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Meares, John
Voyages from China to the North-West Coast of America made in the years 1788 and 1789 by Captain G. Meares. Second corrected and enlarged Italian edition of an extract from Milord Mackartney's travels. Enriched with historical-scientific notes of views, seascapes, portraits, geographical maps, etc., 1796
Information
Naples, Giuseppe Policarpo Merande and Luigi Coltellini, 1796. 8th, vols. 4, pp. 4-261; 238; 210 (badly numbered) 220; 252 with 20 plates engraved on copper, some folded, including the large "Map of the North Pacific Sea which includes the North-East Coast of Asia and the North-West Coast of America engraved on copper by Benedetto Cimarelli. Small restorations in the margin of some pages and some marginal stains. Coeval leather binding, gold title on the spine. Second Italian edition, corrected and enlarged, coeval with the Milanese edition by Pagani.
Specialist Notes
John Meares (1756 - 1809) navigator, explorer and fur trader, in this work describes not only his travels to the American coast but proposes a new model of economic development based on trade between regions and states even very distant from each other such as China, Japan, Hawaii, Alaska with England. This very controversial vision of his, which envisaged a loosening of the power of the "East India Company" and the "South Sea Company" which controlled all Pacific trade, took shape and implementation only after the end of the Napoleonic wars. In addition to the voyages from China to America in 1788 and 1789, which form the most important part of the work, Captain Meares also describes the voyage made with the vessel "Nootka" from Calcutta to the North-West Coast of America, in the years 1786 -87”, including exploration of the region around Prince William Bay, Alaska. This work, with its interesting illustrations and numerous historical documents, is also of great importance for the study of the first fur trades that originated along the North-West coast and of the serious conflict that broke out between the English and the Spanish in this regard . See “The Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages”,1126 with detailed description of the first English edition of 1790: “.
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