An account of six years residence in Hudson's-bay from 1733 to 1736, and 1744 to 1747 : containing a variety of facts, observations, and discoveries about Hudson's-bay to Great Britain ; and, II, the interested views of the Hudson's Bay Company ; and the absolute necessity of laying open the trade ; to which is added an appendix.

Joseph Robson

London : J. Payne and J. Bouquet, 1752

[2], vi, 84, 95 pages. Lacking the folding plan & 2 folding maps. Bound in contemporary mottled calf leather. Front board detached. Gilt spine. 5 raised bands. Page ends washed red. Boards starting. Wear and chipping to extremities. Publishers ads present. Sparse foxing to first and last few pages, otherwise pages are clean and unmarked. Peel 12. TPL 217. Lande 1418. Streeter 3648. Sabin 72259. Field 1312.

Robson was Surveyor and Supervisor of Buildings to the Hudson's Bay Company. In this position he was able to develop an intimate knowledge of the locality and personnel of the Company. Robson became involved in the campaign mounted by Arthur Dobbs against the Hudson Bay Company, and he gave evidence before the parliamentary committee of 1749 investigating the trade of Hudson Bay. His statements were moderately critical of the company, which he thought adopted too harsh a trade standard with the Indians, the reluctance to expand inland, and castigated the factors at York and Churchill for their amateurish interference with construction work at the forts. This impression is confirmed by Robson himself in this book.