Essai de Bibliographie Canadienne. Inventaire D'Une Bibliotheque comprenant Imprimes, Manuscrits, Estampes, etc. Relatifs a L'Histoire du Canada et Des Pays Adjacents avec des Notes Bibliographiques

Quebec. Imprime pour l'Auteur. 1895-1913. 1st Edition. Soft cover. sm4to, 25cm, the first edition, in 2 volumes, x,711 & xi,462pp., portrait plates in volume two, bound in full brown fabrikoid, gilt spine titles, with the original printed wraps bound in, the paper which often poor is sound and clean, a fine set (n2) GAGNON, PHILAS (baptized Jean-Philas), tailor, book collector, politician, author, and office holder (1854-1915)*, and Narcisse-Henri-douard Faucher* de Saint-Maurice. The magnitude of his work as a book collector, and the question of what might become of it, was a frequent source of worry to Gagnon. As early as 1885 he had begun to consider divesting himself of his collection. He obviously had this prospect in mind when he sent his sale catalogues to the great American libraries and invited them to borrow and examine his handwritten catalogue. Five years later he approached the province's legislative library, but it chose to take the library of Pierre- Joseph-Olivier Chauveau instead. As the years passed, the idea of selling his collection became increasingly urgent. In the summer of 1905 Gagnon made an unsuccessful offer to the federal government. Finally in 1910, through the good offices of Abb Nazaire Dubois, the principal of the cole Normale Jacques-Cartier, the city of Montreal purchased his library. Gagnon would not have the satisfaction of seeing his collection contribute to the cultural enrichment of Montrealers. It was kept in storage until 1917, when a building was erected for the Civic Library. However, in 1913 municipal librarian Frdric-Edmond Villeneuve, using Gagnon's bibliographical cards, brought out the second volume of the Essai. Thereby Villeneuve assisted in completing a work of bibliography particularly noteworthy as an individual undertaking that would help to preserve a significant part of Quebec's bibliographical heritage. Philas Gagnon marks a turning-point in Canadian book collecting and bibliography. An adventure such as his would, in time, become less and less likely to be repeated as institutions gradually took over from private collectors. DCB.