Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - June - 2004 Issue
North American Exploration<br>From Helen R. Kahn Rare Books
non
You might think Lewis and Clark were the first explorers to make it by land to the Pacific, and you would be right if you were focused on just the United States. However, Canadians will be familiar with the exploits of Alexander Mackenzie, who led two major expeditions across the frozen northlands. In his first in 1789, Mackenzie followed what is now known as the Mackenzie River, which led him, contrary to plans, to the Arctic Ocean. It took him four years to get the backing for another trip, but in 1793 Mackenzie managed to wind his way through Northern Canada to the Pacific. Unfortunately, his route was not a practical road and Mackenzie never got the backing again to find a better one. However, he remains the first non-native American to make it by land across North America (north of Mexico) to the Pacific. Item 45 is Mackenzie’s 1801 book 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. $7,750.
It was La Salle's explorations that justified France's claim to the vast territories in the New World then known as "Louisiana." It was La Salle who named this area for the French King Louis XIV. He undertook many explorations, the most successful of which brought him from Canada down the length of the Mississippi. He claimed all of this territory for France. His final voyage, however, was not successful. Attempting to colonize the mouth of the Mississippi, La Salle missed his target and ended up in Texas. He died, so to speak, a Texan, killed by his own men, unhappy with being stranded in a place which bore little resemblance to Paris. Item 35, by Henri Joutel, is a Journal Historique du Dernier Voyage que feu M. de la Sale (sic)... (here's another author who couldn't spell his subject's name). Joutel was one of the few survivors of this last, tragic mission and took much of the information for his book about the last journey from La Salle's diary. Item 35, from 1713. $9,500.
It would only be a century and a quarter after La Salle claimed half of America for the French that France would make its final exit from the continent. Actually, France's effective role would end much sooner with the conclusion of the French and Indian War in 1763, when she would cede Louisiana to the Spanish. However, for a brief period after the turn of the 19th century, France would reassume control. That would come to a quick end in 1803 when Napoleon, with no troops to spare for America, and in dire need of currency, would make Jefferson an offer he couldn’t refuse: Louisiana. Here is that famous purchase from the French perspective. Francois Barbe-Marbois was involved in the negotiations for France and writes about the deal in Histoire de la Louisiane et la Cession de cette Colonie par la France aux Etats-Unis... In it he debunks claims by the United States that the Louisiana Purchase included Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Item 2. $1,500.
