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The Encyclopædia of Canadian History will fill a need that has been felt very seriously by students of Canadian history, and indeed by everyone who has occasion to secure or verify information in that wide field. Mr. Burpee’s work will bear the same relation to Canadian history as Low and Pulling’s famous book of reference does to English history, and in some respects it will be found to be even more encyclopædic in scope.

Some fifteen years ago Mr. Burpee prepared a General Index to the Makers of Canada Series, and by incorporating in the Index a considerable amount of new matter, biographical sketches, short articles on various topics relating to Canadian history, and bibliographical references, made it in some sense a dictionary of Canadian history.

Although it had the inevitable limitations of such a composite work, the Index and Dictionary of Canadian History proved extraordinarily popular, newspaper offices, public libraries and other similar institutions reporting that they had worn out half a dozen copies.

The Encyclopædia of Canadian History is a far more comprehensive work than the Index and Dictionary. While it is not in any sense an index to the Makers of Canada Series, it is an indispensable adjunct to the Series, and at the same time stands on its own feet as a scholarly work of reference. Although a pioneer in its own particular field, the Encyclopædia will be found so inclusive and accurate that it will probably remain the standard for many years to come.

The plan is to throw into one alphabetical arrangement every title of any real importance in the entire field of Canadian history, interpreting history in the widest sense. Here will be found all the outstanding figures in Canadian history, from the earliest voyagers to our shores to the leading figures in public life to-day.

Here also are included compact articles on every important event in the history of Canada, its wars and rebellions, its discoveries and explorations, its political, economic, social and intellectual development. The whole is bound together with very complete references and cross-references, so that it is possible both to approach a particular topic from any one of a number of angles, and to follow it through all its ramifications.

For instance, the War of 1812-14 will be found treated under that general title, but the reader will also be referred to separate and more detailed accounts of the individual battles, and he will at the same time find separate biographical sketches of the principal actors in the war, and of some of the principal regiments that took part in it.

Similarly the student will find a general article on Confederation, with separate sketches of the Quebec Conference, the Charlottetown Conference and the Westminster Conference, the Anti-Confederation Movement, the British North America Act, and biographies of each of the Fathers of Confederation. Or if one is interested in the Fur Trade, he will turn up that general title, perhaps get what he needs there; or if not, be referred to more detailed articles on the Hudson’s Bay Company, the North West Company, the X. Y. Company or one of the old trading companies of New France; in these again, he will be led on to articles on the principal men in each company; or to sketches of the famous trading posts of the period of the fur trade.

In the same way, every phase of every subject in the fascinating story of Canada, east and west, French and English, is worked out individually and linked up with other phases of the same subject. And attached to each topic is a carefully selected working bibliography.