CARTWRIGHT, George. A Journal of Transactions and Events...on the Coast of Labrador. Newark, 1792. FIRST EDITION, LARGE-PAPER COPY.
3 volumes, 4to (290 x 233 mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait, 3 engraved folding maps (one with offsetting, tear to gutter, and darkening to edge, one reinforced at fold). (Some marginal foxing, heaviest to portrait, some offsetting to title-page.) Contemporary half calf, marbled boards (a few hinges reinforced). FIRST EDITION, LARGE-PAPER COPY. After early military service as aide-de-camp to the Marquis of Granby, Cartwright was sent to Labrador by Bristol merchants to trade with the Inuit. The present account describes six journeys he made to both Labrador and Newfoundland: hunting, trapping and trading. On one of his return trips to England, in December 1772, Cartwright brought with him an Inuit family of two brothers, their wives and a five year old child. Tragically, all but one of the women died of small-pox before they could return to Labrador. Cartwright eventually retired to Marnham Hall, his estate in Nottinghamshire, where he lived on until 1819. Lande 106; Sabin 11150; Staton & Tremaine 586.
