Voyages from Montreal on the River St. Lawrence through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in the years 1789 and 1793

4to [28 x 22 cm]; [i], viii, cxxxii, 412, [ii, errata leaf], engraved frontis portrait, 3 large folding maps, one with route hand colored in red (one map loose, tears on maps). original elaborately blind-stamped leather boards, rebacked with leather spine, raised bands, gilt title lettering on red leather spine label, cover lightly worn, light offsetting on title page, very light foxing on some pages, very good+ sound copy. A pi Howes M133: 'First crossing of the continent from ocean to ocean by a white man'. Hill 187: 'One of the most important of Canadian books'. Sabin 43414: 'Remarkable for its accuracy'. Wheat Transmississippi 251: 'a milestone'. Field 967: 'Filled with accounts of the tribes of Indians who inhabited the regions traversed by him. . . a minute, careful and interesting relation of them. . . his investigations were remarkable for their accuracy; Sir John Franklin expressed his surprise at being able to corroborate their correctness in his own explorations'. Lande 1317. Streeter Sale 3653. Wagner-Camp 1:1. TPL 658. The work includes accounts of two expeditions: the first in 1789 from Fort Chipeway to the Arctic Sea, the author being only the second white person the reach the Arctic by land, and the second in 1792 across North America to the Pacific, including details on the fur trade and the discovery of the Mackenzie River. The first edition of the first account of a North American transcontinental crossing, a cornerstone work of exploration.