William Arthur Deacon

The Four Jameses by William Arthur Deacon, 1953, The Ryerson Press

The four Jameses

This edition of The Four Jameses by William Arthur Deacon was published by The Ryerson Press in 1953. These wise and witty portraits are a satirical look at four poets of the 19^th and early 20^th centuries – James Gay, James McIntyre, James MacRae and James Gillis— often referred to as the “cheese poets”, they may be among the worst poets ever to be published.

 

 

 

 

 

 

James Gay: Self-proclaimed Poet Laureate of Canada, and Master of All Poets,

What is a man, poor sinful man, or any of his race,

Without a greater power to keep him in his place?

We are nothing of ourselves, here we cannot stay;

Then read the noble writing of the Poet James Gay

 

James McIntyre: The Cheese Poet

From Ode to the Mammoth Cheese

We have seen thee, queen of cheese,

Lying quietly at your ease,

Gently fanned by evening breeze,

The fair form no flies dare seize.

 

All gaily dressed soon you’ll go

To the great Provincial show,

To be admired by many a beau

In the city of Toronto.

Note: A plaque commemorating “The big cheese 1866” has been erected by the Ontario Archaeological and Historical Sites Board at the intersection of Hwys 19 and 401, just outside Ingersoll, Ontario.

 

James D. Gillis: A Man of Parts

Bonny Birdie

A maid who dwells on yonder hill

Is certain cure for all my ills

And sure, I never loved until

I met my charming Birdie

 

Her toilet’s in the height of taste

Despite domestic cares and haste;

And O to span the artless waist—

The tempting waist of Birdie.

 

 

James MacRae: The Man from Glengarry

On women’s clothing in 1877…

How oft does lay the secret way

In which the game is played:–

A shapeless mass, by name a lass,

Is artfully arrayed,

Is neatly bound with metal round

And trimmings wisely made,

And padded o’er with worthless store

To cover unbetrayed

The sad defects, which one detects

When nature is displayed.

 

William Arthur Deacon’s Pens and Pirates, 1923, The Ryerson Press

Perhaps a far more interesting work by Deacon is his 1923 publication, Pens and Pirates. This is a compilation of articles, treatments and musings on a variety of subjects and personalities. Deacon goes to great lengths to explain his humour. This 1923 edition is clothbound with goldleaf stamping. It is a publisher’s edition as many pages are untrimmed. The elaborate endpapers feature an illustration by F.H. Varley. Deacon writes his own review of Pens and Pirates, entitled: He Took His Pen In Hand, A Review of Pens and Pirates by The Author: 

“Having read little, and thought less, Mr. Deacon’s sole equipment for writing seems to have been the possession of a pen and a limited quantity of paper. That he had only a small number of sheets at his command may be inferred from the obvious fact that there has been no revision of the first drafts of his manuscripts. It is unthinkable that any sane man, given the opportunity to correct misstatements and to delete absurdities, would not have done so.”

He goes on to say, “Frankly, I do not know who to pity more, the publisher or the public. The book-buyer has no opportunity of examining his purchase until he has paid his money and taken it home, while the publisher doubtless employs a reader and should have known better than to enter upon such a venture….What I would advise each reader of this review to do is to buy a copy of the book, take it home and put it in the furnace, unread. In this way the first edition will be exhausted and I have ascertained that the publisher may be relied upon never to publish another. In no other way can you so effectively show your contempt for Mr. Deacon and his book, and in ridding the book-stores of the volume you will be performing a public-service of national importance.

Pens and Pirates endpaper illustration by F.H. Varley (the initials F.H.V. are visible below the skull and cross-bones on the chest)

Here a few extracts from Pens and Pirates:

The Dog ( Canus manhattanensis)

If I were going to be a dog in New York I would choose to be, not a high caste animal dressed up in coat and pants and muzzle, fettered by six feet of chain and the usages of good society, but rather an unknown mongrel, ill-mannered and unkempt, but free withal to explore every street and ash can in the city under the blessed guidance of a whimsical but perennial curiosity.

