winter miscellany - Gert Jan Bestebreurtje

THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE
34 ELLIS, Henry. Reize naar de Baai van Hudson, ter ontdekkinge van eenen
Noord-Wester doortogt, gedaan in de jaaren 1746, en 1747, met de schepen de Dobbs-
Galley en de California; met eene naauwkeurige beschryving der kust, eene korte
natuurlyke historie van het land, en een klaar vertoog der bewys-stukken en redenen,
dewelke dienen om de waarschynlykheid aan te toonen dat zulk een doortogt in’t vervolg
zal gevonden worden... Uit het Engelsch vertaalt. Leiden, Elias Luzac, Jun., 1750.
Contemporary vellum. With title-page printed in red and black and engraved titlevignette,
folding map and 9 folding engraved plates by N. v. Frankendaal. XXXII,440
pp. € 1.650,00
First Dutch edition. - ‘The first part contains a synopsis of twenty-three English voyages
to discover the Northwest Passage, a history of the rise of the Hudson’ Bay
Company, and the discovery attempted from New England. The second part gives an
account of a voyage under Captains G. Moor and Francis Smith, financed by private
subscription, with Arthur Dobbs as the leading subscriber of the Northwest
Committe. Ellis, also a subscriber, was hydrographer, surveyor, and mineralogist on
the expedition, which proved, finally the nonexistence of a Northwest Passage from
Hudson Bay. The work includes many valuable observations on tides, on the vagaries
of the compass, and on the customs of the Eskimoss, a people then practically unknown’
(Hill p. 189). The author also gives detailed information regarding the flora and
fauna of the region. He was appointed governor of Nova Scotia in 1761 (to 1763).
‘The book was enormously popular (not at least for its copperplate engravings), and
saw numerous reprintings and translations in Dutch, German, and French’ (Stam,
Books on ice, p. 12). - A very fine copy of a rare book.
Cat. NHSM I, p.301; not in Tiele; Scheepers I 603 „Zeer gezochte Nederl. vertaling“;
Sabin 22315; European-Americana 750/109; Hill 540 (English ed.); TPL 207 (English
ed.).
35 EXPILLY. Le géographe manuel, contenant la description de tous les païs du
monde, leurs qualités, leur climat, le caractère de leurs habitans, leurs villes capitales,
avec leurs distances de Paris, & des routes qui y menent, tant par terre que par mer ..
Paris, Bauche, 1757.
12mo. Contemporary mottled calf, gilt fillets round sides, spine richly gilt, a.e.g.
(4),267,(3) pp. € 125,00
36 EXTRACT-RAPPORT OVER DE CHICAGO EN NORTH WESTERN EN DE
CHICAGO-ROCK-ISLAND EN PACIFIC SPOORWEGEN, OVER 1870-1871.
Amsterdam, Metzler & Basting, 1871. Original printed wrappers. 33 pp. € 55,00