THE REMINISCENCES OF DOCTOR JOHN SEBASTIAN HELMCKEN. Edited by Dorthy Blakey Smith with an Introduction by W. Kaye Lamb. SIGNED AND INSCRIBED, WITH A LETTER TO THE DIRECTOR & PUBLISHER.
Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia Press. [1975]. First Edition (& 1st printing). Octavo, original cloth, 373 pp., Illustrated, Index. Signed by the Editor Blakey on the title leaf, inscribed by Dr Helmcken's grandson Ainslee J. Helmcken on the half-title leaf "All members of the Helmcken family are very pleased with the beautiful production of this work and thank all who participated most sincerely / Ainslee J. Helmcken". At the head of the same leaf is the signature of Anthony Blicq, Director, UBC Press, as this was his personal copy. Included with the book is a typed Letter Signed from Dorothy Blakey Smith to Mr. A.N. Blicq, UBC Press Vancouver, dated 21 December 1977, which states in part:
"Dear Tony:
Herewith the Helmcken Reminiscences, duly signed.
Actually, since you wouldn't let me thank you in the printed 'Acknowledgements', I really wanted to inscribe the book "To the perfect Director, who left me strictly to my own devices." I refrained, lest I offend your sense of fitness; but anyway them's my sentiments.
(...)
I hope your Christmas diversions are proving enjoyable.
With every good wish for the New Year,
Yours sincerely,
Dorothy Blakey Smith
A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. Item #313228
¶ John Sebastian Helmcken (1824-1920) was a British Columbia physician who played a prominent role in bringing the province into Canadian Confederation. He was also the founding president of the British Columbia Medical Association. These are his personal memoirs, brought to the attention of UBC Press in 1973 by Mr. Ainslee J. Helmcken, Archivist of the City of Victoria and the Doctor's grandson. The Acknowledgments page lists a great many of the usual suspects: Provincial Archivists and Librarians, Anne Yandle and Francis Woodward at UBC Library, Dr. Margaret A. Ormsby (Head of the Dept. of History, UBC) and Dr. W.E. Fredeman, the great Victorian scholar. Dr. Jane C. Fredeman, senior editor at UBC Press, gets a full paragraph on her own, but nowhere is Tony Blicq mentioned, except, of course, in this copy.
Price (USD): $85.00