A Narrative Of Transactions In The Red River Country; From The Commencement Of The Operations Of The Earl Of Selkirk, Till The Summer Of The Year 1816 . With Map, Exhibiting Part Of The Route Of The Canadian Fur Traders In The Interior Of North America, And Comprising The Scene Of Contest Between Lord Selkirk And The North-West Company. Macdonnell, Alexander [Greenfield].

London: B. M'Millan, Bow Street, Covent-Garden, 1819. 8vo. xix + 85pp. Large folding hand-coloured map. Fine, crisp, untrimmed copy in original printed grey wrappers. Preserved in quarter scarlet morocco clamshell box. An important and rare work. Inscribed on the front wrapper: "Right Honble Earl of Rocksavage & & & Piccadilly, with Mr. Simon McGillivray Compliments" An unusual presentation inscription with McGillivray's full name when, for this historical period, it was more often customary to inscribe, "With the author's compliments" suggesting thereby the possibility of a special relationship or friendship. Macdonell, a partner in the NW Company, was in charge of the Red River Department and stationed at Pembina during the conflict with Selkirk and the HBC. M'Donell here outlines the establishment and growth of the Selkirk colony from 1812, and attempts to justify his and his company's actions as a legitimate response to the provocations by Selkirk's colonists,From Wikipedia: George Horatio Cholmondeley, 2nd Marquess of Cholmondeley (16 January 1792 - 8 May 1870), styled Viscount Malpas from 1792 to 1815 and subsequently Earl of Rocksavage until 1827, was a British peer and Lord Great Chamberlain of England between 1830 and 1838. In the United Kingdom, the Lord Great Chamberlain is the sixth of the Great Officers of State (not to be confused with the Great Offices of State), ranking beneath the Lord Privy Seal and above the Lord High Constable. The Lord Great Chamberlain has charge over the Palace of Westminster. We cannot trace any relationship between the Earl of Rocksavage and Simon McGillvray, except to say that they were contemporaries, possibly linked through the War of 1812, or through the Canada Club at London. [TPL 1100].