01 July 2013

A 123-Year-Old Prayer for Dominion Day


Dominion Day, Vancouver, 1890
From Lays of the 'True North' and Other Canadian Poems
Agnes Maule Machar
London: Elliot Stock/Toronto: Copp, Clark, 1902

26 June 2013

To the Big House... or not



The Little Yellow House
Jessie McEwen
Toronto: Ryerson, 1953
249 pages

This review now appears, revised and rewritten, in my new book:
The Dusty Bookcase:
A Journey Through Canada's
Forgotten, Neglected, and Suppressed Writing
Available at the very best bookstores and through


24 June 2013

A Highly Inappropriate St-Jean-Baptiste Advert



Something for la Fête de la St-Jean – St-Jean-Baptiste Day to we Anglo Quebecers – this century-old advert from Ottawa's Gowling Business College.

(cliquez pour agrandir)
The English text suggests that the image ran elsewhere, but I've only seen it in the 1913 Programme officiel des fêtes, a commemorative booklet put together for  the sixtieth anniversary of la Société St-Jean-Baptiste d'Ottawa.


I dare say that once seen the Gowling Business College advert cannot be forgot, though the products sold by these fellow advertisers may just help.


If not them, a half dozen others are peddling similar products.

Bonne fête!