Local Color (A review of a W.J. Phillips Art Exhibition)

Here is part of his review: “I had to be dragged to see Mr. Phillip’s pictures. For I was subject to the great Canadian illusion that first-class painting started with Raphael and ended with G.F. Watts, or maybe Sir Joshua Reynolds; that this art was native to Italy, Holland and, in lesser degree, to France and England; that worth-while pictures could no more be painted on this side of the Atlantic than strawberries could be raised on the Arctic ice-packs. Do not our young men go to learn painting at Paris, while they learn medicine and surveying at Home? The sombre browns of the Dutch school, the protuberant stomachs of the Botticelli women, the winged cherubs flying about in the clouds – all these were foreign relics, musty and meaningless. There was something repelling, also, in the building itself. That huge, gaudy, bottom layer of a wedding cake, might fittingly house some things, but not Beauty – never that.

Then I stood before the pictures, and the prejudices vanished. I was standing on the shore of a Canadian lake, at my feet sand and pebbles, and then the water started, and stretched away, mile after mile, to the far shore. It was very still and quite hot. There was not a bird nor a cloud to be seen; the tall, rank grass beside me was motionless. It was about noon. I suppose I had unconsciously checked the time by the shadows, though I was not interested in anything but the blessed sight of that far shore. Often had I come out on lakes like that and found bodily rest in a long, steady look across quiet water. Smoothwater and Lake Sydney have the same unbroken shoreline opposite. Neither has any outlet to the west. My eye travelled north along the purple line – the old woodsman’s habit – looking for a portage. I saw a piece of yellow wood. It was the frame of the picture and I was back in the Industrial Bureau looking at Mr. Phillips’ Art Exhibition. There was a hum of talk, and I glanced back. There was no canoe, no packs, no partner pulling on his disreputable pipe – only some city people chattering about pictures. But, when I looked back at the wall, prepared to find a vanished lake, lo! there it was, stretching mile after mile, with a slight haze over it. And I could smell the water.”

William Arthur Deacon

William Arthur Deacon (1890-1977) was a Canadian literary critic and editor. Deacon was born in Pembroke, Ontario. He studied law in Winnipeg but eventually became a book review editor. He worked for the Manitoba Free Press, Saturday Night, the Toronto Mail and Empire, later the Globe and Mail. His original publication of The Four Jameses was published in 1927 by Graphic. The Four Jameses was revised in 1953 and published by The Ryerson Press.

Note: Walter Joseph Phillips (1884 – 1963) was an English-born Canadian painter and printmaker. He is credited with popularizing the colour woodcut in Canada.

 

 

 

The Anne Series

 

Anne of the Island, Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Chronicles of Avonlea, The Story Girl, First Canadian Editions, 1942-43

The First Canadian Editions of the Anne series were published in 1942, the year Lucy Maud Montgomery died in Toronto, just as they were coming off the presses of The Ryerson Press.

Anne of Green Gables, 1942, The Ryerson Press

Mark Twain described Anne of Green Gables as “The sweetest creation of child life yet written”. That was in 1908. By the time the First Canadian Edition was published, Anne of Green Gables had sold over 760 000 copies. It has gone on to sell millions and has been made available in over 38 countries around the globe. The Anne series has been the subject of television adaptations, radio plays, stage plays as well as film and television movies.

She wrote of her Grandparent’s farm in Cavendish, P.E.I. that it was “twelve miles from a railway station, 24 miles from the nearest town, and half a mile from the sea.” It is here that she is buried, not far from where her stories take place.

