Page 28 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript Americana - Sale 2310 - April 16, 2013

GIFT FROM SABINE TO PARRY ON THE EVE OF HIS SECOND VOYAGE
47 ● (ARCTIC.) Robson, Joseph. An Account of Six Years Residence in
Hudson’s Bay. 2 folding maps, folding plate. 8vo, contemporary calf, worn, front board
detached; small ink stain in upper margin, a few marginal pencil notes; signature of William
Edward Parry (“WParry”) and inscription “from Edw’d Sabine, April 1821” on title page,
bookplate of Parry’s grandson John Franklin Parry on front pastedown.
London, 1752 [3,000/4,000]
FIRST EDITION. “One of the earliest, and certainly the fullest, of the works that had hitherto
been published on the Hudson Bay Territory”—Hill 1477. “With an intimate knowledge of
the locality and of the personnel of the Company, he condemned its failure to promote fishing
and mining enterprise, the exploration and settlement of the interior”—TPL 217.
The first major command in the Arctic career of Sir William Edward Parry (1790-1855) was
his 1819 voyage in search of the Northwest Passage. Serving as a scientist on that journey was
Sir Edward Sabine (1788-1883), an Arctic explorer in his own right. They returned in
October 1820. Sabine gave this book to his commander in April 1821, shortly before Parry
left for another expedition to explore the northwestern corner of Hudson’s Bay—a timely gift
which must have been well-appreciated.
The volume includes a few marginal pencil notes, hardly worth noting except that they would
seem to have been made by someone with a practical interest in the topic at hand. For example,
a line is drawn alongside passages on pages 47 and 48 which discuss safety from bears. The
last words in the book are underlined, in an appendix discussing high tides caused by “hard
gales in the N.W. quarter.” The only textual note appears on page 6 of the appendix, which
discusses a chart made by Captain Middleton. The words are underlined, with a note reading
“Where is this chart?” The handwriting has not been identified. Field 1312; Graff 3532;
Lande 1418; Sabin 72259; Streeter sale VI:3648.
48 ● (ARCTIC.) Parry, William Edward. Journal of a Voyage for the Discovery of
a North-West Passage. 6 maps, 14 plates. 4to, contemporary full calf gilt, moderate wear,
rejointed; hinges split, front free endpaper detached, moderate foxing on plates.
London, 1821 [300/400]
Second edition. Parry’s account of the first of 3 expeditions led by him in search of a Northwest
Passage. “The immediate achievements of these voyages were the charting of hundreds of miles
of coastline in the Canadian Arctic archipelago and the collecting of valuable data on Arctic
natural history”—Hill 1311 (first edition). Does not include the 1824 supplement volume.
Arctic Bibliography 13145; Sabin 58860.
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