First and only edition of this rare political tract by the Scottish geographer, hydrographer, and publisher Alexander Dalrymple (1737-1808), written at the height of Anglo-Spanish tensions over territorial sovereignty in the Pacific Northwest. In this work, Dalrymple mounts a forceful legal and historical rebuttal of Spanish claims to sovereignty over the north-west coast of America, particularly the region surrounding Nootka Sound, arguing that Spain possessed no legitimate exclusive right either to the territory or to navigation in adjacent waters. More broadly, the tract addresses Spanish claims to the Magellanic regions and the entirety of the north-west American coast, subtly stressing the danger of such claims to British commercial and imperial interests.
The Spanish pretensions fairly discussed was published in 1790, during the crisis precipitated by the Nootka Sound dispute, one of the most consequential imperial confrontations of the late 18th century. The dispute arose after Spanish forces seized several British merchant vessels on the Pacific coast, claiming ownership of the region based on early exploration and the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas. This brought Britain and Spain to the brink of war. Dalrymple's pamphlet should be understood within this charged geopolitical context. As both a scholarly intervention as well as a polemical defence of British maritime rights, it reflects the emerging importance of Pacific trade and exploration. The peaceful resolution of the Nootka Crisis allowed, for instance, British explorers such as George Vancouver to thoroughly map the area and establish commercial dominance.
A rare survival of a politically charged pamphlet issued for immediate contemporary debate, and an important document for understanding the imperial contest over the Pacific Northwest on the eve of the Nootka Convention.
With a contemporary annotation ("C.S."(?)) on the title page. The work is split along the spine into two sections, but all pages are still present, the first two leaves are water stained, the other leaves with an occasional minor stain. Otherwise in good condition. ESTC T49575; Sabin 18343; WorldCat 85799528; cf. for the author: Cook, Alexander Dalrymple (1737-1808), (PhD diss., 1992); Cook, "Dalrymple, Alexander (1737-1808)", in: ODNB online (2008); Howgego, to 1800, D4.