(signed card and letter with envelope; Knopf, 1960 dj; design: Rudolph Ruzicka)
(1st trilogy: The Salteron Trilogy; on left: book 1: Tempest-Tost; prominent Canadian designer and illustrator Grant MacDonald did the charming cover; Clarke Irwin, 1951 dj; on right: 2nd book of trilogy; Scribner’s, 1955; terrific, evocative jacket design: Helen Borton)
(3rd book of trilogy; Macmillan:1958 front dj by Robert Galster, back photo by Mckague)
(dj with cut-out front design; design: Frank Newfeld; signed card laid-in)
(his most famous, popular book–1st of Deptford Trilogy; Viking: 1970 dj by Mel Williamson; right: the celebrated CBC radio version of the book, 2002; one of the best radio dramas CBC ever did; available on 4 cassettes, 2002; dj by Scott Kletke Design)
(CBC Home Video VHS, 1996; photo: Brenda Davies; with promotional postcard for his 3rd trilogy–The Cornish Trilogy; card advertises Murther & Walking Spirits; photo: Jerry Bauer) The excellent Life & Times CBC series included profiles on other Canadian authors such as Morley Callaghan, Irving Layton, Stephen Leacock, W.O. Mitchell, Mordecai Richler, and Farley Mowat.
(nice commemorative stamped envelope by Canada Post, 8/28/13; Massey College architect’s sketch by Barry Downs; Lowe-Martin, design: Steven Slipp; postage stamp booklet: Canada Post; Lowe-Martin; design: Steven Slipp; photo: the great Yousuf Karsh)
(William) Robertson Davies (1913-1995) was born in Thamesville, ON and was educated at Upper Canada College, Queen’s U, and Oxford. He loved drama and worked in the Old Vic Repertory Theatre, later writing several plays (e.g., his popular 1-act “Overlaid”) for the stage, becoming one of our country’s first significant dramatists.
When he returned to Canada, he worked as literary editor for Saturday Night magazine, then as editor for The Peterborough Examiner (c.f., letter above from this period), and finally Master of Massey College. During that time, our country’s first genuine man of letters also became our country’s first significant essayist via his nom-de-plume/alter-ego, the witty curmudgeon Samuel Marchbanks.
Internationally famous by the 1970s, Davies wrote 3 2/3 marvellous trilogies. The Salterton Trilogy: Tempest-Tost (1951), Leaven of Malice (1954), A Mixture of Frailties (1958). The Deptford Trilogy: Fifth Business (his best and most popular novel, 1970), The Manticore (a G-G winner for Fiction, 1972), and World of Wonders (1975). The Cornish Trilogy: The Rebel Angels (1981), What’s Bred in the Bone (1985), and The Lyre of Orpheus (1988). The Toronto Trilogy: (incomplete): Murther and Walking Spirits (1991) and The Cunning Man (1994).