Chronicles of Avonlea, 1943, The Ryerson Press

The Chronicles of Avonlea, 1943, The Ryerson Press, “consists of stories of Avonlea and the surrounding district – Grafton, Spencerville, Carmody, White Sands, and the beautiful countryside, with which readers of the Anne books are already familiar. This is as delightful as the other books, being packed with heart-warming incidents and amusing situations which arise out of the characters of the different people. The author’s sound psychology and understanding of human nature enable her to portray them convincingly. Over 101 000 copies have been sold to date.” The house where Lucy Maud Montgomery lived with her Grandmother in Cavendish P.E.I. is now a National Park and is visited by tourists from around the world.

Lucy Maud Montgomery, born in 1874, lived and taught school in Cavendish, P.E.I. She met and married Reverend Ewan MacDonald in 1911 and the couple moved to Leaskdale, Ontario and later Norval and then to Toronto, in 1935. She died in April, 1942. She is buried in Cavendish, P.E.I.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gordie Howe Number 9

Gordie Howe Number 9, 1968, The Ryerson Press

Gordie Howe Number 9, by renowned Globe and Mail Sportswriter Jim Vipond, was published in 1968 by The Ryerson Press. It remains a fitting tribute to a great hockey player and ambassador of the game Howe loved so much.

Written almost fifty years ago in his twenty-second year as  a professional hockey player, Howe, at the age of 40, had already racked up many awards and had accomplished what most professionals only dream of achieving in an entire career – six-time winner of the Hart Trophy for most valuable player, six-time winner of the Art Ross Trophy for leading scorer, named to the All-Star team nineteen times. Howe won the Stanley Cup with Detroit Red Wings four times.

 

Howe went on to play a total of 26 seasons with the Red Wings before retiring in 1971. Two years later Howe joined the Houston Aeros of World Hockey Association (WHA) and played a further 6 seasons alongside his sons Marty and Mark. He played one season with the Hartford Whalers before retiring from hockey in 1980 at the age of 52. His record of most games and most seasons played still stands.

Howe was named to the NHL All Star team twenty-three times in his career

The Epilogue to Gordie Howe Number 9 reads: “Now we come to the end of a story that has not ended. Our man has not retired, has no thought of retiring. He has said he will retire when the game is no longer fun to play. It is more realistic to suggest he will retire when he finds he can no longer skate with the younger men and can no longer prevent them from climbing all over him.

 That will be a sad day and Howe will be the first to recognize it. It could happen in the middle of a game. He will leave no chance for lingering doubt. His fans will remember him only as a great player. Never will they have the opportunity to become accustomed to saying. ’He’s over the hill. Why doesn’t he quit?’

His fans never did.

In 2008, Gordie Howe, known to many as Mr. Hockey, went on to win the inaugural NHL Lifetime Achievement Award for his long-time contributions to the game of hockey.

Gordie Howe died on June 10, 2016. He was 88.

Jim Vipond, 1916-1989, was a sports columnist for the Globe and Mail from 1938 to 1979 when he retired to become Ontario Athletics Commissioner. Jim Vipond was a member of the media section of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Jim Vipond died in 1989.

 

 

A Scar Is Born

 

A Scar is Born, 1968

A Scar is Born is Eric Nicol’s hilarious tale of his (mis)adventures in New York from August to October 1967.  The following is taken from the flap copy of A Scar is Born, published by The Ryerson Press in 1968:

“In 1966, a new comedy by Eric Nicol opened to sell-out houses and cheering audiences in Vancouver. Like Father, Like Fun then travelled to Toronto where, despite the slings and arrows of an outraged critic, it played to delighted thousands. Then on to Montreal.

Encouraged by its Canadian success, an optimistic entrepreneur decided to subject Nicol’s farce – complete with a new cast, new director and new title – to the bright lights of Broadway.

On the evening of Friday, October 6^th, 1967, at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, A Minor Adjustment had its official opening.

On the evening of Saturday, October 7, 1967, at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, A Minor Adjustment had its official closing. After three performances. “For the first time in my life, I envied the longevity of 48-hour ‘flu’, writes the author.

