CANADA – CLARKE, Alured (c.1745-1832; Lieutenant Governor of Lower Canada). A Proclamation, to such as are desirous to settle on the Lands of the Crown in the Province of Lower Canada. [Quebec City: printed by Samuel Neilson, 17 February 1792.]...

CANADA – CLARKE, Alured (c.1745-1832; Lieutenant Governor of Lower Canada). A Proclamation, to such as are desirous to settle on the Lands of the Crown in the Province of Lower Canada. [Quebec City: printed by Samuel Neilson, 17 February 1792.] [With:] SIMCOE, John (1752-1782; Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada). A Proclamation, to such as are desirous to settle on the Lands of the Crown in the Province of Upper Canada. Newark, Upper Canada: G. Tiffany, 1795.

A pair of foundational Canadian broadsides setting out the terms for the granting of crown lands to British loyalists in Quebec and Ontario. Per the proclamation at the Castle of Saint Lewis in Quebec City on 9 February 1792, every petitioner willing to swear an oath of loyalty, pay the stipulated fees, and give assurance of cultivating the land was offered a maximum of 200 acres, to which the head of the administration might add up to 1,000 acres. The Canadian governors saw no contradiction in depending on American immigrants to settle their lands. Simcoe especially was sincere in his belief that by the 1790s many Americans were disenchanted with the newly formed United States and would gladly settle in Canada on such generous terms. Indeed, the Council was soon deluged with claims. Clarke’s broadside is a first edition issued for Lower Canada (Quebec); Simcoe’s is a re-issue for Upper Canada (Southern Ontario) printed in present-day Niagara-on-the-Lake. RBH and ABPC record no copies of either broadside having been offered at auction before. Sabin 98065A (Simcoe); Tremaine 784 & 968.

Two single-page printed broadsides, folio (384 x 255mm and 321 x 206mm). Float-mounted and framed (light wear at folds to first and edges to second, not examined outside of the frames).