MEARES John Voyages de la Chine à la côte nord-ouest d’Amérique, faits dans les années 1788 et 1789. Précédés de la relation d’un autre Voyage exécuté en 1786 sur le vaisseau Nootka, parti du Bengale; d’un Recueil d’Observations sur la Probabilité d’un Passage Nord-Ouest; et d’un Traité abrégé du Commerce entre la côte Nord-Ouest de la Chine, etc.

Sabin, 47262; Leclerc, 953 (lacking the atlas); Cordier, B.S., 2104. See Hill, 1126 (first edition 1790).

First edition of the French translation by Billecocq.

John Meares (1756-1809) was a navigator, explorer and maritime fur trader. His role during the Nootka Crisis which opposed the Spanish and the English Crown almost brought the two super powers to war. Not only had he sailed on ships registered in Macau in order to evade the British East India Company, he also claimed to have acquired land in the Nootka Sound making his fur trade legal. The disagreement was eventually settled by the first Nootka Convention, signed on 28 October 1790.

"This important narrative… gives a very full account of the Indian nations of Northwest America, describing their villages, languages, manners and customs. It also contains a separate account of the voyage of the Iphigenia Nubiana, commanded by Captain William Douglas, which visited the Sandwich Islands as well as Nootka Sound" (Hill).

Fine copy, preserved as issued, with full margins and entirely uncut; plates of the atlas on stubbs.