Welcome to Belgravia Books & Treasures

Rare, recent, and out-of-print books, antiques and curios, framed paintings and prints . . . visit often to see our ever-changing offerings!

Plenty of free parking; McKernan / Belgravia LRT station one block east. Open seven days of the week, 10:30-5:30.

Select from our exceptional range of next-to-new and vintage children's books and educators' resources. Then immerse yourself in our vast inventory of adult books. Genres on offer include literature and popular fiction (yes: sci fi, mysteries, thrillers, and romances), travel, history, and current events, CDs and sheet music, spirituality and religion, art, gardening, home renovation, and craft books, science and nature, and a mouthwatering smorgasbord of cookbooks.

Canada's Top Ten Independent Bookstores

In November 2009 the editors of WHERE magazines across Canada were asked to pick the best independent bookstores in their cities, places that offer a unique selection of books as well as a comfortable atmosphere. Belgravia Books & Treasures was among them. Check out the accolades at www.where.ca/travel or, better still, come on down and see for yourselves!

A Notice to our Friends and Customers

Belgravia Books & Treasures has been notified by our landlord that we are to vacate the building we occupy by the end of October, 2012.

Until then, Belgravia Books & Treasures plans to continue doing what we've done for years: providing our friends and customers with personalized attention in meeting their needs for quality books, CDs, DVDs, jewellery, charming curios and knick-knacks, and superbly framed images.

We still wish to look at the high-quality books and other objects you have to show us, and we will continue to offer good value for those we can purchase.

We will remain open seven days of the week from 10:30 to 5:30; we'll continue to be a community-oriented resource; and we look forward to doing the kind of customized picture-framing you've received from us for years.

Between now and when we settle upon our future plans, you'll find visiting Belgravia Books & Treasures to be the same charming experience you've always known it to be.

If you have a store credit at Belgravia Books or an usused gift certificate, please consider using it.

Gift certificates are still available for sale. We'll announce the cutoff date for such sales as our plans progress.

As more news becomes available we'll post it here.

Published 10 Nov. 2011; revised 12 April 2012

Rare, recent, and out-of-print books, antiques and curios, framed paintings and prints . . . visit often to see our ever-changing offerings!

Select from our exceptional range of next-to-new and vintage children's books and educators' resources. Then immerse yourself in our vast selection of adult books. Genres on offer include literature and popular fiction (yes: sci fi, mysteries, thrillers, and romances), travel, history, and current events, CDs and sheet music, spirituality and religion, art, gardening, home renovation, and craft books, science and nature, and a mouthwatering smorgasbord of cookbooks.

Canada's Top Ten Independent Bookstores

In November 2009 the editors of WHERE magazines across Canada were asked to pick the best independent bookstores in their cities, places that offer a unique selection of books as well as a comfortable atmosphere. Belgravia Books & Treasures was among them. Check out the accolades at www.where.ca/travel or, better still, come on down and see for yourselves!

The vast majority of our books are not listed on this site. Please let us know your specific requests.

____________________

Highlights of our Inventory

(Items listed are hard cover unless otherwise stated.)

Anon., Nouveau traité de la cuisine, avec de nouveaux desseins de tables et vingt-quatre menus, t.1 (Paris, 1739). Should you wish to serve your guests as the king does at Versailles, this is your indispensable guide! Multiple fold-out pages of table settings and layouts.

Anon., A treatise of the laws of the forest; wherein is declared not onely those laws as they are now in force, but also the original and beginning of forests, and what a forest is in its own proper nature ... : also a treatise of the pourallee, declaring what pourallee is, how the same first began, what a pourallee-man may do . . . (London, 1615); the binding and forepages are in poor condition, but all pages are present and in order.

Auden, W. H., Look, stranger!; poems (London; 3d. impression 1939), vg/vg.

Auer, Harry Anton, The north country (Cincinnati, 1906); 8 photos of 28 listed are missing.