They are all here: the play doctors, whose diagnosis revealed that ‘the play could use a new ending, a new beginning – and possibly a new middle…the other parts are firm’; the director, who invited the author to stay away during rehearsals; the patrons of the Algonquin Hotel, who take bows coming out of the elevator; and the inevitable New York publicist named ‘Marty’.

Nicole views them all with the infectious good humour which has won him thousands of faithful fans across Canada, A Scar Is Born will win him thousands more.

 Eric Nicol was born in Kingston, Ontario in 1919. He received his B.A. from the University of British Columbia in 1941. After serving with the Air Force for three years, he returned to university to complete his M.A. He spent one year studying at the Sorbonne in Paris, then moved to London to write for radio and television. In 1951 he returned to Vancouver where he became a columnist for Vancouver’s The Province. Nicol published over 40 books, won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour three times and was appointed Member of the Order of Canada in 2000. Nicol died in 2011 at the age of 91.

Pearls and Pebbles

 

Pearls and Pebbles, Catherine Parr Traill, 1894, William Briggs

Pearls and Pebbles; Or Notes from an Old Naturalist by Catherine Parr Traill (1802-1899) was published by William Briggs in 1894. The publisher’s edition in The Ryerson Press collection is unique in that the production values remain in remarkable condition, considering the book is nearly 125 years old. The cover has a linen base with silver embossed type and an image depicting “the flowers rather than the thorns that had strewn her path”.

The cover image may have been created by Mary Agnes Chamberlain, an artist and niece of Catherine Parr Traill, and daughter of Susanna Moodie. She also illustrated Catherine Parr Traill’s Studies in Plant Life, 1885.

Pearls and Pebbles is a collection of diary excerpts, poems and depictions of flora and fauna in and around the towns and villages of Peterborough, Belleville, and Lakefield, Ontario during the 1800s. Small vignettes of life show a remarkable sensitivity to nature during a lifetime that must have been an arduous and difficult way of life in rural Ontario in the 1800s. There are numerous depictions from her diaries of simple events such as this story of nesting birds:

“Some two years ago a great event happened to a pair of my yellow birds, which ended in a serious disappointment. One warm May morning, as my daughter and I sat sewing on the veranda, a little passing puff of wind blew away some snips of the white material that we had been busy with and carried them among the grass just below the syringa bush, where the foundation of a nest had just been laid by the female bird. Her bright eyes quickly caught sight of the scraps of muslin, and down she came from her perch in the bush and carried off the prize to her nest, coming back and diligently picking up all the bits she could see. Noticing that she was so well pleased with this new building material, we added some more scraps and some tufts of cotton wool to the supply. Charmed with her good fortune, and grown bolder, the pretty creature ventured nearer to us and took all the scraps we chose to scatter for her on the grass.”

The work of building went on so rapidly that in the course of two hours she had constructed a most delicate and dainty looking snow-white nest, and the pair took possession of this novel-looking house with festal song. But ah me! their joy was destined to be of but short duration.

“The best laid schemes o’ mice and men
Gang aft a-gley,”

and in the present case so it proved with our pair of little architects.

Catherine Parr Traill, circa 1886

A heavy thunder-shower came on at noon of the next day. I leave my readers to imagine the result. The fairy-like palace, like all castles in the air, had collapsed, and, “like the baseless fabric of a vision, left but a wreck behind.” However, our brave little birdie cried, “Never say die!” and set to work once more, made wiser by experience, building a more substantial nest in a lilac bush close by; but with a feminine weakness for finery she paid many visits to the frail ruin, selecting such of the more substantial materials among the rags as she found likely to prove useful in binding the walls of the new nest together, but not sufficient to weaken the more suitable articles which she wisely adopted for her work.

The new nest was an excellent specimen of skill, and the bits so judiciously woven in this time proved highly ornamental. I fancied the little builder felt proud of her work when it was finished, and we gave it unqualified praise.

