[Maseres, Francis]

An Account of the Proceedings of the British, And other Protestant Inhabitants, of the Province of Quebeck, in North-America. London: sold by B. White, 1775



8vo (8 7/8 x 5 1/2 in.; 200 x 140 mm, uncut). Woodcut tailpiece. Modern boards in antique style, in a blue half-morocco slip-case.



With his:
Additional Papers Concerning the Province of Quebeck. London: sold by W. White, 1776



8vo (9 x 5 1/4 in.; 228 x 134 mm, uncut). Woodcut title vignette, head- and tail-piece of printer's ornaments. Modern boards in antique style, in blue half-morocco slip-case.

I. Pocock (contemporary ms. exlibris on second title "the gift of the author Mr. Baron Maseres") — Copley bookplates

Sabin 45411; Morgan, Bibliotheca Canadensis (1867), p. 251

Maseres (1731–1824) was appointed Attorney-General of Quebec in 1766 in the administration of Governor Guy Carleton. At the time, the province consisted of a small group of British merchants, and a large French-Catholic majority. During his three years in office, Maseres managed to offend both the merchants and the military, at the same time doing his best to prevent the exercise of Catholicism. Tensions came to a head in February 1769 when the governor rejected his long-awaited report on methods of reconciling French and English law, and granted his attorney-general indefinite leave which Maseres accepted to pursue mathematical studies (at which he was more successful).