Illustrated Quebec

Doughty, Arthur,“Introductory”, Illustrated Quebec, (the Gibraltar and tourists' Mecca ofAmerica) under French and English occupancy: the story of its famous annals;with pen pictures descriptive of the matchless beauty and quaint mediaeval characteristics of the Canadian Gibraltar; with a glance at its picturesque environsby G. Mercer Adam, Montreal: John McConniff; Desbarats& Co., engravers, printers and publishers, 1892.

One of nine titles in the McConniff series "GemSouvenirs of the principal cities of the Dominion", IllustratedQuebec was initially published in March 1892, followed by slightrevisions in 1893, and also possibly in 1895 and 1896. This review was limitedto a preliminary search using LAC on-line Aurora and Voilà, which listed over32 works with this title; there was much inconsistency in the descriptivedetails for each entry making it difficult to determine date of thepublication, and reprint or revised versions.

The fourth of nine planned titles in the series "GemSouvenirs of the principal cities of the Dominion", IllustratedQuebec was initially published in March 1892, preceded in 1891 bysimilar guides to Montreal, Toronto and Halifax.  They were kept in print through the 1890s,with minor revisions for each printing. with the Montreal guide running to atleast five editions. The volumes on Vancouver and Victoria, written by R.E.Gosnell, were published in May, 1892.  In1893, The Ottawa Journal reported that the city finance committee haddeclined to purchase 50,000 copies of Illustrated Ottawa fordistribution in Australia and the United Kingdom. No copy has been located forthis or planned volumes on Winnipeg and Saint John.  

Doughty appears to have had an active role in the productionof these volumes. The Gem souvenir series was published and copyrighted by JohnMcConniff, a tourist agent based in the rotunda of the Windsor Hotel, Montreal.The printer was Desbarats, just along St James Street from Doughty’s office. Inproducing a volume of Tennyson’s Idylls of the King in 1889,Doughty had worked closely with Desbarats and understood the potential of hisnew half-tone photo engraving process to produce well- illustrated books oncoated paper. The volumes were bound by The Gazette, where Doughty was apart-time contributor.  Doughty was stillresident in Montreal, yet he prepared an Introduction to the Quebec volume, afeature not present in other volumes.  In1892, Doughty sought permission to sell printed “illustrated souvenirs ofCanada”, presumably these volumes, at the Chicago 1893 World’s ColumbianExposition. This was granted but subject to conditions which limited theviability of his plans and he declined.

The Wilson Collection includes 3copies of this publication: 2 printed in [1892] and 1 printed in [1893]. TheWilson Collection copies were reviewed; select images pictured above. Inaddition, copies of the [1982] publication held by LAC, and by Queen's Universitywere also reviewed. Also, a copy of the [1893] publication held by Queen’sUniversity (OCLC #932908534) was reviewed; select images are picturedabove.  Some digital copies are alsoavailable through Canadiana and Internet Archive (archive.org).

[Documents regarding Doughty and the 1893 world’s fair,kindly provided by Professor Bruce Elliott, as found in LAC RG72, letterbooks,vols 106, 107.]

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