The Red River Public Library, June 1822 Dorothy E. Ryder FOLLOWING THE AMALGAMATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE HUDSON'S BAY signed in London on March 26 Company and the North-West Company, 1821, a general survey was made of the Red River settlement. The survey was completed in the summer of 1822. Among the possessions listed in the inventory of buildings and properties was a collection of books numbering seventy-four titles in around one hundred and eighty-seven volumes. Thomas Douglas, 5 th Earl of Selkirk, had obtained an immense tract of land from the Hudson's Bay Company in what is now southern Manitoba. His efforts to assist the emigration of the dispossessed people of the Scottish occurred during a period of Highlands to the Canadian West unfortunately rivalry between the two great fur-trading companies - the Hudson's Bay Company and the North-West Company. Selkirk's plans for the building of schools and churches, for the construction of roads, and for the introduction of merino sheep into the Red River valley were swept away in the conflict - a conflict that eventually led to the merger of the two companies in 1821. Miles Macdonell, who had been appointed by the Hudson's Bay Com- was in charge of the first pany as the Governor of Assiniboia (Red River), party of settlers who sailed from Stornaway on July 26 18 I I. The next year, on June 24 1812, the second group of emigrants sailed from Sligo, Ireland, to be followed in 1813 by the third group, the Kildonan settlers. After the destruction of the Red River colony by the Nor'Westers in the summer of 1815, John McLeod, a Hudson's Bay Company clerk, and three to guard what remained of the companions stayed on in a log cabin The colony was restored, but in the Company's and the colony's property. summer of 1816 the settlers were again dispersed when Governor Robert killed by the Nor'Westers in an Semple and about twenty of his men were attack near the settlement. The majority of the colonists spent the winter at they received Jack River awaiting passage back to Scotland, but in March word that Lord Selkirk was on his way to Red River. They returned to the settlement where they met with him in June 1817. It is not known where the library was stored during this second dispersion nor how it survived Library, June 1822 Red River Public 37 Ryder: The through the following five years, but by June 1822, it consisted of a collec- tion of around one hundred and eighty-seven volumes. The first book for the Red River library was sent out by Lord Selkirk in 1812. This was Richard Burn's Justice of the Peace. He continued to send books over the next several years, both those which he chose and those 28 1819 he wrote, 'Parcels For example, on May 20 requested by the settlers. and 29 contain Books, which may be read by the gentlemen of the Sett1t. taking particular care that they are not injured or lost,' (PAC, MGI9 EI, V.54; of Bibles, English, German on May 24 1819, 'A parcel p. 20575), and again and Gaelic are sent for distribution among the most deserving of the Settlers.' (PAC, MGI9 EI, V.54, p. 20591)- The books which were in the Red River library, according to the June 1822 survey, are listed below. They are arranged alphabetically by author - first the 1822 entry as it appears in the transcript of the Selkirk Papers in the Public Archives of Canada (PAC, MGI9 EI, v.24, p. 7675) followed by biblio- was of the British Museum The printed catalogue graphical information. the main source for the identification of the titles. It is impossible to know the edition except where only one was published or where the number of volumes is an identifying factor. The bibliographical information is, there- of cases conjecture. fore, in the majority The Notes which follow the list of books attempt to show how the col- lection evokes certain aspects of the life of Lord Selkirk - his early educa- tion at Mrs. Barbauld's school, his term at the University of Edinburgh, his friendship with the Edgeworths, and his work to better the condition of the Scottish peasantry. Many of the authors were his contemporaries and several were friends or acquaintances. Some Notes have been added for gen- eral interest, and others to show the quality of the books which were sent to the settlers. Books Belonging to the Red River Settlement, June £822 1. Accums Chemistry. 2v. Accum, Friedrich Christian, 1769-1838. System of Theoretical and Practical Chemistry. Considerably Enlarged and Improved. 2 vols. 2nd ed. London: The Author, 1807. 