Bach, Richard, Jonathan Livingston Seagull (New York, 1970); a later printing; vg/vg.

Ballantyne, R. M., Jarwin and Cuffy; a tale (London, Warne, n.d.); an inscription within is dated "Christmas 1897."

Baumé, M, Manuel de chymie, ou exposé des opérations de la chymie et de leurs produits; 2nd ed. (Paris, 1766).

Bhatia, June (=Helen Forrester), The latchkey kid (Don Mills, ON, 1971), vg/vg.

Blixen, Karen [Isak Denisen], Out of Africa (London, Putnam, 1937); "first published November 1937" on verso of tp.

Bowman, Isaiah, The pioneer fringe (New York, 1931), signed, and dedicated to H. M. E. Evans, a former mayor of Edmonton.

Bremundan, Francisco Fabro, Floro historico de la guerra sagrada contra Turcos, tercera parte, que contiene los sucessos del ano [1686] (Madrid, 1687), in good vellum binding. Published by Antonio Roman.

Bible, N.T., Novum testamentum ad exemplar millianum (Philadelphia, Henry Perkins, 1848); in Greek.

Blanchard, Amy Ella, Bonny bairns; illus. Ida Waugh (New York, Worthington, 1888).

Bourdaloue, Pere, S.J., Retraite spiritualle a l'usage des communautez religieuses (Paris, 1721).

Brasse, John, A Greek gradus; or, a Greek, Latin, and English prosodial lexicon . . . (London, 1842).

Buchan, John, Castle Gay (London, Nov. 1935 printing) vg/g.

Buchan, John, The path of the king (New York, 1921), vg/g.

Bunyan, John, The pilgrim's progress and The holy war (London, Cassell, Petter & Galpin, [nd, but between 1858--78]); numerous coloured plates & wood engravings; text is good; binding is poor.

Burnett, Frances Hodgson, Little Lord Fauntleroy (Toronto, Bryce, 1887), soft cover.

[Butler, Samuel], Hudibras; in three parts; written in the time of late wars; corrected and amended with additions (Dublin, 1732).

[Carroll, Lewis], The annotated picture book of Alice in wonderland; illus. and animated by Julian Wehr (New York, Grosset and Dunlap, 1945).

Cather, Willa, One of ours (New York, 1922), 1st trade ed., g/no dj.

The ceremonies and religious customs of the various nations of the known world; with additions and remarks (Longon, 1741).

[Cervantes, Miguel de], Don Quichotte, nacherzählt von Erich Kästner mit vielen bildern von Horst Lemke (Zurich, Atrium, 1956).

Christie, Agatha, Parker Pyne investigates (London, 1934); g+/no dj.

Cholières, Sieur de, La guerre des masles contre les femelles (an 1864 reprint, limited to 100 copies, of a work published in Paris, 1588).

Cody, H. A., An apostle of the North; memoirs of the Right Reverend William Carpenter Bompas (Toronto, 1908); g; part of text of p.48 has transferred to top of facing-page photo; photo facing p. 220 missing.

Coetzee, J. M., Waiting for the barbarians (London, 1980) 1st ed., vg/vg.

Cohen, Matt, Café le dog; stories (Toronto, 1979; repr. 1983); signed, vg/vg; unclipped dj.

[Collodi, Carlo], Walt Disney's version of Pinocchio; based on the story by Collodi with illustrations from the motion picture (New York, Random House, 1939).

Conant, Thomas, Life in Canada (Toronto, 1903).

Coupland, Douglas, Generation X; tales for an accelerated culture (New York, St. Martin's Press, 1961); our copy, hard cover, with a dust jacket, is described as being in a scarce format. Please phone for details.

Cramer, Rie, Little picture rhymes; English version by Frederick M. Martens (Longon, Augener, n.d.).

Dahl, Roald, Charlie and the chocolate factory (New York, Knopf, 1964); 1st ed., 3d state.

