Details

Title

Fires of Driftwood

Author

Mackay, Isabel Ecclestone
MacDonald, J. E. H

Physical Description

[12], 9-139, [1] p., 189 x 127 mm. (20 cm.)

Place of Publication

Toronto

Publisher

McClelland and Stewart

Edition

1st ed.

Date of Publication

1922 Show more1922-01-01T00:00:00.000Z
1922-01-01T00:00:00.000Z Show less

Collection

L.M. Montgomery Institute. Ryrie-Campbell Collection.

Donor

Donated by Donna Jane Campbell.

Note

Isabel Eccelstone Mackay (1875-1928) was once a well-known author of poetry and prose. Her life and career ran very much parallel to Montgomery's. She, too, was raised in a small largely Scottish town, her ambition to write was evident from an early age, she published first in school papers and later in magazines from around North America, and wrote for a mixed audience of children and adults. She was founding president of the Vancouver chapter of the Canadian Women's Press Club (and eventual friend of E. Pauline Johnson and Marjorie Pickthall). Mackay heard Montgomery speak at a CWPC event in June of 1926, and the two were often listed together in various features of Canadian women writers in the early twentieth century. This volume of poems was inspired by a trip to Boundary Bay—a shallow bay that stretches across the coasts of British Columbia and Washington state—but also includes works previously published in an array of magazines. Research by the donor of this volume has verified that it was gifted by L.M. Montgomery to her cousin and close friend Beatrice Alberta ("Bertie") McIntyre. A holograph inscription on front end paper reads: "Dearest, I hope you will find in these poems the pleasure I have found in my copy. They seem echoes of the old days where we tasted life together. Lovingly yours, Maud, 1923." She and Maud rarely passed up an opportunity to visit one another, and Maud sent her many books throughout her life. Montgomery also dedicated her third novel, 'Kilmeny of the Orchard' (1910) to Bertie.

Genre

poetry

Call Number(s)

902 SI-Bertie