On Canada's Frontier - 1892 (Many illustrations credited to Frederic Remington)
Cat No.: CA0109:
Sketches of History, Sport, Adventure, Indians, Missionaries, Fur-Traders and Newer Settlers in Western Canada.
This book originated as a series of articles for Harper's Magazine designed to bring the frontier experience to the Eastern townsfolk of the US. It records a number of adventures - over a three year period - and brings us a glimpse of backwoods life before it was changed forever by the advance of civilization.
The author, Julian Ralph, records his experience of the people he encounters, both those of European and of First Nations origins, as well as that of their life and surroundings. While the adventures are ostensibly about huntin', shootin' and fishin' trips the real value of the writing is in the authors impressions and reactions to what he encounters along the way. He describes the lives of the Indian's and their social organization as much as he does that of the woodsmen hunters and trappers, the voyageurs, the coureur du bois, the Hudson's Bay factors (agents) and, in the fledgling British Columbia, the gang workers on the railroads and those who followed the call of the gold strike.
Julian manages to work the essential details into his narrative as well, so this book also provides many facts, in particular on the history, growth and importance of the Hudson's Bay Company. He gives detailed descriptions of how the company traded with the hunters and trappers and its reaction to the few rival organizations such as the Northwest Company.
The value of this book is greatly enhanced by the numerous (70) engraved illustrations supporting the narrative. Even better many of these illustrations are credited to Frederic Remington, the famous US artist whose powerful images of the West eventually bought him to worldwide popularity. Remington worked for many years as an illustrator for Harper's Magazines and numerous other well know US periodicals. In later life he turned to sculpture and his bronzes have become immensely popular.
As well as his illustrations he painted thousands of pictures in his life time. His fame stems partly from his accuracy and for his literal images which rendered his observations as good as photographic images. On the other hand his work is unmistakable in that for all the realism he manages to bring a sense of drama and tension to his work which the camera can rarely capture.
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No. of CDs is: 1 ; Format is: PDF ; Searchable?: YES;
FastFind: No; ISBN No.: 1-897338-39-2;