Early Painters and Engravers in Canada

University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1972 reprint of 1970 first edition,. Cloth, 8vo,. xv, 376 pp. From the blurb: "Art lovers, students, and scholars so often enquire about artists who painted in early Canada that a comprehensive dictionary is long overdue. This answer to the need has been compiled from notes collected during fifteen years of research. With over 4,000 entries, it lists all known painters and engravers who were born before 1867 and worked in Canada. Where birthdate is unknown, artists are included if their works were in public exhibitions or if their names are mentioned in pre-1900 directories. Many views with Canadian subject matter were painted by visitors to this country, particularly British army and naval officers on duty or government officials. These have been included because of the interest provoked already by their many known paintings. Also included in the book are a considerable number of nineteenth-century photographers who coloured their works, a practice which goes back to the 1840s in Canada. Each entry gives all available basic information about the artist: date and place of birth and death, important details of his life, a list of public exhibits where his works appeared, public and semi-public collections in which his work is represented, and a key to biographical references. A comprehensive bibliography is included at the end of the book.. For years to come this volume will be an indispensable reference for librarians, collectors, art historians, dealers, and anyone interested in the history of Canadian art. A previous institutional owner's label on the front pastedown endpaper, otherwise near Very Good in slightly used and soiled dustwrapper.