Reminiscences of a Raconteur Between the ’40s and the ’20s

Hardcover, 330 pages, 5.5x8 in - 13x20cm, B&W photographs.

Covers lightly stained, sunned along spine edge. Spine sunned, bumped at head and heel. Endpapers, title page, and p.4 stamped by previous owner. Many pages lightly soiled in margins or creased, p.7 moderately stained, all text readable. Gutter split at pp.16-17, gutter cracked in multiple places.

George Ham’s (1847-1926) career as a Canadian journalist, newspaper editor, and agent/ambassador for Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) afforded him many opportunities to encounter interesting people, observe major events, and travel the country. As a result, “Reminiscences of a Raconteur” is a viewing gallery of Canadian history, politics, and culture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Ham recounts meeting figures such as General F. D. Middleton and Sir Wilfred Laurier, and describes experiences ranging from being a passenger on the first CPR train to cross Canada to fighting Métis forces on board the Northcote at the Battle of Batoche. Told with Ham's engaging humor, the volume’s stories oscillate from political soirees to expeditions in the North-West. Includes 19.5 x 61 cm (7.75 x 24 in) fold-out map of Canadian Pacific Main Line, 1920. Peel(3) 4592.