First American edition of the account of Back's overland expedition from Montreal to the central Arctic to aid members of the second Ross expedition. Field praises the account as an essential source (with Franklin) for understanding Natives of the North, and, at the time of publication, "The Quarterly Review" considered the literary style superior to any previous account. The map present in this edition is the inset portion of the map in the London first edition of the same year. Field 65; Sabin 2613; Wagner-Camp 58b:3.