About the book: 1867 / Alexey Vladimirovich Vysheslavtsev (1831–1888) - Russian traveler and art historian. Serving as a doctor on the clipper ship Plastun and the corvette Novik, he circumnavigated the world in 1857–1860. This was one of the first long voyages of a detachment of screw ships - the latest achievement in shipbuilding of that time - to the mouth of the Amur. The purpose of the expedition was to visit Russian ports on the Pacific Ocean and “acclimatize” the Russian flag in Japanese and Chinese piers. On the clipper "Plastun" Vysheslavtsev rounded the Cape of Good Hope, visited the Atlantic Islands, Singapore, Hong Kong, and many bays of the developing Amur Territory. The clipper spent a whole year in Japanese waters. On the way home, as part of the squadron of Admiral A. A. Popov, Vysheslavtsev saw Polynesia, passed the Strait of Magellan, visited South America, and on the way home crossed the Atlantic Ocean for the second time. During the long voyage, the ship encountered emergency situations more than once. The clipper "Plastun" survived more than one serious storm, separations and meetings with other ships of the squadron, and a long solo voyage. From aboard the corvette “Novik” (on which Vysheslavtsev was transferred to Montevideo), several days’ journey from his native shores, Vysheslavtsev saw the explosion of the clipper “Plastun” and the death of his comrades. Finally, in August 1860, after a three-year absence, Vysheslavtsev returned to Kronstadt, having completed a complete circumnavigation of the world. Throughout the trip, Vysheslavtsev sketched the most interesting places, types of inhabitants of different countries, ethnographic features of their life. These amateur drawings became an artistic diary of the trip and reflected the three-year journey of the expedition. The materials accumulated during the trip formed the basis of the book “Sketches with Pen and Pencil from a Voyage Around the World,” first published in 1862. The book contains 27 drawings by the author, lithographed by the famous St. Petersburg master Paul Petit.