A Relation of Three Embassies from his Sacred Majestie Charles II to the Great Duke of Muscovie, The King of Sweden, and The King of Denmark. Performed by the Earle of Carlisle in the Years 1663 and 1664. Written By An Attendant.

First Edition. Octavo, pp. [xvi], 461, [3, publisher's catalogue], erratic pagination, engraved portrait of the Grand Duke, engraved frontispiece-portrait of the Earl of Carlisle; mounted and the side slightly extended by hand. Bound in contemporary calf, re-backed with red morocco spine label lettered in gilt, raised bands with gilt rules. Printed for John Starkey (London), 1669.

Some very minor rubbing to the boards, a small area of loss to bottom right corner of pp. 461 (not affecting any text). A near fine example.

In this work, Guy Miege, Under-Secretary to the English Ambassador Charles Howard, the first Earl of Carlisle; Ambassador to Russia, Sweden, and Denmark from 1663 to 1664, provides a first-hand account of the official English Embassy to Russia. Miege offers insight into Russian diplomacy and the reception provided to senior foreign dignitaries by the Russian state.

In 1668, Ambassador Charles Howard was "sent as ambassador-extraordinary with the Garter to Charles XI of Sweden. With the earl's approval, Guy Miege, one of Carlisle's attendants, wrote an account of these embassies, which was published in English and French in 1669." (ONDB)

"With Carlisle's express permission, Miege wrote an account of the journey, subsequently published as A Relation of Three Embassies (1669), which is both an attempted vindication of the ambassador's conduct in the face of Russian criticism and a lively source of impressions of Russian society and culture. He considered Muscovy a beautiful country, but found its inhabitants, in contrast to the Swedes, coarse, austere, and ignorant of learning." (ibid, under Miege).

"Carlisle's main responsibilities were to reciprocate the honor that Tzar Aleksey Mikhaylovich had shown to King Charles II in sending his diplomats to London, as well as to build the promising momentum in their relationship by negotiating the trade privileges that the English hoped to restore. It can safely be concluded that Carlisle's diplomatic mission resulted in a great failure. Ceremonial disputes and diverging economic interests precipitated a decline in Anglo-Russian relations and left the two monarchies in a state of mutual resentment." (Hennings, "Russia and Courtly Europe", pp. 139-159.)

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