Ryerson Press Centenary

The Book Room Bulletin, Vol 1, November 1920

The Ryerson Press turned 100 years old in July, 2019. Established as the Methodist Book and Publishing Company in 1829 by Egerton Ryerson, it became Canada’s premier trade publisher by the middle of the 20^th century.

As the publishing arm of the Methodist Church, the press was concerned with reaching its congregation through a weekly publication, The Christian Guardian. Through the mid-to-late 1800s, Methodist minsters published memoirs, books of prayer and hymnals which were distributed to a growing congregation.

In 1879, William Briggs was named Book Steward. He steered the Methodist Book and Publishing Company in a less spiritual direction publishing more secular publications by authors such as Robert Service, Catharine Parr Traill, and Charles G.D. Roberts. Briggs retired in 1919 and Samuel Fallis took over the role of Book Steward.

Fallis hired the young Methodist preacher Lorne Pierce to become Literary Critic and Advisor to the Book Room. Fallis also changed the name of the company in deference to its founder, Egerton Ryerson. The Ryerson Press was established in 1919.

Lorne Pierce was consumed with a desire to bring literature and art to a broader audience. Having spent several years as a teacher in rural Saskatchewan, he was appalled at the lack of cultural knowledge of the students under his tutelage. He vowed to change that situation and dedicated the next 40 years of his life to resolving his objective.

Lorne Pierce

Pierce’s role as architect of editorial change at the Ryerson Press is evident from the first edition of The Book Room Bulletin, published in November, 1920. “This number of The Book Room Bulletin inaugurates a venture which we hope may be of distinct service to you ….It is our purpose to publish this Bulletin at intervals throughout the year to acquaint the constituency of The Methodist Church with the very best new books being published….We are proceeding on the assumption that every book has an audience somewhere and that audience will want to procure it….The hope has been expressed that our Book Room may become a ‘cultural Mecca’ for Canada.”

In his welcome to readers, Samuel Fallis stated, “Lovers of good literature will learn to value the serious effort we are making to acquaint them of the very best, of the very latest; to secure the exact book they require for their special needs; to stimulate reading, and reading courses among people, and to assist in selecting books for Sunday Schools and private libraries.”

For his part, Lorne Pierce had his own welcoming statement. His office was located in a corner of Samuel Fallis’s office. He named his department The Book Steward’s Corner. He claimed it was devised for the purpose, not merely of reviewing books and sifting out the best for our readers but “of being of service to you in any way we can.”

Pierce went on to become a one-man publishing dynamo responsible for bringing innumerable prominent Canadian writers to national and international prominence. He created readers for Boards of Education across the country. He brought history to life through the illustrations of the likes of C.W. Jefferys. He produced over two hundred editions of poetry Chap Books by Canadian poets. His editorial career spanned 40 years and he became the face of Canadian publishing.

Ryerson University Library

In 1970, the Ryerson Press was sold to The McGraw-Hill Book Company of Canada and in honour of Pierce and the outstanding name the Ryerson Press commanded, the name was changed to McGraw-Hill Ryerson. A legacy of 3000 titles along with original contracts and documents was donated to Ryerson University Library in 2017.

 
The legacy of Lorne Pierce and the Ryerson Press lives on at Ryerson University Library’s Archives and Special Collections, now a permanent home for that venerable publishing company, the Ryerson Press.

Ryerson Press Collection – Enduring Legacy

 

 The Arts and Letters Club, 13 Elm St., Toronto, Ontario

The Arts and Letters Club has been promoting literature, architecture, music, painting and stage (LAMPS), for over 125 years. Members come from all branches of the arts, ranging from active professionals to interested audiences.

Every Tuesday is Literary Lunch, a luncheon in the historic Club building at 14 Elm Street. The talk is usually given by someone who has written a book, but sometimes instead on a literary-related topic.

The audience is usually diverse, with a few members who are experts on the topic and many who have a keen interest but no background at all.

Literary Lunch, May 28, 2019

On May 28, I presented to the Literary Committee the Ryerson Press Collection – Enduring Legacy celebrating the collaboration of 150 Arts and Letters Club members who were in some way responsible for approximately 250 Ryerson Press titles over the press’s 190-year existence.

Also profiled was the hiring of Lorne Pierce as Book Critic and Advisor to the Book Stewards of the Ryerson Press in 1920. Pierce was an Arts and Letters Club member from 1923 until his death in 1961. He claimed that the history of publishing was in essence the story of a publisher and his friends. The collaboration between Pierce and other Arts and Letters Club and the Ryerson Press is legendary.

