En Orient: impressions et réminiscences is a travel journal written by the Russian Nikolai Vladimirovich Adlerberg (1819-1892) in 1860. Adlerberg was a military man, politician, celebrity and Orthodox. This book is divided into two volumes, both depicting Adlerberg's family religious pilgrimage to Constantinople. He claims that the aim of his volumes is to describe his pious memories and more specifically those of Holy places and Jesus Christ. The first edition of both volumes was published in French 1867 by the Imprimerie Centrale du ministère des finances in St-Petersburg. The original edition of the first volume counts 532 pages and the second volume, 520.
Context
Adlerberg's En Orient: impressions et réminiscences was a depiction of his religious pilgrimage to the Holy places fought for during the Crimean war (1853-1856). At the time of his writing En Orient: impressions et réminiscences, the Crimean War (1853-1856) had just ended. This war mainly opposed Russia to the Ottoman Empire allied with Britain and France. It began due to the crumbling of the Ottoman Empire, the feud between Orthodoxy (supported by the Russians) and Christianity (represented by the French) for Holy places and Russia's colonial endeavors, notably. The outcome of the war was the defeat of Russia. The conflict for the control of the Holy places began before the Crimean War, it started in the 18th century. One aspect of this quarrel was the fight to take control of the Golden Gate in Jerusalem. Russia stood as a defender of the Orthodox subjects in Palestine and advocated for their being given control of the Holy places. However, the Russian claims were not fulfilled. To resolve the issue, the Sultan Abdülmecid I gave the key to the Golden Gate, praying rights and ownership of the Holy sites to the Christians in 1852. Sultan Abdülmecid I guaranteed the Orthodoxes that their rights would remain unchanged, but Russia strongly protested this act. This conflict continued during the Crimean War, during which Russia's interest lied in taking control of the Holy places to support the importance of the Orthodox community in the Ottoman Empire. More specifically, Tsar Nicholas I aimed at re-establishing the Orthodox Christian religion in Constantinople. He also wished to take over various significant sites from the early Christianity in Jerusalem and its vicinity, such as the Church of the Nativity.
In addition to the Crimean War, another contextual feature surrounding En Orient: impressions et réminiscences was the Caucasian wars (1817–1864). As a military man, Adlerberg fought in the wars of Caucasus. The Caucasus was situated between the Black and Caspian Seas. The totality of the South Caucasus and part of the North were annexed by Russia as a result of the Russo-Persian wars of 1804-1813 and 1826-1828 that opposed Iran to Russia.
Publishing history
Both volumes of En Orient: impressions et réminiscences were first published in French in 1867 by the Imprimerie Centrale du ministère des finances in St-Petersburg. In Russia, at the time, French was a language used by the aristocracy. One copy of this edition can be found the Maastricht University in the Jesuit collection at the inner city library. In 1867, a Russian version of this book was published by the same editor in St-Petersburg. This version of the book can be found at the Danish Royal Library. A second edition of En Orient: impressions et réminiscences was published in 1869 in St-Petersburg by Impr. H. Schmitzdorff. In later years, both volumes of this book were re-edited by multiple printing companies. Both volumes of En Orient: impressions et réminiscences have been published in its language of origin in 2018 by HardPress and in 2019 by Forgotten Books.
However, some publishing companies have treated both volumes of En Orient: impressions et réminiscences as two different books. For instance, some companies only re-edited one volume. In 2010, Nabu Press's re-edited the first volume of En Orient: impressions et réminiscences, which can be found on Amazon. Two years later, Ulan Press published another version of this volume. All these editions were written in French. Moreover, in 2018, (the second volume of) En Orient: impressions et réminiscences was chosen by scholars as being culturally important and was edited by Wentworth Press. An English version of the book was also published in 2008 by BiblioLife.
Content
Both volumes of En Orient: impressions et réminiscences are travel books that take the form of journals. There are no pictures or illustrations in any of these volumes.