Davies, Robertson, The diary of Samuel Marchbanks (Toronto, 1947), 1st ed., vg/vg.

Dixon, Dougal, After man, a zoology of the future (Scarborough, ON, Nelson, 1981); vg/vg; evidently highly sought after.

Dixon, Franklin, The missing chums [a Hardy Boys story] (New York, Grosset & Dunlap, 1928), 1st ed.

du Maurier, Daphne, Rebecca; a brilliant novel of an unforgettable woman (Garden City, N.J., Doubleday, 1938), very good in very good dust jacket.

Einstein, Albert, Out of my later years (London, Thames and Hudson, 1950), 1st ed.

Emerson, William, Tracts; containing I. Mechanics, or the doctrine of motion; II. The projection of the sphere; III. The laws of centripetal and centrifugal force (London, 1793); all pages present; all figures present; very rare.

Fabre, J. H., The story book of birds & beasts (London, Hodder, n.d.).

Fluhmann, May, Second in command; a biography of Captain Francis Crozier (1976); soft cover.

Francesco de Alberti di Villanuova, Nuovo dizionario Italiano--Francese (Marseilles, Mossy, 1772).

Frank Leslie's popular monthly (New York), vol. XV, January--June 1883.

Fredeman, William E., The P.R.B. journal; Rossetti's diary of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, 1849--1853 (Oxford, Clarendon, 1975).

Garrioch, Reverend A. C., The correction line [history of Portage La Prairie; of southern Manitoba; of Anglican church in Canada] (Winnipeg, MB, 1933); only 400 copies printed.

Gordon, the Rev. Daniel M., Mountain and prairie; a journey from Victoria to Winnipeg via Peace River Pass (Montreal, 1880).

Goudge, Elizabeth, Make-believe (London, 1978 impression); vg/vg.

Goudge, Elizabeth, The reward of faith, and other stories (London, 1950); 1st ed. of this collection; vg/vg.

Gough, William, David Blackwook master printmaker (Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre, 2001)

Gray, Charlotte, The museum called Canada; 25 rooms of wonder (Toronto, 2004), signed 1st ed., vg/vg.

Hamlisch, Marvin, Songbook (piano, vocal, guitar) (1982), signed by the composer; soft cover.

Hemingway, Ernest, A farewell to arms (New York, Scribner), a facsimile reprint of the 1929 first edition.

Herodotus, The history, v.2 only; trans. Isaac Littlebury (London, 1737).

Heyer, Georgette, Charity girl (New York, 1970, Book Club ed.); Lady of quality (New York, 1972, Book Club ed.).

Jacks, William, The life of His Majesty William the Second, German emperor, with a sketch of his Hohenzollern ancestors (Glasgow, James MacLehose and Sons, 1904).

Le jardin merveilleux suivi de paquerette et bouton-d'or, par Mme C. G. (Tours, Ad. Mame; 1853).

Johnson, E. Pauline, Flint and feather; the complete poems (Toronto, 1927) g+ in hide binding.

Joyce, James, Finnegans wake (London, Faber, 1950) new ed.; vg/no dj.

Kästner, Erich, Die konferenz der tiere (Zurich, Europa, 1949), illus. Walter Trier.

Kinsella, W .P., Shoeless Joe (Boston, 1982) vg/vg.

Lambert, Susan, The Franco-Prussian war and the commune in caricature, 1870--71 (London, 1971).

Lewis, C. S., The abolition of man; or, reflections on education with special reference to the teaching of English in the upper forms of schools (London 1947); soft cover.

Lofting, Hugh, The voyages of Doctor Dolittle; illus. by the author (Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1922), 23rd impression.

Lu Yü, The classic of tea; trans. and intro. by Francis Ross Carpenter (Boston and Toronto, 1974); vg/vg.

Lucan of St. Joseph, Father, Holiness in the cloister; or, commentaries on the precautions of St. John of the Cross (Chicago, Donohue [1920?]); rare.

