First edition, and a fine association copy of English historian Sir Travers Twiss's argument for Britain's "rightful claims" to the Oregon Territory, published at a crucial moment in the protracted controversy. Signed by Sir Minto Farquhar of Goldings, a Member of Parliament from 1839 and throughout the negotiations.

"For more than 50 years (1789-1846) controversy raged over the grand question of the ownership of Oregon until the United States, in a treaty with Great Britain on June 15, 1846, took all of Oregon up to the 49th parallel". The dispute began in 1789, when the British maintained claims on the Northwest over the Spanish, and expanded to include the United States when Gray discovered the Columbia River and gave America its own claim to the Territory. Years of international treaties further complicated the disputed rights, until, under President James K. Polk, the dispute rose to its full fury. "A great debate began in Congress late in 1845, which ran for nearly five months before its end on April 23, 1846. During its course, one expansionist after another invoked the deity, Greek and Roman mythology and history,... to prove that the United States needed all of Oregon. Polk knew, of course... that the only part of Oregon the United States could rightfully claim by settlement was the area below the Columbia River, the present-day state... [Ultimately Britain] arranged for its minister in Washington to sign a treaty giving the Americans the 49th Parallel" (Lamar).

Britain's Sir Travers Twiss, chair of international law at King's College, "was prompted to write on the Oregon question because "the case of the United States has been overstated... Twiss's monograph is thorough and constitutes a history of the Northwest from discovery through Anglo-American negotiations from 1818-1845. He made a plausible claim for British title to the region north of the Columbia". Twiss also challenged American historian Greenhow, who, in an 1840 work, argued America's title to "the regions drained by the river Columbia" and asserted "Britain will, by every means in her power, evade the recognition of the American claims" (Byrd).