HERIOT, George [1766-1844].

Travels Through The Canadas, Containing A Description Of The Picturesque Scenery On Some Of The Rivers And Lakes; With An Account Of The Productions, Commerce, And Inhabitants Of Those Provinces. To Which Is Subjoined A Comparative View Of The Manners And Customs Of Several Of The Indian Nations Of North And South America.

      4to. pp. xii, 602, [2]plate list & ads. folding hand-coloured engraved map of the St. Lawrence & 27plates: 26 aquatints (6 folding) & 1 line engraving. 19th century half chagrin (bit rubbed, front joint cracked, plates offset as always, short tear in 1 plate repaired). London: Printed For Richard Phillips, 1807. First Edition. This is a variant issue, with the plates printed in black and white on thin paper, rather than in sepia on thick paper. Heriot’s position as deputy post-master general of British North America (1800-16) required that he travel extensively throughout the Canadas. As Spendlove remarks, the appointment was a fortunate one for posterity, for it was on these numerous journeys that he produced his many exquisitely fine watercolour and ink sketches, some of which form the basis of the present work. Like the majority of the topographical artists of his day, Heriot had studied under Paul Sandby at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and was certainly one of his most accomplished pupils. Spendlove considered him to be the finest watercolourist working in Canada at the time. “Illustrated books on North America are curiously few in the period with which we deal. By far the most interesting is Heriot’s Travels Through the Canadas...interesting for its aquatints by Stadler and Lewis after Heriot.” (Prideaux) The charming plates include views of Quebec from Port Levi, the Azores, St. Paul’s Bay, Quebec from the Citadel, Quebec from Beauport, Falls of Montmorenci (two), Jeune Lorette, Falls of Chaudière, Falls of La Puce (two), Ruins of Château Richer, Lake St. Charles, River Etchemin, Bridge on the Jacques Cartier, Montreal from the Mountain, Cascades of the St. Lawrence, Fort of Niagara, Whirlpool of the Saint Lawrence, Falls of Niagara (two), Grande Chaudière on the Outaouais River, and depictions of French Canadian dancing (two), an Indian encampment, and Indian costume. Besides being “the earliest and the most important aquatint book published on Canada” (Hill), Heriot’s book provides one of the best contemporary accounts of the Loyalist settlements in Canada as well as much interesting information on the fur trade, travels in the North, the cod fisheries, &c. The second part of the work contains a detailed description of American Indian cultures, largely derived from the works of Lafitau, Lahontan, and others, as well as from Jesuit manuscripts at Montreal. Included is Father Rasle’s vocabulary of the Algonquin languages. Dionne II 934. Field 687 (24 plates). Gagnon I 1657. Hill pp. 142-43. Lande 433. Morgan p. 184. Pilling, Algonquian, p. 229. Prideaux pp. 254-55. Sabin 31489 (29 plates). Streeter VI 3658. TPL 805. Vlach 390. cfAbbey, Travel, 618 (describing a coloured folio atlas issue of the plates, without the text).