A JOURNEY FROM PRINCE OF WALE'S FORT IN HUDSON'S BAY, TO THE NORTHERN OCEAN
London: A. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1795. three maps, three plates. 1st edition. Hardcover. pp. v-xliv, 458. 4to. Bound in early 3/4 leather over black pebbled buckram. The binding shows wear and scuffing, front joint splitting, contents intermittently foxed or soiled (ex. tide mark to pp. 56 to 94; Coppermine River map shows edge-staining). Overall, in strong condition and decent shape but, due to the absence of at least one plate and possibly two maps, plus the missing four pages, we offer it with all faults, and priced accordingly. Item #9900012157
First printed three years after Hearne's death in 1792, this account is taken from his manuscript and edited by John Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury. It contains a day-to-day record, with notes on natural history, of four expeditions (1769, 1770, 1771) northwest by land from Hudson's Bay. On the last trip, undertaken in 1771-1772, Hearne reached the Arctic Ocean at the mouth of the Coppermine River, becoming the first white man to travel overland from the Bay to the Arctic Ocean, and the first of his race to 'gaze upon the dreary expanse of the Arctic or Frozen Ocean from the northern shores of the Continent of America' (Sabin 31181). See also Streeter 3652, TPL 445, Waterston 19.The copies referenced in these bibliographies differ in their collation: the copy seen by Sabin has four maps and eight plates; TPL four plates and three maps; and Streeter four plates and five maps. Our copy has but three plates (all folding) and three folding maps (Coppermine River, Moos River, Slude River). It also lacks the first four pages (pp. i to iv) which includes the title page.
Price (USD):
$1,250.00
C$ 1,751.09
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