left to right, top to bottom: cover of very rare signed Via Borealis, Tyrrell, 1906 with decorations by A.H. Howard, “Night Burial in the Forest”; Poems of Duncan Campbell Scott McClelland & Stewart, 1926; author signed photo frontispiece; In the Village of Viger Ryerson, 1945, cover and illustration by Canada’s earliest, prolific illustrator-designer Thoreau MacDonald)
Duncan Campbell Scott’s (1862-1947) first collection was The Magic House and Other Poems (1893) and his last book was The Circle of Affection (1947) released a few months before his death at 85. One of his main contributions to Canadian literature was in championing Archibald Lampman, a significant influence on Scott.
His original, distinguished, responsible reputation has suffered more than any other Canadian writer. From 1913-1932, Scott was the head of the federal Department of Indian Affairs and used an assimilationist approach that included residential schools. In today’s context, his government work and native poems (which depicted a 19th century romantic view of the ‘Noble savage’) are both considered politically incorrect and discriminatory.