History of the Book in Canada: Voume Three: 1918–1980 (review)

National histories of the book have proliferated in recent years, contributing to our knowledge of authorship, publishing, and reading across time and space. In Australia (where this review is being written) two volumes of a planned three-volume national history of the book have appeared. For many scholars, such volumes (the first of their kind) will serve as a useful but temporary summary before they look elsewhere to augment the knowledge they have attained. Increasingly, scholars are looking beyond their national borders to consider the transnational nature of book history by comparing the publishing conditions of nations, examining the export of national literature, and mapping the worldwide movement of authors. This third volume of History of the Book in Canada will undoubtedly contribute to knowledge of the economic and cultural conditions of book production and distribution within Canadian borders, but I believe it will also make a significant contribution to the emerging interest in transnational histories of the book.

Covering most of the decades of the twentieth century, History of the Book in Canada explores conditions of authorship, publishing, and reading common to other countries, but also isolates the geographical and cultural conditions unique to the Canadian situation. Divided into seven distinct parts, the book opens with a series of essays that investigate the nationalist cohesion and linguistic separation influenced by book production and distribution in a bilingual nation. This leads to more than a dozen examinations of authorship in linguistic, cultural, and economic contexts. An examination of publishing by region, language, and age group follows, concluding with a description of publishing opportunities provided by magazines and newspapers. Publication for distinct readerships is examined in a series of essays that illuminate the publishing conditions found within religious groups, Aboriginal communities, scholarly communities, feminist and radical or alternative groups. The methods of production and distribution are also investigated, revealing the world of Canadian book production and the conditions faced by booksellers who frequently relied on international sources of supply. The volume concludes with a section on the place of libraries in Canadian culture and an investigation of the reading habits of Canadians that covers the evolution of literacy, the consumption of popular literature, varieties of censorship, and several distinct communities of readers.

For someone immersed in investigations of a national literature and book history that has similarities to that described in this collection of essays, the volume offers much evidence for comparison and many suggestions for future study. Because it is far too rich to describe in any detail within the space of this short review, I can only recommend History of the Book in Canada to anyone investigating the history of books within the contexts of nation, language, gender, race, publishing, sales, distribution, and reading. The volume offers interesting and well-written case studies across these and a range of other contexts. Some case studies are disappointingly short, but they are well supplemented by an invaluable list of secondary sources. The History of the Book in Canada offers more than knowledge of one nation’s book history. It provides the influence and hard evidence to reassess other national histories and the encouragement to look beyond national boundaries to a transnational history of books.