Lyly, John, Euphues, the anatomy of wit; Euphues and his England; carefully editied by Edward Arber (London, 1868).

Mayer, Mercer, Four frogs in a box (New York, Dial Press, 1967). Four very small children's books in their original slipcase.

McLintock, John, A first book in Greek; containing a full view of the forms of words with vocabularies and copious exercises; 3d ed. (New York, 1850).

Morton, Anthony, Career for the baron (New York, Duell, 1950).

Mowat, Farley, Coppermine journey; an account of a great adventure; selected from the journals of Samuel Hearne (Toronto, 1958); g+/g+.

Ossian, The poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal; trans. James Macpherson (Glasgow, 1799); v.1 only.

Paterson, Alexander Smith, A concise syste of theology on the basis of the shorter catechism (Edinburgh, 1846).

Paxton's magazine of botany, and register of flowering plants; v. 6 (London, 1839); all colour plates intact and present.

Peary, Robert E., The north pole; its discovery in 1909 under the auspices of the Peary Arctic Club (New York, 1910); photo p.72 missing.

[Potter, Paraclete, 1784--1858], The clerk and magistrate's assistant; by a gentleman of the bar (Poughkeepsie, 1814). If you needed to be your own lawyer in the early decades of The Great Republic, this was a standard guide.

Russell, Bertrand, The impact of science on society (New York, Simon and Schuster, 1953), 1st printing.

Sage, the Reverend Donald, Memorabilia domestica; or, parish life in the north of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1899; 2nd ed.).

Sapper, Ask for Ronald Standish (London, Hodder [1936?].

Saunders, Marshall, Golden Dicky; the story of a canary and his friends (New York, Stokes, 1919); signed and dedicated by Marshall Saunders, 23 Oct. 1929.

Sayers, Dorothy L., Have his carcase (London, Gollancz, 1950); 15th impression; rare dust jacket.

Scott, Sir Walter, The lay of the last minstrel (Edinburgh, Livingstone, n.d.), in mauchline ware binding.

Sendak, Maurice, Lullabies and night songs; music by Alec Wildner (New York, Harper & Row, 1965).

Service, Robert W., Carols of an old codger (New York, Dodd, Mead, 1954), 1st ed.

Service, Robert W., The pretender; a story of the Latin Quarter (New York, Dodd, Mead, 1914).

Service, Robert W., Rhymes of a Red Cross man (Toronto, Briggs, 1916).

Shackleton, Sir Ernest, The heart of the Antarctic; being the story of the British Antarctic expedition, 1907--1909 (London, 1911), new and revised ed.

Shields, Carol, The box garden; a novel (Toronto, McGraw-Hill, 1977).

Stenson, Fred, Lonesome hero (Toronto, Macmillan, 1974); signed.

Thomson, Don W., Men and meridians (Ottawa, 1969), 3v; each signed by the author; each vol. vg/vg.

Tilsley, M. J., and Aunt Fanny, Little toddles and his playmates (London, Dean & Son, n.d.); inscripton dated 22 Aug. 1887.

Twain, Mark, Slovenly Peter (Struwwelpeter); or, Happy tales and funny pictures freely translated by Mark Twain (New York, Harper, 1935).

Tyrrell, J. W., Across the sub-Arctics of Canada (Toronto, 1897)

Voltaire, Die prinzessin von Babylon ins Deutsche ubertragen von Ernst Ronau (Vienna, 1920).

Wharton, Thomas, The logogryph; a bibliography of imaginary books (Kentville, N.S., 2004); 1st ed.

Zolotow, Charlotte, Mr. Robert and the lovely present; illus. Maurice Sendak (New York, Harper & Row, 1962); an early ed.

 
Daddy, let's buy 25 books!

This Just In!

Book Ownership STILL Matters!

Ever wondered whether owning books remains relevant in today's world of downloadable digital content? Well, as it turns out, book ownership is still important. From the august pages of The Globe and Mail, 26 May 2010, p.L6, comes this summary of a study reported in the journal Research in Social Stratification and Mobility.

