CanLitBooks

((photo of Service from Canadian Singers and Their Songs, McClelland & Stewart, 1919)

(“My Madonna” handwritten poem, 1918, from above book)

(rare signed book with buckskin-fringed cover, 1st ed. Ballads of a Cheechako, Briggs, 1909, purchased from Landahl’s Emporium Books & Stationers, Dawson, Yukon)

(rare signed copy of above book)

(4 L.P.s of Service poems; he is the first Canadian writer to have had his work recorded muchly; left to right, top to bottom: The Poetry of Robert W. Service read by Ed Begley, Caedmon; Pierre Berton Reads Robert Service–Dawson author reads another Dawsonian’s work, Arc–Berton also wrote and narrated the N.F.B.’s documentary “City of Gold”; The Spell of the Yukon read by J. Frank Willis, Ringside, 1962; Robert Service Recites, Golden Nugget, 1967. Also recommended listening: Not pictured here–Tales of the Yukon–by Hank Snow, Camden, 1974; CD–Robert Service: His Own Voice, Prince George Oral History Group, 2000)

Scottish-born Robert (William) Service (1874-1958) worked as a bank clerk in Dawson and Whitehorse from 1904-1912. His first book, Songs of a Sourdough was published in 1907 and his Rhymes of a Red Cross Man (1916) was one of the most popular books in WWI. He married a French girl in 1913 and ended up living wealthily in Paris, Brittany, and on the Riviera. His poetry books still sell today; he was the first Canadian poet to be able to make a living strictly on the basis of his poems. For many decades in the twentieth century, he remained Canada’s best-known and most popular poet. His rhyming narrative verse such as “The Shooting of Dan McGrew” and “The Cremation of Sam McGee” significantly contributed to the creation of a romantic aura about the Gold Rush and the Canadian North. Many a Canadian student has memorized and recited one of these two famous poems.

Recommended reading: The Best of Robert Service–poems with vintage photos, Running Press, 1983; best bio to date: Robert Service Under the Spell of the Yukon, Heritage House, 2006; best kid book adaptations of Service classics by artist Ted Harrison–The Cremation of Sam McGee and The Shooting of Dan McGrew, Kids Can Press, 1986 & 1988.

(Cover of 1919 Briggs book brought out after the war and after McCrae died; includes 29 more poems and a long reminiscence by Sir Andrew Macphail)

(Photo of Lieut.-Colonel McCrae in Briggs ed. and a Canada stamp about him and his famous poem; the Canadian government also used the poem’s opening lines on the back of its $10 bill)

(the famous error, in McCrae’s own  handwritten transcription of the poem for a friend–he wrote “grow” instead of the original “blow” in first line; from Canadian Singers and Their Songs, McClelland & Stewart, 1919)

(Photo  of McCrae with pet dog Bonneau taken in Flanders and mailed to a friend in Dundas; from Briggs book)

I guess if one is to be a one-hit wonder, it doesn’t get much better than John McCrae and his permanently remembered, quoted, and sung poem “In Flanders Fields). This is, world-wide, the most famous war poem of all time.

Born in Guelph, McCrae (1872-1918) was a lecturer at McGill as well as a distinguished Montreal surgeon who served in the South African/Boer War and died in France of double pneumonia with massive cerebral infection during WWI. He is buried in Wimereux, France. The poem was first published anonymously in a 1915 Punch magazine.

Recommended reading and viewing: In Flanders Fields: The Story of the Poem by John McCrae, Letser, 1995, and the 75th Remembrance Day Collection DVD, Koch/NFB, 2006, which includes the documentary “John McCrae’s War: In Flanders Fields”.

(Musson, 1912, 1st ed. with later dj)

(frontispiece photo in above book signed 3 mos. before she died with rare pen corrections by Johnson)

(Forsyth, 1912, 2nd ed., leather cover)

(inscription inside by author)

(scarce first day issue envelope)

(rare Arc LP–read by Hannah Polowy & Mitch Sago)

(the memorial cairn today in Vancouver’s Stanley Park near Ferguson Point)

(Emily) Pauline Johnson (1862-1913), a.k.a. ‘Tekahionwake’, was the daughter of a Mohawk chief and an English mother. She was born on the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford. Johnson recited her picturesque, musical, sentimental, and then-popular poetry (her best-known poem was “The Song My Paddle Sings”) while wearing native dress during her successful inter/national reading tours which continued until 1909.