Lorne Pierce, Editorial Manager of the Ryerson Press 1920-1960

Lorne Pierce certainly influenced and was influenced by many he came to know through places like the Arts and Letters Club. From Sandra Campbell’s Both Hands we know that he was invited to his first lunch by Augustus Bridle who knew him when Pierce was a preacher in Brinston, Ontario. Also at the table were Lawren Harris and Vincent Massey. This was to become Pierce’s favourite lunching and networking venue. Bridle, a founding member of the Arts and Letters Club in 1908, excited Pierce about the possibilities before him in this brave new cultural world especially as it pertained to publishing.

 

 

 

 

Literary Lunch display of Ryerson Press Titles featuring titles dating from 1895 to 1960 (photo courtesy J. Beyersbergen, Ryerson University)

R.C. Wallace of Queen’s University and Ryerson Press Editorial Board member wrote, “Pierce, more than any one man, by his encouragement of young authors, was responsible for much fine work that otherwise would never have been written. By researching out and re-publishing forgotten Canadian work, he saved much that otherwise would have been lost. He received much honour in his lifetime, but his greatest honour lies in the influence of his tireless work on the future of Canadian writers and artists.”

The Lorne Pierce Medal is awarded every two years by the Royal Society of Canada to recognize achievement of special significance and conspicuous merit in imaginative or critical  literature written in either English or French. The medal was first awarded in 1926. Recipients include other Arts and Letters Club members Pelham Edgar, Duncan Campbell Scott, E.J. Pratt, George H. Clarke, John Murray Gibbon, Marius Barbeau, E.K. Brown, Northrop Frye, Malcolm Ross.

While The Ryerson Press collection does not purport to be the definitive output of The Ryerson Press, it certainly represents an Enduring Legacy of Canadian Publishing history across many decades and a wide range of topics: from before Confederation and the turn of the century, through two World Wars, The Depression, the 50’s and the Quiet Revolution.

The 3000-copy Ryerson Press Collection now sits in the Ryerson University Library  Archives and Special Collections where it will be used by students, researchers and scholars. It represents a unique reflection of Canadian literary and cultural history.

Edith Grace Coombs

E. Grace Coombs ARTIST was published by the Ryerson Press in 1949

E. Grace Coombs Artist, was published by the Ryerson Press in 1949. The biographical text was written by Lorne Pierce, the long-time Managing Editor of the Ryerson Press. The jacket design, by Arthur Steven, Ryerson Press Art Director, was his first jacket design after being hired by Pierce. Grace Coombs was one of Steven’s instructors at the Ontario College of Art.

Edith Grace Coombs, A.O.C.A., O.S.A., was born in Hamilton, Ontario, on December 22, 1890. She attended school in Hamilton, Gananoque and Fort William (Thunder Bay) Ontario before entering the Ontario College of Art in 1913. In 1918 Coombs received the Associate Ontario College of Art diploma. She also won a scholarship which allowed her to study at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art. She received encouragement from the likes of J.E.H. MacDonald of the Group of Seven and by George A. Reid who recommended her for a position as Head of the Art Department at Edgehill College in Windsor Nova Scotia. She remained there for one year before taking up a three-year post as Art Mistress at Havergal College in Toronto until 1921.

Soon after her second year of study, Grace Coombs was appointed to the staff of the Ontario College of Art along with such notable fellow artists as George A. Reid, Robert Holmes, C.M. Manly, Arthur Lismer, J.W. Beatty, J.E.H. MacDonald, Emanuel Hahn and Fred Haines. She was associated with teaching at OCAD for many years. It is interesting to note that several of the artists Grace Coombs worked alongside or knew and became friends with were members of the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto. But not Grace Coombs. Women were not to be admitted to the Arts and Letters Club until 1985.

Meadow Rue and Wild Iris, water colour

In 1928 Grace Coombs was elected a member of the Ontario Society of Artists (OSA). She was also a member of several institutions such as the Canadian Society of Graphic Art, the Federation of Canadian Artists, Ontario College of Art Alumni, Victoria University Faculty Women’s Association, the Heliconian Club of Toronto and the Lyceum Women’s Art Association.

Coombs’s floral paintings are often compared to those of Canadian landscape artist Robert Holmes but as this brief excerpt shows, not according to Grace Coombs:

“…On one occasion when the work of the two artists hung side by side in a show, a student rushed up to Miss Coombs and told her how much he preferred her work to the other. Miss Coombs replied instantly, that her work could not compare with the work of Mr. Holmes. And she turned to go. Standing a few feet behind her happened to be Robert Holmes himself.”

Woodlands Wide, courtesy C. and R. Stockdale

Grace Coombs found solace at Charmette, a summer retreat she frequented on Neighick Lake near Ahmic Harbour, Ontario. Here she conducted summer courses and traversed the five-acre property with its multitude of wild flowers, native wildlife, waterfalls and shorelines.

