Mackenzie, Alexander Voyages from Montreal, on the River St. Laurence, through the Continent of

Mackenzie, Alexander Voyages from Montreal, on the River St. Laurence, through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans; in the Years 1789 and 1793. With a Preliminary Account of the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the Fur Trade of that Country. London: for T. Cadell, Jun. and W. Davies, 1801. First edition, 4to (25.6 x 20.5cm), [4] viii cxxxii 412 [2] pp., recent tree calf to style, smooth spine gilt in compartments, decorative gilt border to covers, marbled endpapers, edges dyed yellow, half-title, engraved portrait frontispiece, 3 folding maps, errata leaf, toning, intermittent stains and blemishes to text, maps backed on linen, each with short closed handling tears to inner folds and map of North America with longer tear to foot (all closed up), final map ('Track ... to the Pacific Ocean in 1793') with a few spots, quire d spotted, small spill-burns in o4, G3 and 3E4, r2 (final leaf of preface) chipped along fore edge, B1 (first leaf of main text) repaired and slightly shorter in fore margin (possibly supplied from another copy) [Howes M-133; Sabin 43414] Qty: (1) Note: Mackenzie's two journeys, undertaken from Fort Chipewyan on Lake Athabasca on behalf of the fur-trading North West Company, added considerably to the geographical knowledge of the north-west Canadian interior. The first resolved the 'major misunderstanding' (ODNB) that what became known as the Mackenzie River led due west to the Pacific, rather than north to the Arctic Ocean; his second was 'the first journey across North America north of Mexico' (idem).