Album about Russia of the XVII century of Swedish military intelligence officer Eric Palmquist available on portal of Presidential Library

The Presidential Library's portal presents the Palmquist Album from 1674 and the 2012 edition of "Notes on Russia" written by Eric Palmquist.

This illustrated report by a Swedish military intelligence officer and engineer, Captain Eric Palmquist, is a unique source of information about Russia during the second half of the 17th century. When he was around 20 years old, in 1673, he traveled to Russia with the Swedish embassy led by Count Gustav Oxenstierna.

Eric Palmquist was commissioned to create maps, sketches of fortifications, and descriptions of land and waterways in Swedish Ingermanland and Moscow. The resulting report, known as the Palmquist Album, includes descriptions of important cities, sketches of churches and monasteries, domestic scenes, and characteristics of technical devices and other objects of interest to the Swedes. The book also contains 28 pages of maps and drawings in sepia and watercolor, as well as comments on the illustrations on 20 handwritten pages.

The Palmquist Album remained in the Swedish State Archive for over 300 years before it was discovered in the 19th century. In 1898, a copy of the historical document in black and white was published in a limited edition of 75 copies. Thanks to this publication, the album gained popularity.

The Russian edition of Notes on Russia Made by Eric Palmquist in 1674, published in 2012, includes the original text of the Palmquist Album in early New Swedish, as well as translations into Swedish, Russian, and English. It also includes a description of the manuscript, a glossary in Swedish, Russian, and English, and a reduced reproduction of the Palmquist Album, with 88 full-color pages.

The book was prepared by the Lomonosov Publishing House, in close cooperation with the St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History, and Antiquities, the Department of Slavonic Studies at Stockholm University, and the Department of Modern Languages at Uppsala University.The compilers of the publication note that among the Swedish descriptions of Russia, Eric Palmquist's album stands out due to its unique combination of text, drawings, and maps. It has been described as the most beautiful diplomatic report, and even when compared to other illustrated Western European accounts of Russia, it appears to be a remarkable work of art.

More information about Eric Palmquist's works and literature about him are available on the Presidential Library's portal in the Rossica collection under the The Palmquist's Book section.