Then she settled in Vancouver, writing Legends of Vancouver (1911) there. Her collected poems were published in Flint and Feather in 1912, about a year before her death.  Although she was the first major female Canadian writer of the 20th century, her reputation diminished steadily after WWII and as early as 1966, the influential landmark Klinck & Watters Canadian Anthology did not see fit to include her any of her work; today her poetry has been largely forgotten.  A good introduction to her life, work, and legend can be found in Flint & Feather, a biography by Charlotte Gray.

(special ltd. ed. by Grosset & Dunlap of 1899 book, artist: Louis Rhead)

(special ltd. ed. by Grosset & Dunlap of 1901 book)

(Doran 1907 1st ed., uncredited artist)

(1929? McClellan & Stewart ed. of 1902 book, uncredited artist)

(1931 McClelland & Stewart, uncredited artist)

(Charles William Gordon’s and his pen-name Ralph Connor signatures in above book)

Reverend Charles William Gordon (‘Ralph Connor’) (1860-1937) was born in Glengarry County, Ontario, then moved west. He was an ordained missionary in Banff, a Presbyterian pastor in Winnipeg, and a chaplain-major during WWI. His house at 54 West Gate, Winnipeg is a designated Manitoba Historic Site. Almost totally forgotten now, he was a very popular writer in his day.

(above: left to right, top to bottom–the only Classics Illustrateds featuring a Canadian writer–covers both by Leonard B. Cole, September 1959 & July 1960; Wild Animals I Have Known, Morang–1898 (3rd impression), title page, Seton illustration of young Raggylug attacked by a snake–caption: “Mammy, Mammy!” he screamed, in mortal terror.”; inscription with trademark pawprint by Seton in Scribner’s 1900 edition (3rd impression) of The Trail of the Sandhill Stag, in same–frontispiece illustration by Seton; cover of Lives of the Hunted –Scribner’s 1901–1st ed.)

N.B., Ernest Seton-Thompson (name he used in his early books) officially changed his name to Ernest Thompson Seton in 1901. English-born Seton (1860-1946) was Canada’s first significant naturalist and woodlorist. His initial 1892-1896 naturalist work was done for the Government of Manitoba in the Carberry area, something reflected in all three books mentioned above.

Before these aforementioned titles, he wrote an 1891 book on Manitoba birds, following this book up with books on Manitoba mammals in 1909 and 1925-1928. He was chief of the Boy Scouts from 1910-1915, and eventually relocated in New Mexico. As shown above, Seton capably and profusely illustrated his own books with sketches, drawings, and paintings. In 1894, during his last wolf hunt, he had an epiphany about the cruelty of hunting animals and began a long process to becoming a renowned conservationist and environmentalist. This major turning point in his life is captured memorably in The Trail of the Sandhill Stag.

Seton’s work and the animal stories of Charles G.D. Roberts and Farley Mowat reflect a long historical Canadian interest in Nature and wildlife. His interesting, eventful life has been visually well-documented In the recent Ernest Thompson Seton: The Life and Legacy of an Artist and Conservationist by David L. Witt, Gibbs Smith, 2010. This is definitely the go-to book for more info on Seton.

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.

(Among the Millet J.Durie & Son, 1888, incredibly rare signed Christmas inscription inside; photo-frontispiece in Poems Morang, 1900, autographed facsimile poem in same; rare copy of Happiness Ryerson, Christmas 1925; At the Long Sault Ryerson, 1943–cover design by Thoreau MacDonald; Morning on the Lievre N.F.B. VHS

Morpeth, Ontario-born Archibald Lampman (1861-1899) was the top 19th century nature poet writing in Canada. He spent his days off from the Post Office Department in Ottawa canoeing and writing which led to his first and best book Among the Millet (1888). Lampman’s reputation owes a lot to his literary executor-friend D.C. Scott who saw to the publication of his collected Poems in 1900 after his death and who much later published a further, unexpected volume At the Long Sault and Other Poems 43 years later, during WWII.

