A JOURNEY FROM PRINCE OF WALES'S FORT IN HUDSON'S BAY TO THE NORTHERN OCEAN. Undertaken by Order of the Hudson's Bay Company for the Discovery of Copper Mines, A North West Passage, &c. in the Years 1769, 1770, 1771, & 1772.
London: Printed for A. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1795. First Edition. Hardcover. Quarto (4to). Very good+ condition. Item #020368
xliv, 458 pages of text. A leaf [ii] of Publisher's advertisement and Directions to the Binder is bound between pp. iv and v (between Dedication and Preface). Later half calf with linen-covered boards; rebacked with ornately-gilt spine laid-down. COMPLETE with large engraved fold-out map/chart, and eight fold-out engraved plates and plans/maps/charts. Large fold-out map/chart has travel routes outlined in hand-color, and it and the final chart have been repaired (with no loss) long ago and backed on linen. A small fold-out fore-edge margin of Plate V of "Indian Implements" is lacking, with minor loss to text. There are several small spots of discoloration affecting the text, but overall this is a clean copy. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sabin 31181 (with incorrect collation); TPL 445; Streeter VI: 3652; Graff 1840; Lande 1220; Field 676; Cox II, p.171. PROVENANCE: Small bookplate of renowned collector Georges-Alphonse Daviault affixed to inside of front cover, along with remnants of a removed bookplate removed, and an 1880's description of the book. Hearne, in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada for twelve years, recorded with copious notes the lives of the Indians and the natural history of the regions seen on his three trips. The exploratory expeditions took him by land from Hudson's Bay to the mouth of the Coppermine River at the Arctic Ocean; he was the first European to achieve that over-land journey. This work was published from his handwritten journals three years after his death, and describes as well the discovery of Great Slave Lake and the impossibility of finding the Northwest Passage through Hudson's Bay. Height measures 11.75 inches (298mm). First edition.
Price: $5,975.00