In his reply, dated from Washington on December 23, Jefferson discussed various of the phenomena mentioned in Ellicott’s letters,
and mentioned that he expected “
to be authorised by Congress to explore and ascertain accurately the geography of the great rivers running into the Missisipi
& Missouri, in order to fix their course & their sources. because their sources are the points which give the contour of what
will now be the US. and having these & the whole course of the great rivers taken astronomically we have an accurate outline
& skeleton which can be filled up with details hereafter . . .
”
Jefferson purchased his copy from William Duane on November 1, 1803, price $
6.50.
Andrew Ellicott, 1754-1820, astronomer and scientist. For another work by him and a note, see no. 657.
[4086]
94
Mackenzie’s voyages across N. America to the Pacific ocean.
2. v.
8
vo.
1815 Catalogue, page 125, no. 170, as above,
N. reading
North.
MACKENZIE,
Sir 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.
With original notes by Bougainville, and Volney, Members of the French Senate. Illustrated with Maps. By Alexander Mackenzie, Esq. Vol. I. [-II.]
London: Printed for
T. Cadell, Jun. and
W. Davies;
Cobbett and
Morgan; and
W. Creech, at
Edinburgh. By
R. Noble,
m.dccc.ii
. [1802.]
F1060.7 .M162
2 vol. 8vo. 151 and 166 leaves, half-title in both volumes, engraved portrait and maps (missing in the copy collated); vocabularies
of native languages in both volumes.
Sabin 43415.
Smith-Mayhew 6382.
Pilling, page 327.
This edition not in Field.
This edition not in Staton and Tremaine and not in Gagnon.
See Wagner-Camp 1 (1801 edition).
Morgan, page 240.
Jefferson bought his copy from
James Cheetham, New York, in 1803. The first edition had been printed in London for T. Cadell in 1801, 4to. On June 17, 1803, Jefferson
wrote to Cheetham and enquired about another edition of this work: “
. . . I have understood there is to be had in New York an 8
vo. edition of McKenzie’s travels with the same maps which are now in the 4
to. edition. I will thank you to procure it for me. the American 8
vo. edition is defective in it’s maps, and the English 4
to. edition is too large & cumbersome . . .
”
Cheetham sent the book on June 21, and the copy is included in his next bill: “
1 copy McKenzie’s Travels
3.50.
”
Sir Alexander Mackenzie, 1755?-1820, Scots explorer of North America. In 1779 he went to Toronto in the employment of the North-west Fur Company,
founded in 1783 to oppose the Hudson’s Bay Company’s monopoly. This account of his travels consists of the Journals of two
expeditions, one from June to September 1789, and the other from July 1792 to August 1793. Mackenzie made the first trip by
a white man to the Arctic from the Canadian prairie, and he was the first to cross the Rockies to the Pacific, or to reach
the Pacific north of Mexico. Mackenzie was knighted on February 10, 1802. He died in Scotland in 1820.
In the
Dictionary of National Biography’s life of William Combe [1741-1823, author of Dr. Syntax] this work is included in the list of Combe’s writings with the comment
“(compiled from Sir Alex. Mackenzie’s notes.).”
Comte Louis Antoine de Bougainville, 1729-1811, French navigator, first visited Canada in 1756 as captain of dragoons, and aide-de-camp to the Marquis of Montcalm.
In 1766 he set sail on a voyage of discovery round the world. He was made a senator by Napoleon, a count of the empire, and
a member of the Legion of Honour. He was also a member of the Royal Society of London. His name is given to the largest of
the Solomon Isles, to a number of straits, and to the climbing plant Bougainvillea.
Comte Constantin François Chasseboeuf de Volney, 1757-1820, was a friend of Jefferson and the author of several works which appear in this Catalogue [see the Index]. He
was made a count and a senator by Napoleon.