From 1921 to 1956 Grace Coombs was on the faculty of the Ontario College of Art. During this time she worked to develop a guiding philosophy of art influenced by such prominent painters and sculptors as J.E.H. MacDonald, Robert Holmes and Emanuel Hahn.

“The charm that the artist discovers in the bashful wild flower may also be conveyed to the robust canvas of men striving against the elements. It is the secret of being able to please, to delight, to bewitch and snare the mind and heart for the sheer joy of living.”

Edith Grace Coombs’s art is included in collections at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa and at the University of Guelph. Edith Grace Coombs died in 1986 at the age of 96.

Son of the North

 

Son of the North by Charles Camsell was published by the Ryerson Press in 1954

Son of the North by Charles Camsell was published by the Ryerson Press in 1954. This book is the autobiography of one of Canada’s foremost explorers and geologists. The Ryerson Press 125^th Anniversary Catalog of 1954, described Son of the North as follows:

 Never before have the fascination and challenge of Canada’s Northland found so authentic an expression as in this book by one of its most distinguished sons. Born in a remote outpost of the fur trade in the North West Territories, Dr. Camsell spent his young manhood amongst traders, Indians and prospectors in the days before the railroad and the airplane. He taught in a mission school, was caught up in the Klondike gold rush, and as freighter, mail carrier, explorer and prospector traveled thousands of miles by canoe, scow, wagon and dog-train over perilous rivers and barrens of a North that offered constant challenge to courage and endurance.

 Later, as a member of the Canadian Geological Survey, Dr. Camsell was responsible for exploring and mapping the mineral resources in this unknown North. The story of his explorations and adventures brings before us in vivid detail the dangers and thrills of pioneer travel, and the richness and variety of human character that he encountered. It is written by a man who knows first hand every aspect of the North, and who eventually, as distinguished geologist and Deputy Minister of Mines, was able to exercise an important influence on its development. In this book, Dr. Camsell has given us a Canadian classic that combines the merits of authentic biography and history with the suspense and excitement of adventure fiction.

Charles Camsell source National Film Board

Charles Camsell was born in 1876 at Fort Liard, North West Territories, one of eleven children. He obtained a B.A. in Natural Sciences from University of Manitoba in 1894. Upon graduation, he returned to the North and in 1897 he and his brother set out to establish a gold claim in the Yukon. They were forced to abandon their claim after several months of harsh conditions and near starvation. But it was here that Charles Camsell developed his fascination with geology.

Upon furthering his education at both Queen’s and Harvard, Camsell returned to the North where he encountered members of the Canadian Geological Survey and he was hired as an assistant in 1902. Charles Camsell entered the public Service of Canada in 1904 where he remained until his retirement. During the forty years in that service, he rose to the rank of Deputy Minister of Mines and Resources.

Charles Camsell source wikia.com

In 1929 Charles Camsell founded the Canadian Geographical Society (now the Royal Canadian Geographical Society) and was its President from 1930-1941. He was also President of the Royal Society of Canada from 1930-1931. Dr. Camsell  served in a variety of offices, was honoured by many learned societies with fellowships and medals and by universities with honourary doctorates. In 1935, Charles Camsell had the C.M.G. (The Commemorative Medal of St. Michael and St. George) bestowed upon him by Canada’s Governor General. After a brief retirement, Dr. Camsell was offered both an Ambassadorship and a High Commissionership. In 1945, Dr. Camsell was also awarded London’s Royal Geographical Society’s Founders Gold Medal for his contribution to geology. Charles Camsell died in Ottawa in 1958.

 

Louis Riel

Louis Riel, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1985

This edition of Louis Riel by George F.G. Stanley was published by McGraw-Hill Ryerson in 1985. It was originally published in 1963 by The Ryerson Press and in a paperback edition in 1972. The book details the life and political struggles of Riel and the Métis during the opening of Canada’s North West from 1870 to 1885.

The 1968 Fall Catalogue blurb from the Ryerson Press reads as follows: Louis Riel by George F.G. Stanley is the first fully documented life of Louis Riel, the Métis leader and founder of Manitoba. Professor Stanley’s biography of Riel, and the movement Riel represented, is certain to be the single indispensable source of Riel information for decades to come. Includes 17 photographs and five maps. Illustrated. $8.50

Louis Riel was born in 1844 and was educated in a seminary in Montreal where he studied Latin, Biology and Philosophy among other subjects. While Riel did reasonably well in his studies his quick temper and an inclination towards broodiness caused his teachers some concern. They thought he lacked the humility necessary to become a priest. In March 1865, only months before the end of his studies, Riel quit the College of Montreal abruptly before graduating. Riel returned to the Red River Settlement in July 1868, aged 24 – educated and unemployed but with a strong sense of pride in himself and his Métis brothers and sisters.

