(rare autograph poem and photo from Canadian Singers and Their Songs ed. Edward S. Caswell, McClelland & Stewart, 1919)
(scarce clean hardback of Marjorie Pickthall: A Book of Remembrance by Lorne Pierce– one of her champions; Ryerson, 1925)
(title page of above book which includes photos, poems, and biography; F.H. Varley of the Group of 7 did the decorations)
(rare dust jacket of 1927 McClelland & Stewart collection of her work)
(photo of author and title page for the above book)
Marjorie (Lowry Christie) Pickthall 1883-1922 was born in Gunnersbury, U.K. and died young in Vancouver at 38 from an embolism 12 days after surgery. She was a novelist, poet, and librarian. Best known for her poem “Pere Lalament”, Pickthall had the distinction of being the most popular poet of her brief time. Her poems were still included in school textbooks as late as the 1960s, but disappeared after that. No other popular Canadian poet, except possibly Bliss Carman, has experienced such a similar huge decline in reader interest and reputation.