The ruined tenement excited the admiration of a cat-bird. She also had a taste for pretty soft bits of muslin and gay scraps of colored prints; so her ladyship set to work very diligently to repair the now dilapidated nest with the addition of dried fibrous roots, and grass, moss and all sorts of trash, which, with the rags, were, soon wrought up into a substantial nest which formed the receptacle for five bluish-green eggs. But misfortune seemed to cling to the coveted nest, for an accident, which might have ended fatally to the cat-bird, befel her one day. When about to leave the nest her legs became entangled in some loose strings which she had woven among the other materials, and, unable to free herself, she fell down head foremost into the midst of a rosebush, very stout and spiny, out of which she could not extricate herself, but lay fluttering and uttering the most doleful cries, more like the yells of an enraged cat than a bird.

The unusual outcry brought me to the rescue, and at my near approach she ceased her cries, and I truly believe the poor captive looked to me for help. I quickly perceived the cause of her disquiet, and with my scissors soon set her free. With a joyful cry she flew away, and, what seemed to me a remarkable proof of sagacity in the bird, she forsook the nest, never again venturing back to it, though it contained the five blue eggs. She evidently felt it better to forsake them unhatched than run any risk of danger to herself or her little brood. This, at any rate, was my own conclusion on the subject, though it may not have been that of the cat-bird.

While sitting on the eggs, and while the young ones are yet unfledged and helpless, the mother-bird becomes bold and excitable. If anyone approaches too near to her nursery, she flies round the nest with outspread wings uttering strange angry cries, as if resenting the impertinent attempt to pry into her family affairs, and should the intruder venture closer she would no doubt punish him with strokes of her bill and wings.

The cat-bird belongs to the same family as the southern mocking-bird, and by many persons has been known by the name of “False Mocking-bird.”

It is a common idea that the note of the cat-bird is most discordant, like the mewing of an angry cat; but this is, I think, a mistake. The true song of the cat-bird is rich, full and melodious, more like that of the English thrush. In point of fact, this bird is the best songster among the summer visitants in Canada.

I have fully satisfied myself that the harsh, wild squalling cry attributed to the parent birds is that of the young birds when the mother has forsaken them, leaving them to shift for themselves, and, like weaned children, the call is for food and companionship. This is my own observation from watching the birds.

The following is a list of the many publications of Catherine Parr Traill.

• The Tell Tale – 1818
• Disobedience – 1819
• Reformation – 1819
• Nursery Fables – 1821
• Little Downy – 1822
• The Flower-Basket – 1825
• Prejudice Reproved – 1826
• The Young Emigrants – 1826
• The Juvenile Forget-Me-Not – 1827
• The Keepsake Guineas – 1828
• Amendment – 1828
• Sketches from Nature – 1830
• Sketch Book of a Young Naturalist – 1831
• Narratives of Nature – 1831
• The Backwoods of Canada – 1836
• Canadian Crusoes – 1852
• The Female Emigrant’s Guide – 1854
• Lady Mary and Her Nurse – 1856
• Canadian Wild Flowers – 1868
• Studies of Plant Life in Canada, or, Gleanings from Forest, Lake and Plain – 1885
• Pearls and Pebbles – 1894
• Cot and Cradle Stories – 1895

Westove, 1862

 

Westove, 2017

After the death of her husband, Thomas, in 1859 Catherine Parr Traill purchased a cottage in 1862 with funds from her publications and named it Westove, after her husband’s old home in the Orkneys and after their first home in the bush on the shores of the Otonabee River, near Peterborough, Ontario. The house still stands on Smith Street in Lakefield, Ontario. An historical plaque marks the location.