Lampman was the first early Canadian poet to truly resonate with/for me (in grade 12, 1967) with sonnets like “A January Morning”. One of my big CanLit collecting strikes was finding an incredibly rare copy of his first book inscribed to his close Ottawa artist-friend Charles E. Moss (c.f. above image). The N.F.B. 1961 feature Morning on the Lievre (available for purchase) featuring a few of Lampman’s poems about his canoe trips is highly recommended.

I still regard Lampman as one of our best-ever nature poets and used three of his best–“Midnight”, “At the Long Sault”, and “A January Morning” in my textbooks. His is one of the rarest CanLit signatures and I consider myself lucky and proud to have his (see above).

(signed card poem & envelope by Carman; cover of Low Tide on Grand Pre –by Bliss Carman & Richard Hovey, Lamson Wolffe, 3rd. ed. 1895; Songs from Vagabondia, Elkin Mathews, 2nd. ed. 1895–scarce 750 copies, endpapers poem by Carman; autograph poem from Canadian Singers and Their Songs, McClelland & Stewart, 1919; Later Poems McClelland & Stewart, 1921, frontispiece photo of Carman as long-haired, popular aesthete of the day)

Fredericton-born (William) Bliss Carman (1861-1929) was a cousin of Charles G.D. Roberts and was a popular poet, essayist, and poetry lecturer in his day. He was well-known for his musical, mystical poetry and his collaborations with American Richard Hovey on the Songs of Vagabondia series (1894-1912). His best-known poem “Low Tide on Grand Pre” is also the title of his first book (1893). During the 1950s and ’60s in schools, his poems were more common in textbooks than any other Canadian poet and his name was much better known than it is today.

(top to bottom, left to right: cover of rare Orion and Other Poems, 1880–generally considered to be the first significant collection of 19th century Canadian poetry, inscription inside; 1903 author-as-aesthete photo-frontispiece, Poems New Complete Edition: 1907, an inscribed poem inside same; wartime photo of author and signed handwritten poem from Canadian Singers and Their Songs, McClelland & Stewart, 1919; title page  of scarce The Iceberg and Other Poems, Ryerson, 1934, illustrated by J.E.H. MacDonald’s son Thoreau)

The only Canadian writer ever knighted (1935) served as a captain in the English army during World War I. Roberts (1860-1943) was born in the Frederiction area of New Brunswick. His first book, published when he only 20, was Orion and Other Poems which influenced the other Confederation poets Carman, D.C. Scott, and Lampman. Around 1900, he turned to writing successful and popular animal fiction such as Red Fox. *N.B., For collectors, it is these books which have the first and his most interesting-looking Roberts dust jackets per se.

Inscription in 2nd picture reads: Life is good and love is eager/In the playground of the sun.”

Highly recommended reading–a comprehensive overview with numerous photos: Sir Charles G.D. Roberts: A Biography by E.M. Pomeroy, Ryerson, 1943. “The Skater” is my favorite Roberts’ poem and I used it in one of my textbooks; it is the best ice-skating poem of all time.

(left to right/top to bottom:  The Drummond Story–rare LP; Dr. W.H. Drummond’s Complete Poems; McClelland & Stewart, 1926, dust jacket by Thoreau MacDonald; photo of author from Canadian Singers and Their Songs, McClelland & Stewart, 1919; ltd. ed. page of The Habitant and Other Poems signed by Drummond, 1897; color paste-on cover for The Canadian Lake Region: Musson, 1910; photo of Campbell from Canadian Singers and Their Songs ; 1919, rare inscription by author in Canadian Lake Region)

William Henry Drummond (1854-1907) was Irish-born, but settled in Montreal as a physician-writer. He is remembered for his French-Canadian-accented Habitant poems written in English, which today would likely be considered politically incorrect by some Quebecers. Popular poems of his time included “Little Bateese” and “The Wreck of the ‘Julie Plante'”. An interesting, rare LP of olde is Harvey Plaunt Narrates the Drummond Story.

Wilfred W. Campbell (1858-1918) was an Ontario minister-nature poet of the Upper Lake region. His best known poem is “How One Winter Came in the Lake Region”.