Voyages Made in the Years 1788 and 1789, From China to the Northwest
Item #74893
MEARES, John. Voyages Made in the Years 1788 and 1789, From China to the Northwest Coast of America...Observations on the Probable Existence of A North West Passage; And Some Account of the Trade Between the North West Coast of America and China.... London. 1790. viii,[12],xcv,[1],372,[108]pp. plus ten maps and plans, and eighteen plates (some folding), including a frontispiece portrait of Meares. Large, thick quarto. Modern paneled calf, boards tooled and ruled in gilt, spine gilt, gilt leather label. Minor edge wear, boards a bit bowed. Modern bookplate on front pastedown, minor occasional foxing, some offsetting. Very good. A work of great importance for the history of trade, cartography, and observations of the Indians of the area of the Pacific Northwest. Meares left Calcutta in 1786, subsidized by a group of British merchants and charged with entering the fur trade in the Northwest Coast under the British flag. He established himself at Nootka Sound, launched the first vessel to set forth in northern waters, explored the strait of Juan de Fuca, and made discoveries which served as the basis for British claims to Oregon. The maps show the Northwest Coast and northeast Asia, the northern Pacific Ocean, and "A chart of the interior part of North America demonstrating the very great probability of an inland navigation from Hudson's Bay to the West Coast." Seven smaller single-page maps show ports around Nootka, and several of the plates provide fine depictions of the Northwest Coast culture. This copy contains the extra plate of the Philippines as described by Howes (bound at page 17), which is not included in all copies. "This work, profusely illustrated and with many valuable historical documents appended to the main narrative, is of great importance in the study of early trading of furs originating on the northwest coast and of a serious conflict between the English and the Spaniards in this connection. Furthermore, it was on Meares' discoveries that England primarily based her claims to Oregon" - Lada-Mocarski. "An adventurous tale and Meares tells it with gusto" - Eberstadt. Meares' work is also important as one of the earliest Hawaiian books, since he called at Hawaii several times while voyaging between China and the Northwest Coast, in 1788, and he brought home several Hawaiians who had gone to China with a trading.
Price: $7,500.00