214 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



leisure hours on a Mohawk Primer. He had found great difficulty 

 in correcting the proof of the Prayer Book, which was printed at Que- 

 bec, and at tlie same time attend to his duties at Montreal.^ We may 

 therefore conclude that finding Mesplet's press standing idle under 

 seizure by the government, he availed himself of this opportunity and, 

 securing the services of a journeyman printer, had the Primer set up 

 under his own supervision at Montreal; especially as Mohawk is most 

 difficult composition for type-setters. 



As soon as Mesplet was released he secured an order for a Psautier' 

 for the use of the schools in which a wood cut appears, which is claimed, 

 in the Hart Catalogue, to have been the first wood engraving done in 

 Canada, and to have been the first school book issued in Montreal. 

 Both are simply assertions without any other authority. 



In 1783 a copy of the treaty of peace between Great Britain, 

 France and the United States, signed in January of that year, waa 

 printed by ]\Iesplet,^ also a petition he presented to Congress.* Dionne 

 mentions an almanac for 1783,^ but I have not been able to verify 

 this statement by an existing copy, so do not include it in the list. 



This year he claimed from Congress compensation for the losses 

 he had sustained in accepting their engagement as printer at Montreal 

 and on accoimt of his sympathy with their cause, but this petition met 

 with no response. 



There were only two publications printed in 1784, the almanac,® 

 of which only one incomplete copy is known; and this is the last year 

 of issue so far as extant evidence goes. After this he issued large 

 single paged " Calendriers." The second was " L'écu de Six Francs," 

 a short story.'^ 



In September of tliis year Berger, whose partnership continued 

 from about September, 1775, to September, 1778, came to Can- 

 ada to arrange a settlement. He is described as a merchant of 

 France. As there arose some dispute about the details of the account 

 it was agreed to settle the matter amicably by each party appointing 

 two arbitrators.® As the account was somewhat complicated the arbi- 

 trators referred the disputed points to Mr. Benjamin Frobisher, one of 



^ See Bibliography of the Iroquois language, Pilling, Washington, 1888, 

 page 46. 



- See appendix A No. 24. Also Catalogue of the Hart Collection, Boston, 

 April 15-19th, 1890. 



^ See appendix A 25. 



*/6i(Z No. 26. 



"Page 14. 



* See appendix A No. 27. . 

 ''Hid No. 28. 



* See appendix F No. 51. 



