MIDDLETON, Christopher. A Vindication of the Conduct of Captain Christopher Middleton… on Board His Majesty's Ship the Furnace, for Discovering a North-west Passage to the Western American Ocean. L, 1743. FIRST EDITION. VERY RARE.
8vo (225 x 140 mm). Contemporary half mottled calf, marbled boards, smooth spine gilt, red morocco lettering-piece gilt, uncut (some light wear). Provenance: Library of Aynho Park Northampton (pencil note on pastedown); collector's bookplate, a few pencil marks.
FIRST EDITION. The Vindication is the first published work in a long series of attacks and rejoinders by the merchant Dobbs and Captain Middleton. Only Dobbs's unpublished letter to the Admiralty demanding an investigation precedes this in the sequence of the debate. Dobbs, an advocate for the North-West Passage, accused Middleton of concealing the discovery of the passage to ensure a trading monopoly for the Hudson's Bay Company. Middleton only discovered an inlet and endured tremendous hardship on his journey. Alden & Landis 743/157; Sabin 48858; Staton & Tremaine/TPL 187; Streeter Sale VI:3636. VERY RARE: according to online records, only 4 copies of this work have sold at auction in the last 60 years.