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 by Mackenzie, Alexander - 1801

London: Printed for T. Cadell, Jun. and W. Davies, Cobbett and Morgan, and W. Creech, M.DCCCI, 1801. (26 cm x 20.5 cm), pp. half-title, title-page, dedication page, iii-viii, [i]-cxxxii, [1]-412, [2] Errata, engraved frontispiece portrait, 3 large folding maps (the map of North America with hand-coloured route outlined). Bound in contemporary paw-print acid-washed leather with gilt-tooled frame, simple gilt-panelled spine, gilt title on green leather spine label, marbled endpapers. Previous owner's tiny neat signature to head of half-title, offsetting from the frontispiece as usual, minor offsetting to maps, gentle age-tanning to the paper, otherwise interior exceptionally clean and crisp. Expertly and invisibly rebacked with original spine laiddown, corners consolidated. A very good, handsome, complete copy in contemporary leather binding. "The first overland expedition to reach the Pacific north of Mexico across North America." TPL 658. Streeter 3653. "First crossing of the continent from ocean to ocean by a white man. The narrative portion was prepared for publication by William Combe from Mackenzie's notes. The account of the fur trade -- first ever published -- is attributed to Roderick Mackenzie [his brother]." - Howes 133. "In 1789, Mackenzie's crew which included French-Canadian voyagers, his wife and several others paddled off in a birchbark canoe from Fort Chipewyan in central Canada. Other canoes, navigated by Indian hunters and interpreters, followed behind. Over 100 days later, however, Mackenzie's entourage arrived back at the fort with details of another route to the Arctic Ocean, not the elusive Pacific. Though this first trip aided in mapping the northern regions of the continent, Mackenzie remained determined to find the "Western Sea." Therefore, on May 9, 1793, Mackenzie, with nine others, packed into a 25-foot canoe at Fort Fork along the Peace River for a second voyage. This time, he succeeded, and announced his arrival on a rock near Bella Coola near the Pacific by painting the following words with a vermillion and grease mixture: "Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada, by land, the twenty-second of July, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three."" - (PBS website). First Edition. Full-Leather. Very Good. Quarto.