ONE OF THE EARLIEST AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNTS OF THE FUR TRADE: FIRST EDITION OF LONG’S 1791 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS OF AN INDIAN INTERPRETER

LONG, John. Voyages and Travels of An Indian Interpreter and Trader, Describing the Manners and Customs of the North American Indians; With an Account of the Posts Situated on the River Saint Lawrence, Lake Ontario, &c. To Which is Added, A Vocabulary of The Chippeway Language. Names of Furs and Skins, in English and French. A List of Words in the Iroquois, Mohegan, Shawanee, and Esquimeaux Tongues, and a Table, Shewing The Analogy between the Algonkin and Chippeway Languages. London: Printed for the Author, 1791. Quarto, early marbled boards neatly rebacked and recornered in calf, red morocco spine label.

First edition of this “most faithful picture of the life and manners of the Indian and Canadian traders,” with engraved folding map depicting the territories of southern Canada and the Great Lakes.

An Englishman by birth, Long arrived at Montreal in 1768, assumed employment with the Hudson’s Bay Company and, as trapper, trader and head of numerous expeditions, engaged in commerce with the Indians at the height of the French Canadian fur trade. During the American Revolution Long joined up with the British army, leading Indian parties in guerilla raids, which, on one occasion, resulted in the capture of Ethan Allen himself. Long returned to his home country in 1788 and published this narrative, one of the earliest autobiographical accounts of the fur trade. “The interest of the work… lies in the author’s intimate knowledge of Indian life and customs… [and] in the light he incidentally throws on the history of the fur trade” (Thrapp II:870). Long lived “among the Indians of Canada for 19 years. His knowledge of the character, customs, and domestic life of the Indians was therefore the most thorough and intimate… The Vocabularies of the languages noted in the title occupy 112 pages” (Field 946). With subscriber’s list and errata leaf. Sabin 41878. Howes L443. Streeter VI:3651. Eberstadt 113: 288a. Field 946. Ayer Chippewa 128. Shelf label of Kimbolton Castle, seat of the Dukes of Manchester.

Faint offsetting to corners of title page and to portion of map. Fine condition, a desirable, wide-margined copy in early marbled boards.