HEARNE, Samuel (1745-1792)

Voyage du fort du prince de Galles dans la Baie de Hudson à l'Océan Nord, entrepris par ordre de la Compagnie de la Baie de Hudson dans les années 1769-1772 et exécuté par terre, pour la découverte d'un passage au Nord-Ouest

Paris: Patris, [1799]. 2 Volumes. 8vo. 7 1/2 x 4 3/4 inches. Illustrated with 5 maps and 4 plates all folding. Repair to one folding map.

First French edition, octavo issue, translated, by A.-J.-N. Lallemant, of this important account of the first overland journey to the Arctic Sea.

"Hearne played an important role in delineating the region between Hudson's Bay and the Arctic Ocean through his exploration of the Coppermine River. The Hudson's Bay Company had long been interested in investigating the reports of copper mines to the north and sent Hearne northward from Churchill. He was accompanied by his friend and guide, the Chipewyan Matonabbee. Hearne was the first white man to travel overland to the Arctic Ocean, and he is credited with the discovery of the Great Slave Lake and the Mackenzie River system. Much attention is given to the natural history and the Indian tribes of the region. Hearne was in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company from about 1765 to 1787, when he retired to his native England. [Shortly following his return, Hearne submitted his report to the Hudson's Bay Company, who kept it secret for some thirteen years]." (Hill). Hearne's narrative remains one of the central eighteenth-century accounts of northern Canadian exploration. The journey's importance rests partly in its geographical consequences, reaching the Coppermine River and continuing to the Arctic Ocean, showing that the river was not a practicable navigable route for commercial or imperial purposes. The folding maps are integral to the work, tracing a route through a region still only imperfectly represented in European cartography. Hearne's book is also valued for its ethnographic and natural historical content. He recorded material on Indigenous travel shaped by his reliance on Matonabbee and the wider Indigenous party with whom he travelled. In addition to European surveying, Hearne's success depended on Indigenous guidance, diplomacy, mobility, and knowledge of country. Hearne's account of Bloody Falls became one of the defining passages of the narrative, bringing together the drama of Arctic travel, first-hand observation, and the complex realities of exploration conducted through Indigenous alliances and knowledge, remaining central to its later historical and literary reception. The work's plates and maps extend the text's documentary value, illustrating the route, local geography, and selected subjects encountered in the course of the expedition. The French edition brought this major Hudson's Bay Company narrative to a continental readership during a period of sustained French interest in exploration, geography, and the northern Pacific and Arctic worlds. Provenance: Adrien de Gasparin (1783-1862), with his ex-libris stamp. A Protestant from Orange with Corsican ancestry, Gasparin served as Deputy for Vaucluse and later as Minister of the Interior during the July Monarchy. He notably commissioned Berliozs Requiem, which is dedicated to him. The volume subsequently entered the library of the Protestant Church of Orange, as indicated by repeated stamps and an inventory number at the top of the spine.

Sabin, 31183, Chadenat, 1620. [cf. First English edition:] Cox 171; Field 676; Hill 791; Sabin 31181; Streeter Sale 3652; Staton and Tremaine 445.

Item #42300

Price: $1,750.00