Fur-Seal Arbitration. The Case of the United States Before the Tribunal of Arbitration to Convene at Paris under the Provisions of the Treaty Between the U.S. and Great Britain, Concluded Feb. 29, 1892. Including the Reports of the Bering Sea Comission.

Washington DC: GPO, 1892. 4 vols. xvii, 431; ix, 605; viii, 619 pp and portfolio of maps. b/w halftone photo ills., folding b/w and duotone charts.

These publications resulted from a turf war between the US and Great Britain over rights to fish in seal-rich waters. In 1892, a treaty was signed to begin settling the matter, and arbitrators - two each from the combatants, and one from France, Italy and Sweden - were authorized. The four volumes here present the case as laid out by the Americans. As such it presents a comprehensive history and current status of the fur seal fishery, as well as the natural history of the seals, and of their habitat as a resource. The set consists of a main volume and two volumes of appendices, with a portfolio containing 12 large folding charts of the waters, islands, and rookeries in question. Despite presenting 1500 pages of documentation, the US had a weak case, and the Brits were awarded a settlement of nearly half a million dollars. In an unfortunate irony, according to an article in the Encyclopedia Americana, "These regulations, however, failed of their object, because the mother seals did not feed within the protected area, but far outside of it. The mother seals were therefore taken by the pelagic sealers as before, and their young were left to starve. The largest catch in the history of pelagic sealing, that of 1894, was made in the first season of the operation of these very regulations designed to so limit and restrict pelagic sealing as to protect and preserve the herd." See Wickersham 9363 and Ricks p. 41. Four volumes in US government bindings of half morocco over boards. Very good condition, with text and maps clean and fresh.