 

Polly Cow’s Island

Another entry tells the story of how Catherine Parr Traill received a patent for Polly Cow’s Island in the Otonabee River:

“In 1893, hearing of the likelihood of the sale of the little island in Stony Lake where a poor Indian girl was buried, Mrs. Traill wrote to the Department at Ottawa to ask that it should be granted to her. It was not but a tiny island, and her anxiety to preserve the Indian girl’s grave from desecration induced her to take this step. Mr. Sandford Fleming kindly interested himself in her behalf, and the request was granted.“

The downtown campus of Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario is named after Catherine Parr Traill. Catharine Parr Traill College is the University’s main college for graduate studies. This remarkable author and naturalist, died in 1899 at Lakefield, Ontario.

Westover, today, is a private residence. A plaque commemorating the life and legacy of Catherine Parr Traill sits on the property.

 

 

Artist At War

 

Artist At War, The Ryerson Press, 1956

Charles Comfort (1900-1994) was one of Canada’s outstanding artists. He was Vice President of the Royal Canadian Academy and a former President of The Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour. Comfort was also a member of The Ontario Society of Artists, the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto and he was a founding member of the Federation of the Canadian Artists. In 1936, Charles Comfort obtained a studio next to A.Y.Jackson in the Studio Building, a location made famous by Tom Thompson and members of the Group of Seven. In 1937, Comfort was commissioned to design the exterior frieze of the Toronto Stock Exchange building and several of Comfort’s murals hang in what is now The Design Exchange building. Comfort was appointed Associate Professor at the University of Toronto to teach historical painting techniques and he remained there for 25 years. Comfort served as an official war artist in World War II. Artist At War reflects his response to what he witnessed overseas during the Italian Campaign of 1943-1944.

Comfort is represented in the National Gallery of Canada and in most of the principal art galleries in Canada. In the 1950s, Comfort was commissioned to paint a mural for the interior of the new Banff National Park railway car, one of 18 artists selected by Canadian Pacific Railway to create murals for their new Canadian Transcontinental Railway Service.

In the introduction of Artist At War, Comfort writes: “This is an account of my personal experiences during an episode of the Second World War. I have undertaken to write these rambling, discontinuous impressions because I was profoundly stirred by all that I saw and felt…

“I was not a combat soldier, although I had been trained as such, but a war artist, assigned the task of producing some visual record of the part played by officers and men of the 1^st Canadian Infantry Division during the Italian campaign of 1943-1944, an appointment which offered me opportunities for observation, not only of many of the actions, but of many interesting phases of life in Italy at the time.”

With these words, Charles Comfort set out the tone of his tour of duty as War Artist during World War II. The illustrations in Artist At War depict Comfort’s response to war. Included in the list of illustrations of this publication are the following paintings and drawings by Charles Comfort.

The Hitler Line

Canadian Troops aboard Transport Volendam, S.S. California on left Philippeville, North Africa. Cape de Fer and Stora Bay , in background

American L.C.I. Transporting Canadian Troops from Philippeville, Algeria, to Taranto, Italy. Mount Etna, Sicily, in background

“Stand Easy” Following Crash Action

Canadian Field Guns near Orton

Piazza Plebiscito, Ortona

Piazza San Francisco di Assisi. Wrecked Church of Santa Maria Della Grazie, Ortona

Battle Scene –(Fantasy)—Villa Grande Road

Rocca San Giovanni, looking north

Aquino, Italy, Route 6 at Cassino

Destroyed Panzertrum on the Adolf Hitler Line

Artist At War, was published by The Ryerson Press in 1956. “I am proud to have served with so gallant and unforgettable a company, to have been eyewitness to their fine achievement, their suffering and their brave sacrifice in the cause of liberty,” he writes. “With respect and gratitude, I pay my small tribute to those who did not return, as well as to those who survived.”

His painting, The Hitler Line, hangs in the Canadian War Museum. Charles Comfort was director of the National Gallery of Canada from 1960-1965 and was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada in 1972.

 

 

 

 

Turf Smoke and Riel

Turf Smoke by John Coulter, 1945.