In 1869, two years after Confederation, the Hudson’s Bay Company which had control over Rupert’s Land, the vast continent–sized tract of land north west of Lake Superior, realized that they could no longer administer the land as they had done since 1670. They wanted to sell. The price was $40 million. Canada did not have that kind of money; however, the United States did. But the British Crown refused to sell to the Americans and since Britain wanted the land to be in the hands of Canada, a negotiated price of L300 000 or $1.5 million was agreed. The transaction did not sit well with the existing inhabitants of the Red River Settlement (Winnipeg), many of whom were fur traders. They feared the changes that would inevitably come from opening the land. They looked to Louis Riel to fight for their rights.

In 1870, Riel was elected President of the provisional government and led a group of Métis to occupy Fort Garry. He formed the Provisional Government of Assiniboia and sent a delegation along with a petition of rights for land ownership of the Red River Settlement to Ottawa with the intention of joining the newly formed federation of Canada. Among the requests was amnesty for those involved in the uprising that had occurred. While verbal assurances were made by Sir George Cartier that amnesty would be forthcoming, the federal government claimed the decision was not Canada’s to make. The request was forwarded to the British Crown. The death of Thomas Scott, a belligerent Ontario transplant, who had disregarded the Laws of the Prairie under the Provisional Government was tried for insubordination and shot. This simply added to Riel’s woes. But on May 4, the Manitoba Bill was introduced in the House of Commons and received Royal Assent on May 12, 1870. The Province of Manitoba had been established.

Meanwhile, United States President U.S. Grant had received solicitations of annexation by ambitious Americans who felt that the time was right for the United States to take control of Rupert’s Land. Grant would have none of it. But that did not prevent a brief futile raid by a group of Fenians in October 1871 which was quickly put down.

Sentiments ran high in Ontario after the death of Thomas Scott. Agitators in Ontario like George Denison and John Schultz were incensed that Sir John A. MacDonald’s government had allowed an unruly and “murderous” group to form a province. It was their contention that the North West was to be populated by people from “Canada” and not by rebels. They demanded that troops be sent to Red River to maintain order. Consequently, Colonel Wolseley and his Ontario based riflemen were soon dispatched. They were to “go forth on an errand of peace and will serve as an assurance to the inhabitants of the Red River Settlement and the numerous Indian tribes that occupy the North-West that they have a place in the regard and counsels of England.”

However, Riel, with no amnesty forthcoming and a price of $5000 on his head, went into hiding, first in the U.S. city of St. Paul, Minnesota. But he was determined to run for Parliament and obtained the nomination for Provencher which he won by acclamation. Still concerned for his own personal safety he took refuge with friends in Plattsburg, New York, close enough to Montreal to keep an eye on the politics of the day. As the date for the opening of Parliament drew near, Riel ultimately decided not to take his seat. Instead, in 1874, he was expelled from the House of Commons, branded an outlaw and sought refuge in the United States.

Louis Riel settled in Montana. Married now with a wife and family, he was resigned to a quiet life. He became a U.S. citizen and set his sights on owning and operating a small farm.

But the situation in Canada’s North West had not changed for the better as far as the Indian and Métis were concerned. The land they had turned to cultivating after the decline of the buffalo on the Prairies was now their only source of sustenance. That was now being taken away from them and sold off by the government. Treaties were being broken and both the native aboriginals and the Métis were desperate for someone to fight for their rights. They again turned to Louis Riel.

In 1884, Riel’s friend, Gabriel Dumont, led a delegation and traveled to Montana to convince Riel to once again take up the charge. Convinced that he had been given a divine right to lead the Métis, Riel returned to Canada and was immediately praised as the one person who could resolve the land and treaty situation with Ottawa.

Upon his return to the North West, Riel had formed his own religion which did not sit well with the religious leaders of the day. They branded him a heretic and refused to allow him to use the church as a meeting place. He also alienated the English and many of the French settlers.

With only a few hundred Métis Riel led a rebellion that, despite a few early skirmishes that went in their favour, they found themselves outnumbered at Batoche.

The recent completion of the Canadian Pacific Railroad through to Saskatchewan meant that Ottawa could transport troops to the North West much faster than they had in the rebellion of 1870. As a result, Riel and his followers, outnumbered and out-gunned, met their final defeat at Batoche in March 1885. Riel was ultimately put on trial for treason. Despite numerous calls for amnesty, and several appeals, Louis Riel was found guilty and hanged in Regina on October 22, 1885.

Louis Riel led a tumultuous life. His struggles to resolve the land claims and treaty rights of the Métis of Manitoba in 1869-70 and Saskatchewan in 1884-85 were hard fought and were met with constant resistance by Canadian government officials. Many of those battles continue to this day.

