John Bell
Great Britain- Biography of John Bell
- Travels in Persia, China, and Turkey
- Return to Scotland and Publication
- "Travels" and Publication
- Publication in France and Russia
Biography of John Bell
John Bell was a Scottish physician and traveler who served in the Russian diplomatic service. Born in 1691 on the Antermony estate, near the lake of the same name, in Scotland, he completed his education in Glasgow in 1714, earning a degree in medicine. Driven by a passion for travel, he obtained recommendation letters to the court physicians of the Russian Tsar and set out for St. Petersburg.
Travels in Persia, China, and Turkey
In St. Petersburg, in the following year of 1715, Bell secured a position as a physician with the embassy of A.P. Volynsky, which was headed to Persia. After returning three years later in 1718, Bell embarked on another embassy to China, where he remained for three years until 1721. In the same year, Bell participated in the Persian campaign while serving at the Imperial headquarters and later joined a mission of the Russian government to Constantinople in 1737-1738.
Return to Scotland and Publication
Following the embassy to Constantinople, Bell likely developed some commercial interests there and spent several years in the Ottoman capital, successfully combining his official duties with personal pursuits. It was in Constantinople that Bell got married in 1746. After serving in the Russian diplomatic service for a total of about 30 years, he decided to return to his homeland, Antermony estate in Scotland, in 1747. He passed away there in 1780.
"Travels" and Publication
Bell's travel notes were published at his request in Glasgow in 1763. The two-volume work, titled "Travels from St. Petersburg, in Russia, to diverse parts of Asia," remains a valuable source for the history of Russia in the 18th century. The first volume describes his journey to Isfahan from 1715 to 1718 and the initial part of his Siberian journey to the capital of China, including maps drawn by Bell himself, which mark two routes from Moscow to Beijing. The second volume concludes the account of his travels in China and includes a translation from French to English of the personal diary of Lorenzo Lang, a representative of the Russian government in Beijing. The second volume also describes the events of the campaign to Derbent in 1722, in which John Bell, as a staff physician, was in close proximity to the renowned Russian monarch. Finally, it depicts his embassy to Constantinople in 1737 during the winter, at the height of the war between Turkey and Russia.
Publication in France and Russia
In 1766, the "Travels" were published in France in a translation by Marc Antoine Edu. Although his translation was criticized for its "extreme carelessness," it quickly gained wide popularity. This prompted another translation of Bell's "Travels" to be made by a certain Popov, this time from French, and published in Russia in 1776 under the title "Bell's Travels through Russia to various Asian lands. 3 parts."
