Published by Evert Duyckinck NY 1811, 1811
Seller: Bear Bookshop, John Greenberg, Brattleboro, VT, U.S.A.
384pp. Square 12mo Full calf (hardcover) J.C. Totten, Printer. American Imprints #22417 lists only 2 copies - Brown & AHS Covers had been once re-sewn from the outside & are almost detatched, covers rubbed, missing 1/2" spine top, text slightly browned/discolored, Good.
Seller: Antiquariat Kainbacher, Baden bei Wien, Austria
London, Printed for J. Payne and J Bouquet 1752. 8vo. (4, one advert leaf), vi, 84, 95, (1) p. Two folding engraved maps & 1folding engraved plate. Half panelled calf gilt, elaborately gilt spine, fine copy. Joseph Robson was surveyor and supervisor of the buildings of the Hudson's Bay Company."Robson's book was of prime importance, since it was the earliest to reflect first-hand knowledge of service with the Hudson?s Bay Company, and was written by someone who had spent six years in Hudson Bay. Displaying maps, tables of winds and tides, and statistics of the costs incurred in building Prince of Wales Fort, it had an authentic ring, "honest and just" as one reviewer described it. Its criticisms of the Hudson?s Bay Company were consequently the more telling, with stories of oppressive behaviour by the company factors, their refusal to explore the interior, and their incompetence in building work. . Recent investigations have shown that Arthur Dobbs, not Robson, wrote the long and polemic appendix, and that he also revised Robson's text. Dobbs, who wanted Robson to be more involved with the search for the North-West Passage must have been disappointed with Robson?s findings. After a lengthy exploration, Robson like Middleton could find no route through and turned his attention to improving conditions and critising the Hudson Bay Company. Appendix I, p. 1-67 is based on the unpublished journal of Groseillers' expedition to the Bay in 1668-69 by his ship Captain Zachariah Gillam.and on Company papers." The maps depict the Nelson and Hayes Rivers, the Plans of York and Prince of Wales Forts, and the Churchill River. Field 1312; Graff 3532; Sabin 72259; Smith 8728; Hill 1477; TPL 217; Lande 1418 (both call only for 2 plates); Staton and Tremaine, 217.