George F.G. Stanley (photo by Jonathan Sark, Canadian Encyclopedia)

Professor George F.G. Stanley was born in Calgary, Alberta in 1907. He studied at the University of Alberta and at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. His design of the Canadian Flag was accepted by Parliament in 1965. In 1976 he was awarded the Order of Canada and was made Companion in 1995. George Stanley was Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick from 1982-1987. George Stanley died in 2002.

 

 

West by East

West by East and other poems by J.E.H. MacDonald was published by the Ryerson Press in 1933

West by East and other poems by J.E.H. MacDonald was published by The Ryerson Press in 1933. Five hundred copies of this chap-book were printed; 250 of which were presented for sale. The quote opposite the title page by Henry David Thoreau, one of J.E.H. MacDonald’s favourite authors, reads: The Universal Soul has an interest in the stacking and the foddering of cattle. This quote may reflect some of J.E.H. MacDonald’s own philosophy of living a simple life, happily capturing and reflecting on the natural beauty of the landscape he painted so eloquently during his lifetime.

 

 

West by East

A swaying car,

Grinding on roughened rails,

And one who reads the tales

Of Buddha far

Dreaming of earth and star

In a still Orient avatar

 

Restless and rude our land,

And tossed by Winter’s hand

With pools and many a ragged snowy band

And grey,

The folded sky, and wet rutted way.

And drear the wind tumult of the day.

 

The dark barn broods, lofty and wide

Over the crops within, and by its side

The banded silo leans and cattle shove

To feed beneath the straw-stack’s hollowed cove.

 

Shaggy as bears the fur-clad farmers lurch

Along the car stopping beside a church,

A father carries a white bundled child;

The gravestones lean like trees before the wild

Wind nipping the church smoke at the chimney edge

And flinging it by wall and window ledge.

 

But Buddha sits afar

Dreaming of sun and star

Making a flying thought of heavy earth

And labour, death and birth

And the hour has a light sublime

And the wind is a broad wind of time

Blowing us all like thistle-down away

To seed in uplands by the springs of day.

 

J.E.H. MacDonald, courtesy Wikipedia

J.E.H. MacDonald was born in Durham, England in 1873 and emigrated to Canada in 1887 at the age of 14. He completed his studies in Hamilton and Toronto and worked for Grip Limited, a leading commercial printer in Toronto.

Later, as Art Director, he encouraged other designers to pursue their sketching and painting. In 1911, he joined the Arts and Letters club where he met fellow artist, Lawren Harris. Together, in 1921, they formed the Group of Seven and made numerous trips north and west with fellow artists, Arthur Lismer, Frank Carmichael, A.Y. Jackson, A.J. Casson and Frank Johnson to capture the grandeur of the Canadian landscape. After the death of his good friend and fellow artist Tom Thomson in 1917, MacDonald took time off his painting to write poetry. These poems are presented in West by East and are accompanied by illustrations by MacDonald’s son, Thoreau MacDonald.

J.E.H. MacDonald died at Toronto in 1933 at the age of 59.

 

 

Pierre-Esprit Radisson

Pierre-Esprit Radisson published by The Ryerson Press, 1930

Pierre-Esprit Radisson, published by The Ryerson Press in 1930, was written by Katherine Hale for the Canadian History Readers Series. Radisson and his brother-in-law Medard des Groseillers, were adventurers, couriers du bois, and explorers and are credited with laying the groundwork for the formation of the Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson Bay or what would later become The Hudson’s Bay Company.

Pierre-Esprit Radisson was born in Paris, France in 1636 and came to New France with his family at the age of 16. They settled in Trois-Rivieres, a major fur-trading centre. By the time Radisson was twenty, he had spent several years living with and among the native peoples of North America. He learned their languages, their customs and their superstitions. He also learned from them of the vast tracts of land untraveled by white men.

From 1660-1666, Radisson and Groseillers explored the territories north and west of Quebec where they encountered native peoples and were intrigued by their descriptions of large rivers and open bodies of water.

Returning to Montreal Radisson found himself out of favour with the local authorities and was fined and censured for trading without consent. Out of the large fortune of furs he had returned with he was left with little to show for his expeditions.

Radisson by C.W. Jeffreys

By 1666 Radisson was in London at the height of the Great Plague but, fortunately, in the company of Prince Rupert, first cousin of Charles II. Prince Rupert was an adventurer himself and by 1668, lured by the promise of a fortune in furs, Radisson had obtained the funds to mount an expedition to Hudson Bay. With Radisson in the Eagle and Groseillers in the Nonsuch, they left for North America. The Eagle was forced to turn back due to terrible weather in the North Atlantic. Back in London, Radisson turned to writing about his adventures.

When Groseillers returned the following spring laden with rich furs, it was not difficult to garner enthusiasm for a trading company. In May 1670, The Company of Gentlemen Adventurers trading into Hudson Bay was formed, with Prince Rupert its first President.