What surprised researchers was "just how strong the correlation is between a child's academic achievement and the number of books his or her parents own. It's even more important than whether the parents went to college or hold white-collar jobs. . . . The study was conducted over 20 years, in 27 countries, and surveyed more than 70,000 people. Researchers found that children who grew up in a home with more than 500 books spent three years longer in school than children whose parents had only a few books. . . . Even a relatively small number of books can make a difference. A child whose family has 25 books will, on average, complete two more years of school than a child whose family is sadly bookless."

The implication is clear: come to Belgravia Books & Treasures, take advantage of our fifth-book-free offer five times, and your child will remain in school two more years than if you had just downloaded all that stuff digitally. 'Nuff said? Good.

The Belgravia Books

"Man Cave"

Of continuing fascination to the men

Hold it a second. This is Lorie interjecting. Some of my best women friends are carpenters.  Why is it a "man" cave?

who visit Belgravia Books is our impressive inventory of some 150 handyman books, to which we've just added a shuhWACK (yes, schwack IS a recognized measure of quantity in the metric system) of Taunton Press's Fine woodworking and Fine homebuilding. (We've even got the printed index to Fine woodworking's first 100 issues!) Of particular interest is Fine woodworking's Biennial design book and Design book two, and three books in the Tage Frid teaches woodworking series: Book 1, Joinery, Book 3 Furnituremaking, and his Shaping, veneering, finishing. Further, we've just added R. Bruce Hoadley's Understanding wood and Michael Dunbar's Make a Windsor chair. (Think of the title as less of an encouragement than an imperative. We acquired this book because the Queen informed us that she's a tad too busy to make all the chairs she needs at Windsor Castle, and she would welcome some help.)

Beyond that most recent addition to our inventory, whatever your workshop dreams you'll find books here that tempt and guide and encourage. We have titles on carpentry, carving (high-relief, carousel animals, chip, ships, found-wood, sculpture), clock-making, design (of barns, colonial homes, log houses, period homes, vacation properties, bathrooms, decks, kitchens, patios, sheds, shelters, storage), and woodworking (cabinets, furniture, playgrounds, scroll-saw, and toys).

Let's not forget home repair and renovations! Books on electricity, floor-laying,  insulation, plumbing, shelving, storage, tiling, tools -- they're all here!


Railroading Books. All Aboard!

Belgravia Books has just received a freight-train full of wonderful coffee-table and reference books on the history and lore of railroading, all in superb condition and all at our usual low prices.

Here's a guide to the collection.

Dick Clover, The wonderful world of railroad timetables (1979).

Cohen, Stan, The White Pass and Yukon route; a pictorial history (1980), paperback.

Hugh A. Dempsey, The CPR west; the iron road and the making of a nation (1984).

Doeksen, Gerry, Railways of the West Kootenay (Railways of Western Canada) (volume two) (1983).

Patrick C. Dorin, The Canadian National Railways' story (first ed., 1975).

 

Ted Ferguson, Sentimental journey; an oral history of train travel in Canada (1985).

Sandford Fleming (yes, that Sir Sandford Fleming!), The Intercolonial; a historical sketch of the inception, location, construction and completion of the line of railway uniting . . . the Dominion (1876). Our copy has all maps, illus., and foldout plates present and intact.

Greening, W. E., It was never easy, 1908--1958; a history of the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway, Transport and General Workers (1961).

William M. Harris, The steam donkey engine (2005)

E. J. Hart, The selling of Canada; the CPR and the beginnings of Canadian tourism (1983). The flap copy is intriguing: "How did Canada, a land of wilderness, mountains and lakes, come to be identified with the architecture of the Château Frontenac and the Banff Springs Hotel; with the sound of bagpipes and train whistles; and with elegant living amidst rugged Alpine scenery?" The answer lies within!

