AN ASSOCIATION COPY OF
HIND'S NARRATIVE OF CANADIAN EXPEDITIONS

HIND, HENRY YOULE. NARRATIVE OF THE CANADIAN RED RIVER EXPLORING EXPEDITION OF 1857 AND THE ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPLORING EXPEDITION OF 1858. London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1860. Two volumes. 8vo. Contemporary polished calf, spines gilt in six compartments, morocco labels. All edges marbled. Half-titles. [v] - xx, [1] - 494 pages; [v] - xvi, 472 pages (p. 168 misnumbered "186"). Five partially-colored maps (one folding), fourteen tinted engraved plates; three partially-colored maps (two folding), six tinted engraved plates. All plates with tissue guards. Numerous engravings in the text. Short crack at head of top joint of Volume I, joints lightly rubbed, slight shelfwear. A fine set, with the maps in excellent condition.

FIRST EDITION of the first book by Hind (1823-1908), a Canadian geologist, chemist, teacher and explorer, containing "the first detailed account and map of the now famous fertile belt" (DNB) of Canada. In 1857 and 1858, the Canadian government undertook two western expeditions, the first under the command of George Gladman, a former officer of the Hudson's Bay Company, with Hind as geologist, and the second under Hind's command. Their purposes were "to ascertain the practicability of establishing an emigrant route between Lake Superior and Selkirk Settlement [one of the "Red River Settlements" near present-day Winnipeg, Manitoba], and to acquire some knowledge of the natural capabilities and resources of the of the Valley of Red River and the Saskatchewan" (Preface). Hind was made responsible for observing and recording geological features and anything pertaining to the natural history of the area, giving special attention to the boundaries of geological formations, the collection of fossils and the presence of minerals of economic value. However, in the process, Hind and his party discovered "a FERTILE BELT of country extending from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains" (Id.) and documented the lives of local Native Americans in great detail. Hind's Narrative is his first-hand account of these expeditions.

The striking plates illustrating Hind's Narrative, from photographs and sketches by others in his party, are "chromoxylographs" (see digital image above) produced by using "multiple wood-engravings as a means of colouring" (Abbey Travel 275, Notes).

Hind's reports to the Canadian government provided information necessary for Westward expansion into the Prairie Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. When the first Canadian Pacific transcontinental railway train arrived in Winnipeg on July 1, 1886, the "emigrant routes" were in place and Hind's "fertile belt" was on its way to becoming the largest grain-producing center in North America. Today, the value of Hind's Narrative is in his description of matters beyond the geological and natural features he was charged with recording. In particular,

(Sabin). With the demise of Native American societies in the face of this Westward expansion, such direct observations are preserved largely in accounts such as Hind's Narrative. Abbey Travel 630. Sabin 31934. BT000084.

Provenance: Armorial bookplates of James, Earl of Southesk. James Carnegie (1827-1905), Ninth Earl of Southesk, wrote Saskatchewan and the Rocky Mountains (1875) based on his travels through Western Canada in which he explored the source of the Saskatchewan River and from which he returned in 1860. Both Hind and Carnegie were made fellows of the Royal Geographical Society in that year, and may well have known each other through the Society. It is also likely that Carnegie would have used this copy of Hind's Narrative as a reference for Saskatchewan and the Rocky Mountains.

$2700

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