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Item #42679 Saskatchewan and the Rocky mountains: a diary and narrative of travel, sport, and adventure, during a journey through the Hudson's bay company's territories, in 1859 and 1860. James CARNEGIE, 9th Earl of Southesk.
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Saskatchewan and the Rocky mountains: a diary and narrative of travel, sport, and adventure, during a journey through the Hudson's bay company's territories, in 1859 and 1860

Saskatchewan and the Rocky mountains: a diary and narrative of travel, sport, and adventure, during a journey through the Hudson's bay company's territories, in 1859 and 1860

Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1875. 8vo. (8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches). xxx, 422, [8], 423-448 pp. Illustrated with 7 wood engravings, 22 in-text illustrations, 2 lithographs, and 2 folding maps. Presentation inscription to "Miss & Miss F. Hodge" dated "Feb 14th '75" signed "From their [affectionate] friend Carnegie" by the author.

Publisher's original gilt stamped black cloth, spine lettered gilt

Presentation copy of a substantial travel diary of the Canadian North-West on the eve of rapid political and infrastructural change.

Southesk's narrative follows his westward passage across Rupert's Land in the last decade of Hudson's Bay Company territorial rule, moving from the Red River settlement and Fort Garry along the Company's lines of travel and supply to Fort Ellice, Fort Carlton, and Fort Edmonton, then into the eastern Rockies and back across the plains. He writes with a steady eye for landscape and daily logistics, recording camp life, hunting, weather, horses and provisions, and the practical business of travelling with guides, carts, and pack animals, while also sketching the social world of the route, from Company officers and Métis guides to the Indigenous people he met along the way. Southesk made the journey in 1859-1860 after the death of his first wife, seeking an outdoor life and better health, and he moved within the orbit of the Company at its most influential moment in the interior, travelling in part with Sir George Simpson, who helped arrange guides and supplies. Southesk notes that the larger route map was prepared by Keith Johnston with reference to the political boundaries and settlements as they stood at the time of the journey, keeping the geography anchored to conditions before the transfer of Rupert's Land and the later railway era.

Staton and Tremaine 4019; Peel 411; Sabin 88549; Graff 588; Waterston, p. 141.

Item #42679

Price: $1,500.00