Notes of a Twenty-Five Years' Service in the Hudson's Bay Territory Two Volumes

M'Lean, John [McLean]

Published by Richard Bentley, London, 1849

About this Item

Hardcover. First edition of this work, which remains one of the few first person accounts of the fur trade in the early 19th century. It is still considered a major source for historians. John McLean (c. 1799 1890) was a Scotsman who emigrated to British North America, where he became a fur-trapper, trader, explorer, grocer, banker, newspaperman, clerk, and author. He traveled by foot and canoe from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back, becoming one of the chief traders of the Hudson's Bay Company. He is also remembered as the first person of European descent to discover Churchill Falls on Canada's Churchill River and sometimes mistakenly credited as the first to cross the Labrador Peninsula [Wikipedia]. Bound in quarter brown leather with black pebbled leather covers. Brown leather is rubbed and chipped, covers have bumped corners. Free front endpapers in both volumes are loose as is the title page in volume II. Some raggedness to the fore edge of a few pages in each volume not affecting text. Bookplate of the Earl of Orrery affixed to front pastedown of each volume. Very good condition. Small octavo. Volume I: 308 pages; Volume II: 328 pages.

Seller Inventory # 35015

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Notes of a Twenty-Five Years' Service in the Hudson's Bay Territory Two Volumes
• Publisher: Richard Bentley, London
• Publication Date: 1849
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Travel & Exploration
  • Canadian and Polar History