Pierre-Esprit Radisson, Wikipedia.org

The record of Radisson’s adventures is captured in part due to Samuel Pepys, renowned British diarist. Radisson’s notes from his many adventures came into the hands of Pepys whose executors sold the writings as waste paper. Fortunately, a great English collector, Rawlinson, managed to recover what he could and the papers were given to the Bodleian Library at Oxford. And in a strange twist of Canadian history the documents were rediscovered in 1885 and were first published by the Prince Society of Boston. Pierre-Esprit Radisson died in London, 1710.

The CBC produced a 39-episode series, Radisson, which first aired February 1957. Shot in and around Montreal, the St. Lawrence River and Ile Perrot, and produced in both English and French, the series portrayed the many adventures of Radisson and Groseillers. It was among the first significant television dramas produced in Canada at a cost of $26 000 per episode.

Amelia Beers Warnock, SFU Digitized Collections

Katherine Hale was a Canadian journalist, writer and poet. She was born Amelia Beers Warnock in Galt, Ontario in 1878. She became a journalist and was literary editor of the Toronto Mail and Empire until her marriage in 1912 to John W. Garvin, an editor in his own right. Using the pseudonym Katherine Hale, she published several volumes of poetry published by the Ryerson Press including Grey Knitting and other Poems, 1914, Morning in the West; a book of verse, 1923, Isabella Valancy Crawford, poems, 1923, two books in the Canadian History Readers series Jeanne Mance, 1930, and Pierre-Esprit Radisson, 1930, as well as This is Ontario, 1937, This is Ontario (revised following WWII), 1946, The Flute and other poems, 1950, and Historic Houses of Canada, 1952. Katherine Hale died in 1955.

Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac

Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac 1657-1730 published by The Ryerson Press in 1930

Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac 1657-1730 by Agnes Laut was published by The Ryerson Press in 1930 and belongs to the Ryerson Canadian History Readers series.

The intent of the Canadian History Readers series was to portray many of the colourful personalities and events that shaped the early history of New France and eventually North America. These included the lives of indigenous men and women, European explorers and adventurers as well as depictions of many of the institutions that were created during the 17^th and 18^th centuries as well as the wars that were waged and battles that were fought, won and lost.

The series is written in a narrative style with contributions from many of the prominent Canadian writers of the 1920s and ‘30s, many with illustrations by C.W. Jeffries.

De La Mothe leads a landing party at the straits (detroit) of the St.Clair River. He would go on to found the city of Detroit, MI.

Lorne Pierce, editor of the Ryerson Press from 1922 to 1960, was determined to provide young readers with readable, historical references of the many characters and events that dot the pages of Canadian history. These paperback editions were usually no more than 32 pages in length and sold for ten cents. An interesting note on many covers indicate that these books were “Endorsed by the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire and The Provincial Departments of Education.”

The Toronto Globe in an early review of the Series reads in part: “A large number of these popular little books have made their appearance…They make absorbing reading for any one wishing to get a brief insight into the romantic life surrounding the important personalities in Canadian history.”

Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac was one such adventurer. He was born in 1658 in Saint Nicholas de la Grave, France, in the province of Gascony near the Pyrenees. He was educated in law and biology at a Jesuit institution. After a short military stint, la Mothe left for New France in 1683. Historians have found no record of his name on any passenger list leaving from France. La Mothe took this opportunity to create a new identity for himself.

He landed at Port Royal, Acadia, and spent the next several years exploring the eastern seaboard as far south as the Carolinas working as a trader. In 1687 he married Marie-Therese Guyon and together they had 13 children.

In 1688, La Mothe was introduced to the governor of New France, Louis de Frontenac, who sent him on a mission to explore the coast of New England but he was forced to return to France due to bad weather. While in Paris, la Mothe was made officer of marine troops by Louis Pontchartrain. When la Mothe returned to Port Royal, he discovered that the fort had been seized by the British and his wife and family held prisoner. But by 1691, la Mothe had again returned to Quebec and continued his chart-making and in 1692 he had become a Lieutenant Commander.

In this role la Mothe held several positions including commander of Fort du Buade (now St. Ignace, MI). In 1701 he founded Fort Pontchartrain du Detroit (now the city of Detroit) and a few years later he was appointed Governor of Louisiana from 1710-1716.

The founders of the Cadillac Motor Company adopted his name and coat of arms in 1902.

There are many towns and locations named after Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. However, later historians citing his dubious past and years of trading in alcohol and furs branded him a “soldier of fortune” and not “one of the great early heroes.” In fact, some would go so far as to brand him “one of the worst scoundrels to set foot in New France.”*

La Mothe returned to France and after a brief stint in the Bastille, eventually cleared his name and was appointed governor and mayor of Castlesarrasin, a town in the south of France near his birthplace. Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac died October 16, 1730 at the age of 72.