2. Analectic Magazine. I v. Analectic Magazine, Containing Selections from Foreign Reviews and Magazines I-5 (I8I3-18I5).ThenTheAmericanMagazineand Naval Chronicle 6-8 (I 8 I 5-18 16). Then The Analectic Magazine 9-14 (1816-1820). Atlas. I v. 3. Arrowsmiths Arrowsmith, Aaron, 1750-18 23. A New General Atlas Constructed of Canada x xII Bibliographical Society 38 Papers of the and Exhibiting the Boundaries from the Latest Authorities, Divisions, also the Chains of Mountains and Other Geographical Features of All the Known Countries of the World. Edinburgh: A. Constable and Co., 1817.x 4. Selections from the Spectator. 3 v. Barbauld, Anna Laetitia (Aikin), 1743-1825. Selections from the Spectator, Tatler, Guardian and Freeholder. With a Preliminary Essay by Anna Laetitia Barbauld. 3 vols. London: J. Johnson, I 804- Agriculture. 2 v. the Bath Papers on 5. Abridgment of Bath and West of England Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture, Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. Letters and Papers Correspondence etc., Selected from the on Agriculture, Planting, Book of the Society Instituted at Bath for the Encouragement of Agriculture, Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. 2 vols. London, 1803- 6. Blackstone. 3 7- Blackstone, Sir William, 1723-1780. Commentaries on the Laws of and with Notes Corrections of the Author, England. With the Last and Additions by Edward Christian. 4vols. I 3thed. London: T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1800. I v. Farmer Boy. 7. Bloomfields Bloomfield, Robert, 1766-1823. The Farmer's Boy: A Rural Poem. 5th ed. London: Vernor and Hood, 1801. 128 p. 8. Bonnycastles Geometry. I v. Bonnycastle, John, 1750?-1821.Elements of Geometry; Containing the Principal Propositions in the First Six, and the Eleventh and 3rd ed. With Notes by J. Bonnycastle. Twelfth Books of Euclid. London: J. Johnson, 1803- 279 P-3 v. Algebra. 2 9. Bonnycastles with An Introduction to Algebra: Bonnycastle, John, 1750?-1821. Notes and Observations Designed for the Use of Schools and Places 1812. 9th ed. London: J. Johnson, of Public Education. 2 vols. 10. Bonnycastles Astronomy. I v. Bonnycastle, John, 1750? -18 21. An Introduction to Astronomy in a Series of Letters from a Preceptor to His Pupil in Which the Most Useful and Interesting Parts of the Science Are Clearly and Familiarly Explained. Corrected and Improved. 5thed. London: J. Johnson, 1807- 385 P- I I. Bonnycastles Mensuration. 2 v. and Introduction to Mensuration Bonnycastle, John, 1750?-1821.An Practical Geometry. Corrected and Improved. 11th ed. London: J. Johnson, I 812. 27 6 p. June 1822 River Public Library, 39 Ryder: The Red 12. Bonnycastles Trigonometry. I v. Spherical 21. A Treatise on Plane and Bonnycastle, John, 1750? -18 Useful Practical Applications. Trigonometry with Their Most London: J. Johnson, I806. 419 P- 13. Burn's Justice. 3 v. Justice of the Peace and Parish Officer. Burn, Richard, 1709-178 5. The Cadell and W. Davies, 1810.4 5 vols. 21st ed. London: T. 14. Burn's Poems. 5 7- Burns, Robert, 1759-1796. The Works of Robert Burns, with an Account of His Life and a Criticism of His Writings. To which are Prefixed Some Observations on the Character and Conditions of the Scottish Peasantry. 5 vols. 8th ed. London: T. Ca dell and W. Davies, 1814-5 I v. Travels. 15. Carvers Carver, Jonathan, 1710-1780. Three Years Travels through the Interior of North America, for More Than Five Thousand Miles; Containing an Account of the Great Lakes, and All the Lakes, Islands, and Rivers... Minerals, Soil, and Vegetable Production of the North-West Regions ... with a Description of the Birds, Beasts, Reptiles ... Peculiar to the Country. Together with a Concise History and an Customs of the Indians ... of the Genius, Manners, and That Are Uncultivated Parts of America Appendix, Describing the Most Proper for Forming Settlements. Edinburgh: J. Key, 1808. 380 p. 16. Don Quixote. 47- Cervantes Saavedra, Don Miquel de, 1547-1616. Life and Exploits of the Ingenious Gentleman, Don Quixote dela Mancha. Translated by Charles Jarvis. Now Carefully Revised and Corrected, with a New Translation of the Spanish Poetry. To Which Is Prefixed a Copious and New Life of Cervantes; Including a Critique of the Quixote; also a Chronological Plan of the World. 4 vols. London: W. Miller, 1801. 17. Chambaud's Dictionary. 4 V. Chambaud, Louis, d. 1776. Dictionnaire frangois-anglois et anglois- des mots, avecleurs differens frangois, contenantla signification usages, les constructions, les fagons de parler particulibres, les idiotismes etles proverbes usitis dansl'une etl'autrelangue, les termes des sciences, des arts, et des mitiers; le tout recueilli des meilleurs auteurs anglois et frangois par Louis Chambaud. Nouvelle idition, revisle, corrigde, et augmentde du double par J.T. Des Carridres. 2 vols. in 4. London: T. Cadell and W. Davies, 18 I5 - 18. Clater on Horned Cattle. I v. Clater, Francis, 1756-1823. Every Man His Own Cattle Doctor: or, a Practical Treatise on the Diseases of Horned Cattle; Wherein Is Laid JUSTICE of the PEACE PARISH OFFICER.