Turf Smoke, 1945, is the only novel written by John Coulter. Coulter was born in Ireland in 1888 and moved to Canada in 1936. Coulter is best known for his playwriting and as a radio broadcaster for both the BBC and the CBC. Also included in the Ryerson Archive is John Coulter’s The Blossoming Thorn, 1946, a book of verse; Churchill, 1944, a biography of the British Prime Minister; and Riel, an epic Canadian play in two parts and thirty scenes. John Coulter died in 1980. His papers are held at McMaster University.

The dust cover design, interior sketches and layout of Turf Smoke are by A.J. Casson. The copy in the Ryerson Archive is signed by the author.

The following excerpt is taken from the jacket flap copy of Turf Smoke: “John Coulter is one of Canada’s best-known and best-loved writers. As a poet, a prize-winning playwright and a radio personality he is widely acclaimed. He came out of Ireland some years ago, and has so closely identified himself with the life of Canada that he is already one of our best spokesmen and interpreters.”

Riel by John Coulter, 1962

The premiere of the epic play Riel was performed in Toronto in 1950 by The New Play Society and was directed by Donald Harron, with Mavor Moore playing the part of Riel. It had a successful stage revival at Regina in 1960. It has been broadcast by the CBC and, in 1961, a two-part CBC adaptation was directed by George McCowan, with Bruno Gerussi taking the part of Riel.

From the back flap copy: Mr. Coulter feels Riel to be “the most theatrical character in Canadian history, and probably in American history as well. He rides the political conscience of the nation after nearly three-quarters of a century, and is manifestly on his way to becoming the tragic hero at the heart of the Canadian myth”.

 

 

A Place of Honour

Ryerson Press logo designed by Thoreau MacDonald

The Ryerson Collection will soon be relocated to a final place of honour.

When the McGraw-Hill Book Company of Canada bought The Ryerson Press in December of 1969, a collection of Ryerson Press publications was set aside and moved from the Wesley Building, 299 Queen Street West, to McGraw-Hill’s premises in Scarborough.

The Executive of McGraw-Hill at the time – John Macmillan, William Darnell, Barbara Byam, Rachel Mansfield chief among them , recognized the intrinsic value of the 3000 or so titles that came to McGraw-Hill during the move.

While the publishing community at large was appalled at the sale of The House to McGraw-Hill, both the staff and the executive of McGraw-Hill knew that they were not about to squander the legacy that came with the venerable company they had just bought. In fact, the first thing McGraw-Hill did was to adopt the Ryerson name to become McGraw-Hill Ryerson. This name change was in deference to the 141-year history of not only the name of Egerton Ryerson and all he had accomplished, but to the many men and women who worked for The Ryerson Press and who were now making the move to McGraw-Hill.

McGraw-Hill Ryerson, traditionally an educational publisher, adopted the entire Ryerson Education Department which had recently been created by The Ryerson Press to service the needs of teachers and educators across Canada. McGraw-Hill also created a Trade Book arm which allowed them to continue to showcase The Ryerson Press trade titles and to continue to support the contracts of the many Ryerson Press authors they assumed.

Another way McGraw-Hill Ryerson acknowledged the legacy of The Ryerson Press was to commission a set of 14 teak and veneer, glass-encased bookcases. These bookcases immediately held prominence, adorning either side of the Executive Suite for decades at the 330 Progress Avenue location. These attractive bookcases with their display of rare and distinguished titles dating as far back 1862, from many of the country’s prominent authors, writers and thinkers of the 19^th and 20^th century, added a sense of history to the Ryerson Collection. It gave these titles the respect and the distinction they deserved.

The Ryerson Collection has made the move several times since 1970 with great care taken to maintain the integrity of the craftsmanship of the cabinets and their valuable contents. And it will soon be relocated to another place of honour.

It is hoped that the Ryerson Collection will once again take its place in the annals of Canadian Literary history, eloquently displayed for all to see and enjoy.