Agnes Christina Laut was born in Stanley Township, Huron County, Ontario February 11, 1871. She was the daughter of John and Eliza Laut. The family moved to Manitoba when she was five. Laut was educated at University of Manitoba and began a journalistic career with the Manitoba Free Press. She travelled extensively across the continent and moved to the United States in 1900 where she resided for most of her life. Laut continued to write about Canada and many of her titles were published by The Ryerson Press including, Lords of the North, 1900, The Story of the Trapper, 1902, Pathfinders of the West, 1904, Canada The Empire of the North, 1909, Heralds of Empire, 1913, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac 1930, John Tanner, 1930, Marquette, 1930. Agnes Laut died in Wassaic, New York in 1936.

*Yves F. Zoltvany, (University of Western Ontario), Wikipedia

 

Duncan Campbell Scott

The Selected Poems of Duncan Campbell Scott, 1951, The Ryerson Press

The Selected Poems of Duncan Campbell Scott was published by the Ryerson Press in 1951. This edition contains a memoir of Scott by Professor E.K. Brown.*

Scott was born in Ottawa, Ontario in 1862. His father, William Scott, was an ordained Methodist minister and in the 1840s, had as his charge, ministering to the First Nations along the eastern shore of Lake Huron and Manitoulin Island.  William Scott had a lifelong interest in First Nations peoples which he strived to pass on to his son Duncan.

Duncan Campbell Scott was educated in public schools in Ottawa and attended Stanstead College. At 17 he joined the Canadian Civil Service. His father knew Sir John A. MacDonald and requested an interview for his son. Scott started in the Department of Indian Affairs and spent the next 52 years there, rising to the position of Superintendent of Indian Affairs.

Scott was a friend of Archibald Lampman who inspired Scott to become a poet. Scott is regarded as one of Canada’s major poets but he never achieved the recognition of Lampman, Sir Charles G.D. Roberts or Bliss Carman. Still, he is regarded as one of Canada’s “Confederation poets.”

His works include The magic house and other poems, 1893, Labour and the angel, 1898, New world lyrics and ballads, 1905, Via borealis, 1906, Lines in memory of Edmund Morris (unpublished), 1915, Lundy’s Lane and other poems,1916, Beauty and life, 1921, Poems, 1926 and The green cloister: Later poems, 1935. Two volumes of short stories include In The village of Viger, 1896, and The witching of Elspie, 1923.

Duncan Campbell Scott

As Superintendent in the Department of Indian Affairs, Scott travelled extensively across Canada and captured the varied landscape of the country in his work. He also reflected on his interactions with the First Nations peoples across the country. His influence in the Department of Indian Affairs resulted in the formation of the Residential School System which had as its goal “to get rid of the Indian problem.” Duncan Campbell Scott died in Ottawa in 1947. He is buried in Ottawa’s Beechwood Cemetery near his life-long friend and fellow-poet, Archibald Lampman.

A plaque, erected in 2011, served to commemorate Scott’s literary work as one of Canada’s “Confederation poets”. A new plaque, however, was erected in 2015 and, because of the work of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, acknowledged Scott’s role as being instrumental in establishing the Residential School System.

* Edward Killoran Brown was a professor and critic. He was educated at University of Toronto and University of Paris, and he taught at University of Toronto, University of Manitoba, Cornell and University of Chicago. His most important contributions to Canadian criticism were his well-known study On Canadian Poetry (1943, rev ed 1944); his annual surveys of Canadian poetry in the University of Toronto Quarterly (1936-50); and his edition of Duncan Campbell Scott’s poems (1951).

 

Archibald Lampman

At the Long Sault and other poems by Archibald Lampoon, The Ryerson Press, 1943

At the Long Sault and other poems by Archibald Lampman, was published by The Ryerson Press in 1943.

If you travel the MacDonald/Cartier freeway east through the province of Quebec, you will inevitably pass through the city of Dollard des Ormeaux/Roxboro on the outskirts of Montreal. This community is named after the martyr Adam Dollard des Ormeaux who was killed at Long Sault in 1660. At the Long Sault and other poems by Archibald Lampman, one of Canada’s pre-eminent poets, commemorates this epic battle.

At the Long Sault and other poems by Archibald Lampman was edited by Professor E.K. Brown with a Foreword by Duncan Campbell Scott. It contains 26 of Lampman’s poems and sonnets. It is considered a publisher’s edition as many pages have not been trimmed. The cover illustration is by Thoreau MacDonald.

Archibald Lampman was born in the village of Morpeth, near Chatham in south-western Ontario in November 1861. He was educated at Trinity University, Toronto and obtained a post in the civil service in Ottawa upon graduation in 1883. He held this post until his death in 1899. Lampman published three volumes of poetry including Among the Millet, 1888, Lyric of Earth, 1888, and Alcyone, 1899. A collection edition was published after his death with a memoir by Duncan Campbell Scott in 1900.