Hearn, George, and David Wilkie, The Cordwood Limited; a history of the Victoria & Sidney Railway (1966; fifth printing, 1976)

Bill Hayes, Steam trains (1981).

Hollingsworth, Brian, and Arthur Cook, The great book of trains; featuring 300 locomotives shown in over 160 full-color illustrations and more than 500 photographs (1987). (This title is two volumes in one.)

The illustrated directory of trains of the world, by Brian Hollingsworth (does the man never sleep!) (2000), begins with the Northumbrian 0-2-2 of 1830 and takes railway buffs all the way to the super-high-speed commuter trains of Europe and Japan. A must!

Adolf Hungry Wolf, Canadian railway scenes, no. 1 (1983), is both approachable and evocative of our past.

Aaron E. Klein, The men who built the railroads (1986).

David Laurence Jones, Tales of the CPR (2002).

McKee, Bill, Trail of iron; the CPR and the birth of the West, 1880--1930 (1983)

Bryan Morgan, ed., The great trains (1973).

On the move; great transportation photographs from Life (2000).

Murray, Tom, Canadian National Railway (a title in the series MBI Railroad Color History) (2004). Only two copies listed on ABE at time of listing.

O. S. Nock, Railways then and now; a world history (1975).

Martin Page, The lost pleasures of the great trains (1975) evokes the era of luxury train travel and ornately appointed passenger cars.

The railroad encyclopedia (2001), an authoritative and engaging survey of the world of rail.

Barrie Sanford, McCulloch's wonder; the story of the Kettle Valley Railway (1979 printing) and Steel rails & iron men; a pictorial history of the Kettle Valley Railway (1990).

J. B. Snell, Early railways; pleasures and treasures (1964).

For insomniacs, The train-watcher's guide to North American Railroads (2nd. ed., 1992) is the answer! Sheep, get thee from me!

York, Thomas, North America's great railroads (1987).

And two outliers:

Michael Dryhurst, London bus and tram album, second series (1979); signed by the author.

Chas. S. Dunbar, Buses, trolleys & trams (1967).

Yes, not quite railroading, but close enough, guv!

 
Alberta (and other) Local Histories

Alberta local histories are a fascinating primary source for learning not only about our own families but about their neighbours, friends, associations, and community involvement. A few titles from other Prairie Provinces are comingled below.

Belgravia Books & Treasures has in stock a number of these invaluable resources. If you're a student of genealogy, curious about the past, or just seeking a way to slip the bonds of time and move back to a gentler world, come to Belgravia Books and check out these local histories.

Remember that we have a sale on at this moment: for every five items selected, including these informative Alberta local histories, the least expensive is free. And the GST is included in all of our prices.

Beau Mont, historie de Beaumont et district, 1885--1960, 1985, discusses Edmonton's near neighbour, one of the pillars of the Franco-Alberta community. (The text is in English and French.) Read an interesting local history: learn the other official language!

Beautiful fields, 1974, by Kathy Masters and others, is a history of Bashaw, AB, in Camrose County.

Bucking poles & butter churns; history of Lone Pine and district, 1972, has interesting endpapers: the livestock brands of area ranches are reproduced, suggesting the huge diversity of the industry in a bygone era of unfenced prairie ranching. Three members of the North Lone Pine Women's Institute, Jeanette Johnson, Christine Milne, and Marilyn Leis, compiled this history.

Dogtown to Dauphin, Adam S. Little, 1988 (Manitoba, of course).

Echoes along the Ribstone, [1978],  in 1,064 pages offers the history of Czar and of a number of school districts, including Arcola, Big Gap, Birdsview, Buffalo View, Connaught, Custer, Daisy, Good Luck, Horsehaven, Kessler, Laconia, Lakesend, Little Gap, Metiskow Lake, Opal, Pansy, Sandhurst, Sather, Teat Hills (complete with photo of said hills: I am NOT making this up!), and Wheat Ridge. Regional cattle brands and snippets of the history of Consort and Hughenden are also present.