 

 

 

Ryerson of Upper Canada

Ryerson of Upper Canada by Clara Thomas, 1969

Ryerson of Upper Canada, by Clara Thomas, was published in 1969. It was one of the last publications printed and bound by the The Ryerson Press before the company was sold to McGraw-Hill in 1970. It remains a fitting tribute to the man who started the publishing entity that bore his name for over 140 years.

Dr. Thomas, 1919-2013, was Professor of English at York University from 1961 until her retirement in 1984. She began her teaching career at Glendon College and moved to the Keele Street campus in 1966. Clara Thomas was a firm supporter of CanLit. In fact, The Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections are named in her honour. Her efforts were also instrumental in securing the papers and letters of Margaret Laurence at York. Not only a distinguished author, Dr. Thomas was also a Fellow of the Royal Society and received honorary Degrees from York, Trent and Brock Universities. Clara Thomas also wrote Canadian Novelists, 1920-45, and Margaret Laurence, a biographical and critical monograph.

Ryerson of Upper Canada, edited by Frank Flemington, is a well-researched account of the early life of Egerton Ryerson as itinerant saddle-bag preacher, editor of the Christian Guardian, adversary of Bishop John Strachan and the British Establishment of the day and eventually Supervisor of Education for Upper Canada in 1844.

This biography depicts a time of great change and upheaval in the land — a time that was ripe for a person with great leadership qualities, strength of conviction, and the ability to adapt to the demands of a growing population, despite dissenting voices.

Ryerson was a preacher, teacher and a politician. He did not turn away from controversy. Everything he set out to accomplish was performed with the greater good of the population in mind. He came to know these people as a young preacher in the Yonge Street and York connexion. His editorials in the Christian Guardian established him, in the eyes of his Methodist brethren, as the one person who could stand up to the established Anglican bishop, John Strachan, for example, and argue for freedom of religious expression.

Ryerson’s many trips to England and Europe in the mid 1800s to study and report on the various educational models employed there prepared him for reform of the education system in Upper Canada. The passing of the School Bills in 1846 and 1871 allowed for the establishment of twenty-one School Districts as well as proper teacher training facilities and defined responsibilities for both student and teacher alike. Ryerson’s design for the one-room schoolhouse was adopted and became the model for Upper Canada and ;after the entire Province of Ontario. In his message to the people of these School Districts, Ryerson said: “It becomes us especially to leave to those who are growing up around us, and those who succeed us, the legacy — the priceless legacy of institutions and means of education suitable to the wants, competition and progress of their age and Country.” 

The principles of education Ryerson espoused in 1846 have lasted for over 150 years.

Sadly, while Ryerson espoused free and compulsory education, this did not extend to the aboriginal peoples of Canada. This led ultimately to the establishment of the Residential School System in this country with devastating results that are still felt to this day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ryerson Collection

 

The Ryerson Collection in the Whitby offices of McGraw-Hill Education Canada

 

How very strange it is to think that a collection of publications from some 150 years ago could be so intriguing.

Out of the public view for decades with only the occasional remark by a few inquisitive people — those who happen to be invited into the Library for a meeting, or who happen to be passing through the halls and are drawn to the elegant display, wondering where these books came from or even why they are in this location in the first place. Too bad that more of the history of this fine collection is not known more widely.

The 3000 titles shown here date as far back as 1862 and represent a slice of Canadian publishing history. Individually, many of these books are available in digital form on-line. This came as somewhat of a surprise to me when I first  began looking them up. If you thought about actually going about creating a physical collection of even a small portion of the Ryerson Press output over their 150-year history, it would take a lifetime. Just ask one of the many rare book collectors who make it their business to deal in such antiquity. And there are some real gems here.

And here it is. If you browse through the shelves one by one, you easily come across titles that are not only beautifully printed and bound, many in their original first edition jackets, but you quickly realize that each one represents its own place in the evolution of publishing in Canada.