At The Long Sault and other poems by Archibald Lampman is described as “The Literary Discovery of the Year” by the publisher due to the many notations and reference material consulted by Brown from Lampman’s own notebooks which were generously loaned to Brown during the editorial process. In Duncan Campbell Scott’s Foreword to the collection, he quotes himself saying, “In the Preface to the first edition of Archibald Lampman’s poems and in the Introduction to the selection Lyric of Earth, I said all that I had to say on the life and work of the poet and I thought my function as custodian and editor was accomplished; but as the poems contained in this volume will prove it was not to be….if it had not been for Professor E.K. Brown’s admiration of Lampman and his interest in his method of work many of these poems might have been lost.”

It was Brown’s scrutiny of Lampman’s notebooks which had been meticulously preserved and cared for by Lampman’s daughter who “generously and unreservedly lent them to him,” says Scott, “It is Professor Brown we must thank for discovering and deciphering many of these poems which add to the sum of the poet’s work and in several instances definitely enrich our possessions.” Lampman is considered by some as Canada’s Keats.

Archibald Lampman worked as a civil servant in the post office in Ottawa. There he met Duncan Campbell Scott. The two would often spend time camping in and around the Gatineau hills close to the city. This accounts for Lampman’s affinity with nature and became known in later life as one of Canada’s most pictorial poets. Scott credits Lampman for inspiring him to write poetry himself. This ultimately led to Scott becoming even more well-known than Lampman in the end.

The major Lampman poem featured in At the Long Sault relates the battle at Long Sault in the Ottawa river in 1660 during the Beaver Wars. Des Ormeaux, commander of the Ville Marie settlement of New France, took a band of some 16 militia men along with a group of Algonquin allies up the Ottawa River to ambush a war party of some 200 members of the Iroquois Confederacy who were preparing to attack the French settlements along the St. Lawrence. Des Ormeaux’s group was joined by a band of 40 Huron at a make-shift fort near the rapids. The battle lasted five days until another band of Iroquois, some 500 strong, who were travelling down the St. Lawrence were diverted to Long Sault to aid in the attack. By the end of the fifth day, des Ormeaux and all his men had been slain. As a result of the battle at Long Sault, the Iroquois abandoned their assault on the newly formed settlements of Ville Marie (Montreal), Quebec, and Trois Rivières and des Ormeaux was credited with having saved New France.

The poem begins,

Under the day-long sun there is life and mirth

In the working earth,

And the wonderful moon shines bright

Through the soft spring night,

The innocent flowers in the limitless woods are springing

Far and away

With the sound and the perfume of May,

The waters glitter and leap and play

While the grey hawk soars.

 

But far in an open glade of the forest set

Where the rapid plunges and roars,

In a ruined fort with a name that men forget, —

A shelterless pen

With its broken palisade,

Behind it, musket in hand

In this savage heart of the wild,

More youngsters, grown in a moment to men,

Grim and alert and arrayed,

The comrades of Daulac* stand.

Ever before them, night and day,

The rush and skulk and cry

Of foes, not men but devils, panting for prey;

Behind them the sleepless dream

Of the little frail-walled town, far away by the plunging stream,

Of maiden and matron and child,

With ruin and murder impending, and none but they

To beat back the gathering horror

Deal death while they may,

And then die.

 

And later,

 

So Daulac turned him anew

With a ringing cry to his men

In the little raging forest glen,

And his terrible sword in the twilight whistled and slew.

And all his comrades stood

With their backs to the pales, and fought

Till their strength was done;

The thews that were only mortal flagged and broke

Each struck his last wild stroke,

And they fell one by one,

And the world that seemed so good

Passed like a dream and was naught.

 

*Adam Dollard des Ormeaux

Archibald Lampman

Archibald Lampman died at the age of 37. A commemorative plaque at Morpeth reads as follows: Archibald Lampman 1861-1899 Born in Morpeth, Upper Canada, Lampman spent most of his short adult life unhappily working as a clerk in the Post Office Department in Ottawa, for poetry was his true vocation. One of the “sixties group” which wrote Canada’s first noteworthy English verse, his work shows the influence of English writers, particularly Keats and Arnold, and of American nineteenth-century literature. Author of many poems describing Ottawa’s rural environs, he complemented his interest in Nature by commenting poetically on the dehumanizing effects of a mechanized capitalist society. He died at Ottawa.

Long Sault is now the municipality of Saint-André-d’Argenteuil. This portion of the Ottawa River was flooded in 1959 to raise the water levels, thereby covering the rapids, and is now a National Historic Site of Canada.