Lot 220: HERIOT, George (1766-1844). Travels Through the Canadas. London: Printed for Richard Phillips, 1807.

HERIOT, George (1766-1844). Travels Through the Canadas. London: Printed for Richard Phillips, 1807.

4υo (264 x 214 mm). Folding aquatint frontispiece view of Quebec, 25 aquatint plates (5 folding), one engraved plate, and one folding map, ALL HAND-COLORED (some occasional spotting and pale offsetting). Contemporary calf, spine with gilt-lettered red morocco label (spine ends expertly repaired).

FIRST EDITION OF HERIOT'S IMPORTANT AND COMPREHENSIVE ACCOUNT OF CANADA. As postmaster-general of British North America from 1799 to 1816, Heriot devoted himself to travel into the western parts of Canada and the United States. He describes the fur trade, his voyages to the North, and cod fishery, and devotes the second part of the text to a scholarly study of North and South American Indians, including Father Rasles's vocabulary of the Algonquin languages. An accomplished artist, the fine illustrations are all taken from Heriot's own work. Abbey Travel 618 (plates only); Hill 801; Lande 433; Sabin 31489; Staton & Tremaine/TPL 805.