Trifles from My Port-Folio, or Recollections of Scenes and Small Adventures during Twenty-Nine Years' Military Service in the Peninsular War and Invasion of France, The East Indies, Campaign in Nepaul, St. Helena during the detention and until the death of Napoleon, and Upper and Lower Canada. By A Staff Surgeon.
Quebec. Printed by William Neilson, 1839. Hardcover. 8vo. 22.2cm, in 2 volumes, [viii],251 & [iii],252,[1]p. errata page, in the original cloth backed green paper over boards, paper labels, labels dust worn, wear at the edges of the boards, bookplate "Ex-Libris - James Douglas", a very good to fine set in original publisher's boards, rare. (cgc) T.P.L. 2279. Gagnon I-3575. Lande 1839. Sabin 31416. Morgan p183. Waterston p65. The second volume deals exclusively with Canada. Henry, who was a noted pioneer in medicine in Canada, arrived here in 1827 and was variously stationed as staff surgeon at Quebec, Montreal, Kingston, York and Halifax (where he became a great friend of Judge Haliburton). The book contains interesting and colourful observations on the Kingston cholera epidemic in 1832, the political situation and the 1837 rebellion as well as being - according to Gregory Clark - the scarcest Canadian fishing book. "In 1827, this veteran of the Peninsular War sailed for Quebec. He found an ugly cluster of old quaint houses, pitched on the extremity of a bald promontory' - but he enjoyed the city for its historic associations, for the cheerful excursions led by Lord and Lady Dalhousie, and for the nearby sporting joys of salmon fishing. He also enjoyed woodcock and snipe shooting near Kingston (where cholera raged). Prodigious pigeon migrations caught his eye in Toronto, as did W.L. Mackenzie, a contemptible litte man'. Waterston. The London edition, which was published the following year after this edition attracted favourable notices in the Quarterly Review, was titled Events of a Military Life. Henry was surgeon of the 66th. Bookplate of: James Douglas (1800-1886), physician, was born in Brechin, Scotland. He studied medicine in Edinburgh, and in 1821 was admitted a member of the Royal College of Surgeons. After serving as a medical officer in India and on the Mosquito coast, he migrated to North America, and in 1826 he settled in Quebec, Lower Canada. He was one of the founders of the Beauport Lunatic Asylum, near Quebec, and became in 1846 its first superintendent. He died in New York, on April 14, 1886. Item #39419
Price: $1,500.00