber's French version, appeared in 1856, and is reprinted here for the first time thereafter.