Voyages from Montreal, on the river St. Laurence, through the continent of North America, to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans: in the years 1789 and 1793. With a preliminary account of the rise, progress, and present state of the fur trade of that country. Illustrated with a map
New York: George F. Hopkins, 1802. “First American edition.”
Octavo in 4s (8 1/4” x 5 1/16”, 210mm x 128mm): 2 binder’s blanks, A4 B–N4 2A–Z4 A24 2B–2N4, 2 binder’s blanks [$1 signed]. 200 leaves, pp. i-v (title, blank, dedication, blank, preface) vi–viii 2viii [1] (blank), 1 2–94 (general history of the fur trade), 21 22–296. With a folding engraved map.
Bound in modern half green morocco over green cloth by Riviere and Son (signed at the lower edge of the verso of the front free end-paper). On the spine, five raised bands. Title gilt to the second panel, author gilt to the third, date gilt to tail. Green marbled endpapers. Top edge of the text-block gilt.
A little bowed, with some sunning to the spine. Evenly tanned throughout. Repaired tears to the lower edges of 2E2-4 and the fore-edge of 2S4, not affecting the text. The fore-edges of 2Z3-4 and 2N3-4 roughly cut. The map backed on linen, with some tanning and offsetting. Ink-stamped “Ex Libris H. Leslie Smith” and ballpoint inscription “H. Leslie Smith” to the front pastedown. Presentation inscription “To Les from Annabel Christmas 1948” to the verso of the front free end-paper. Red ink Chinese eight-character seal to the recto of the first binder’s blank.[1] Ex libris of Ted Benttinen laid in.
Sir Alexander Mackenzie’s (ca. 1764–1820) account of his exploration of North America is the first published account of Mackenzie’s two expeditions carried out on behalf of the North West Company, as it aimed to establish new trade routes from the over-saturated market of Hudson’s Bay. His success in these explorations made him “the first white man to cross the continent,” demonstrating his journal to be one of “surpassing interest” (Wagner-Camp). Mackenzie departed Scotland with his father in 1774, and by 1779, had secured a position with Finlay, Gregory & Co., a prominent fur trading company in Montreal. This volume offers a comprehensive history of the fur trade, alongside Mackenzie’s accounts of his travels through the continent. It also provides a glossary to several Indigenous languages. The map, “A Map of America Between Latitudes 40 and 70 North, and Longitudes 45 and 180 West, Exhibiting Mackenzie’s rout from Montreal to Fort Chepewyan & thenee [sic] to the North Sea in 1789 and to the West Pacific Ocean in 1793” is one of the oldest of this area. Hill crowns Voyages from Montreal “one of the most important of Canadian books.”
Henry Leslie Smith (1932–2018) was an English political writer and social activist. After serving in WWII, Smith moved to Canada with his wife, Friede. Smith turned to writing after the death of his son and became a frequent contributor to The Guardian and a repeat guest on BBC radio. At the time of his death, Smith had written six books with content ranging from historical and political commentary to personal memoirs of his life and loss.
Theodore “Ted” Benttinen (1948–2023) was an MIT-educated oceanographer and explorer who went to both poles on research missions. Benttinen amassed a formidable collection of books of exploration, particularly strong in Pacific voyages as well as in polar accounts. The present volume was lot 176 in the Sotheby’s New York 9 December 2024 sale of his library.
Sabin 43415.2; not in Hill; not in Wagner-Camp.
[1] 川端康成進京記 (Chuānduān Kāngchéng jìn jīng jì), which can be rendered into English as “A Record of Kawabata Yasunari’s Trip to the Capital”. Yasunari Kawabata (1899–1972) was the first Japanese Nobel laureate for literature.
Item #GRM0008
Price: $5,500