Edson 75 years, a history of the town, by Marguerite Ahlf, 1986, is a rarity among local histories in being the product of a single author rather than a committee.

Flin Flon; a visual history, 1933--1983, 1983. (Manitoba)

Footprints on Mi-Chig-Wun; memoirs of Sunnyslope pioneers (n.d., after 1966?), is edited by H. Gratz, and features a handy alphabetical index to help readers find the pioneers and ancestors who helped develop Alberta.

Forgotten echoes; a history of Blackfoot and surrounding area, 1982. Discussions include the Barr colonists, Lloydminster, the two national railways, Kitscoty, the North West Mounted Police, and the Alberta Wheat Pool.

From buffalo chips to natural gas; New Brigden, 1984, deals with the history and people of Calthrope, Esther, Anatole, Sedalia, and other pioneer communities along the CNR line north of Oyen.

From dream to reality (Alameda, Saskatchewan), 1982.

Hanna north; a rural history, 1908--1978, 1978. Edited by Jean James, the text covers Royalton, Meadowlands, Antelope Hill, Solon, Chain Lakes, Netherby, and Crow Hill, among many places discussed.

Happy Valley happenings; Big Beaver and district, 1983. (Saskatchewan)

Health units of Alberta, by Adelaide Schartner, 1982, is not exactly a local history, but an institutional history that leads the reader through all the subdivisions of Alberta to explore the organization that made sure our mothers had all the support they needed to keep us healthy.

The hills of home, Drumheller Valley, 1973, in the words of Marguerite Playle, "is a story of the valley pioneers and the opening of the coal mines, and will take its place among the histories of Western Canada."

History of Aylesbury, 1955? (Saskatchewan)

History of Hinton, by Hazel Hart, 1980, walks the reader through every aspect of the Gateway to the Rockies, from natural resources, politics, and social and cultural activities.

Homestead country: Wrentham and area, 1980.

In His hands (Weyburn, SK, and district), n.d.

Lac La Biche, yesterday and today, 1975, is replete with names from Alberta's past: Plamondon, Berny, Beaver Lake, Normandeau, the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway, and much more.

Land among the lakes; a history of the Deville and North Cooking Lake area, 1983. Locales covered include Ardrossan, Fort Saskatchewan, Lamont, Lindbrook, Tofield, New Sarepta

Leduc reflections, 1899--1981, is among the most accessible local histories in the lavishness of its illustrations and the completeness of the captions. Only in these pages will you learn the occupation of a Leduc resident who is the great grandson of Pierre-Auguste Renoir, the Impressionist painter. Remember, you read it here first!

A light into the past; a history of Camrose, 1905--1980, ed. J. R. Stan Hambly, 1980.

Oxen to oil; diamond memories (North Battleford, Saskatchewan), 1982).

SOLD Shadows of the Neutrals, 1967, and its sequel, Lengthening shadows of the Neutrals, 1979, present the stories of such East-Central Alberta communities as Brownfield, Bulwark, Castor,  Consort (let's hear it for K. D. Lang!), Coronation, Federal, Fleet,  Halkirk, Loyalist, Silver Heights, Talbot, Throne, Stettler, Veteran, as well as their school districts (Aberdovey through Talbot), churches, local cattle brands, and historical photos. A related local history is Echoes along the Ribstone.

Ogden whistle; a history of: Millican, Ogden Flats, Maryland, Valleyfield, Bonnybrook, South Hill, Cepeear [I am not making this up!], Lynnwood, Lynnwood Ridge, River Glen, Crestwood, C.P.R. Ogden Shops, 1975.  The title says it all!

Pioneer round-up, 1973, discusses a number of settlements in northwestern Alberta: Albright, Demmitt, Goodfare, Hythe, Lymburn, Valhalla.

Prairie sod and goldenrod, Crossfield and area, 1977, was 15 years in the compiling, and features many period photographs and accounts of pioneers and developers.

