TALBOT, Edward Allen [1801-1839]. Five Years' Residence In The Canadas: Including A Tour through Part Of The United States Of America, In The Year 1823. 2 Volumes. 8vo. pp. xvi, 419; vii, [8]-400. aquatint frontis. in each volume. 2 plans in text. A fine uncut copy in original bds., appropriately rebacked. London: Printed For Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown And Green, 1824.
First Edition. Intending to provide a more sober view of the harsh realities of immigrant life in Upper Canada, which he felt to be generally misrepresented in most contemporary accounts, Talbot wrote this detailed description of the country and his own experiences there. Talbot emigrated from Ireland in 1818, initially settling in Westminster Twp. (London, Ontario), where he became a schoolmaster and journalist. Written in the form of thirty-seven letters, his is a lively and entertaining narrative, with amusing anecdotes of the manners and morals of the settlers (their depravity, want of hospitality, avarice, frequency of cases of seduction, &c.), detailed information regarding economic and agricultural conditions, plight of the pauper emigrant, description of the Talbot settlement, a lengthy survey of the wild life and vegetation of the province, and an account of the author's trip to America in 1823. Talbot himself left Canada in financial embarrassment when the Rebellion broke out in 1837, and died in a poor house in New York State.
TPL 1299. Sabin 94229. Lande 824. Abbey, Travel, 619. Dionne II 1018. Morgan p. 367. Gagnon I 3460.