1796 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, & 1772.

Description

First Edition, Folding Maps, Illustrated, Leather Binding, Scarce

The scarce first Dublin edition of this work from English explorer, fur-trader, author, and naturalist Samuel Hearne, after the UK edition of 1795.

Collated, with eight plates, including five folding maps. Plate I, 'A North West View of Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson Bay', is absent.

Sent by the Hudson's Bay Company to find a north west passage to a copper deposit identified by the First Nations, Hearne descended the Arctic Coast, discovered the Great Slave Lake, witnessed the massacre of a band of Inuit, and found the desired copper, although so little that commercial mining was not considered viable.

Shortly following his return, Hearne submitted his account of his travels to the Hudson's Bay Company, who prevented its publication. Its eventual publication, three years after Hearne's death, was due to the celebrated French navigator La Pérouse, who found Hearne's manuscript when he captured Fort Albany, and made the publication of the work one of his stipulations for surrendering to the British.

With the collation: [2], a-c8, B-Z8, 2A-2F8, 2G6

ESTC reference no. T111224

Hearne's journal holds an important place in the annals of Arctic exploration as he is believed to be 'the first white man' to view the Arctic from the northernmost shores of the American continent.

This is a troubling and fascinating account of his journey through northernmost Canada, with much of the narrative lingering on his witnessing of the 'Massacre at Bloody Falls', where approximately twenty Esquimaux men, women, and children were killed by the Matonabbee tribe.