Henry, Alexander; Bain, James. Travels & Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories Between the Years 1760 and 1776 [signed]; New Edition, Edited with Notes, Illustrative and Biographical, by James Baine. Toronto: George N. Morang & Company, Ltd, 1901. New Edition. [8541]
No. 259 of 700 copies, signed by the editor on the limitation page.
Green cloth, 9 3/4 inches, frayed at the spine ends, original paper title label printed in black & red, with light stains. top page edge gilt. xxxiii., 347 clean pp., with frontispiece, 2 folding maps, and several illustrations. Good. Hardcover.
Howes H420, "Authentic narrative of fur-trading among Indians of the upper lakes. A miraculous escape from massacre during Pontiac's war, captivity, &c."
This book contains Parts 1 and 2 as published in New York in 1809, plus 33 pp. of introductory material, and notes to the text printed at the bottom of the pages.
Alexander Henry (1739-1824), b. New Brunswick, NJ; d. Montreal, Canada. He was a merchant in Albany during the Seven Years' War, and made a lucrative business out of supply the British Army as they advanced towards Montreal. He continued to sell goods at British forts in Ontario, and entered the fur trade in 1761. His knowledge of both the wilderness and the Indians was gathered first-hand, sometimes during peace, and other times during war. He was captured, then rescued, during Pontiac's War (1763), and then lived for a year as a member of the Indian family that rescued him, traveling with them on their sojourns. He continued in the fur trade and by 1775 was exploring territory northwest of Lake Superior. His map of the area was given to Sir Guy Carleton, the governor at Montreal.
In his later years he continued trade adventures, even so far working with John Jacob Astor in opening the fur trade to China.
"To capture his exciting past, he wrote a Memoir of his life which he published in New York in 1809. [It] has become an adventure classic and is still considered one of the best descriptions of Indian life at the time of Henry's travels." - Dictionary of Canadian Biography.