1747-1832.
Naval commission in 1764, retiring as vice-admiral 1790. The royal letter of discharge lauded him for his 'splendid fidelity and bravery.'
Sveriges sjökartor – A. Hedin.
PHILIPPE DE PRETOT, ÉTIENNE-ANDRÉ.
Ca. 1708-87. Född i London, död i Brighton.
Engelsk bokhandlare och förläggare. 1788 öppnade han i Leicester en bok- och pappershandel som snart blev ett centrum för revolutionär litteratur. Vid sidan om detta startade han 1792 en tidskrift, 'Leicester Herald', som han själv redigerade. 1795 flyttade han sin verksamhet till London och grundade där tidskriften 'Monthly Magazine' och flera andra skrifter. Hans förlagsverksamhet omfattade särskilt klassisk litteratur samt geografiska och naturvetenskapliga verk. 1807 blev han vald till sheriff av London.
Bland arbeten.
Leicester Herald.
Monthly Magazine.
Dict. nat. biogr.
Middleton, previously a captain in the employ of The Hudson Bay Company, was financed by Arthur Dobbs to explore the north-western extremities of Hudson Bay in search of a north-western passage. The expedition, from 1741-42, should have disproved notions of such a passage, but the increasingly delusional Dobbs convinced himself that Middleton had deliberately falsified his findings, and mounted an attack on the captain’s integrity, using a series of rather dubious maps distorted to support his viewpoint.
Middleton’s chart over Hudson Bay, published before the eruption of the controversy, is of great importance as the attempt at an accurate survey of the west coast of Hudson Bay (Cumming et al, Exploration of North America, p. 188), and the only reliable printed cartographic record of the captain’s discoveries. Surprisingly, the chart was not included in Middleton’s book defending his reputation, and is now rare.
Bland arbeten.
Hudson Bay.
Sotheby's
Ingermanlandiae – Homanns Erben 1734
'Israel, Palestina.' - Lotter ca 1770.