Settlers of the Hills; R. M. Lake Alma No. 8, 1975. (Saskatchewan)

Siding 16; the history of Wetaskiwin continued, 1930 to 1960, is another unusual local history in that it is written as a monograph by a sole author, in this case A. Bert Reynolds. It includes a discussion of the RCN corvette that bears the town's name.

South of the North Saskatchewan, 1984, designed by Bradley Fischer. A history of Edmonton's near-neighbour. Grant MacEwan, a former lieutenant-governor of Alberta, signed and inscribed the title page. Way cool!

Teepee Creek terror, a local history of Grande Prairie and Northern Alberta, is edited by Margaret Thibault and Jean Rycroft, and includes contemporary newspaper illustrations of the gear a local cowboy needed. Charming!

Through the years; a sociological history of the Ardley, Delburne and Lousana areas, 1980, recounts life in this part of Red Deer county. This book is where you learn about coal mining along the Red Deer River, as well as district histories of Bellgrove, Collins, Mound Lake, and Rosedale, and much more.

Vegreville (let's hear it for Vegreville!) is the subject of two titles in our local history collection. Dr. Samuel H. Hardin, one of the few named authors of a local history, wrote History of greater Vegreville, (1969?). Topics include Whitford, French Canadian settlement, Ukrainians and their progress, along with dozens of biographical sketches.

Vegreville in review; history of Vegreville and surrounding area, 1880--1980, 1980, a two-volume work, has discussions of Lavoy and district, the Jewish community of Vegreville, the Rolland M. Boswell Hospital, Chautauqua, St Martin of Tours parish, church, and school, and much more.

A view of the Birdtail; a history of the municipality of Birtle and the villages of Foxwarren and Solsgirth,1878--1974, by Marion Abra, 1974. (Province of Manitoba)

Wagon trails in the sod; a history of the Heisler area (1982). Interested in writing a biography of Robert Kroetsch (1927--2011), the famed poet and novelist? Well then, you're pretty much going to want to know everything about the people he grew up among, aren't you. Stands to reason, doesn't it? In the introduction to this local history Robert Kroetsch says, "Heisler is for me the whole world writ small. What I want to know about the world I can find in this village, in this community." How can you resist reading more?

West of the 4th, a local history of the Lloydminster region, including Flowerdale, Westminster Park, Spencer, Kinella, Uneeda, Allister, Winona, Rivercourse, McLaughlin.

Wheatfields and wildflowers; a history of Rycroft & surrounding school districts, 1984. Individual chapters are given over to the history of Volin, Greenway, Silverwood, New World, Prestville, Broncho Creek.

And, from Ontario,

A town called Ajax, 1995, edited by Archie MacDonald

Township of Proton, 1857--1982, a historical sketch, 1982?

And, and, from B.C.

Atkinson, R. N., Penticton pioneers in story and picture, 1967?

 
Current Promotions

When you select five items (yes, books, knick-knacks, pictures, anything), the cheapest is free!

GST is always included in our prices.

 
New Arrivals

 

Ukrainiana remains a strength of our inventory, and includes:

CYMK pathways, 1931--1988 (1990)

Directory of Ukrainian artists in Alberta

Volodymyr Kubijovyc's majesterial Encyclopedia of Ukraine, published by U of Toronto Press (1984, 7 v.)

William Kurelek, O Toronto, Kurelek's Canada, The passion of Christ.

Dmytro Shtohryn, Ukrainians in North America; a biographical directory (1975)

Invincible spirit, art and poetry of Ukrainian women political prisoners in the U.S.S.R. (1977)

Ukrainian Pioneers' Association of Alberta, Ukrainians in Alberta, v.2 (1981),

and a number of titles, both from Edmonton and elsewhere, in Ukrainian that we can't read and our keyboard can't reproduce!

 

Random Thoughts

The pleasure of all reading is doubled when one lives with another who shares the same books.

Katherine Mansfield