Everything in its place
As an indexer, I tend to be obsessive about organizing things alphabetically—the books on my shelves, the spices in my cupboards, the DVDs and CDs in the basement . . . Of course Joan Aiken should come before Kate Atkinson,…
Double take
Who doesn’t find a few words stubbornly hard to spell? When I encounter one of my bugbears, I scribble down multiple versions of it, and the correct one usually jumps out at me. For example, is it “accomodate,” “acommodate,” or…
A fascinating account of pioneer life and early medical practice in northern British Columbia
This month marks the arrival in bookstores of Service on the Skeena: Horace Wrinch, Frontier Physician, by Geoff Mynett, published by Ronsdale Press. Geoff brings readers a slice of BC history with this biography of Horace C. Wrinch, farmer, doctor,…
Acknowledging Indigenous territories
West Coast Editorial Associates recently included an Indigenous territorial acknowledgement on the Contact page of our website: We are grateful to the Indigenous keepers of the traditional and unceded lands on which we live and work: the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh,…
Three decades of usage
In 1989 things seemed fresh. The Berlin Wall came down. Reagan finally left the White House. Seinfeld hit TV screens; so did The Simpsons. New Kids on the Block were actually new. For me 1989 marked a fresh start. At…
A visit to one of the world’s largest rare book libraries
One afternoon last April, on a quest to gather information about biologist and author Rachel Carson for a book I would be writing, I guided my behemoth rental car along the grey streets of New Haven, Connecticut. The windshield wipers…
The beleaguered and exalted proofreader: Some things never change
While perusing 19th-century Canadiana for my bookselling history blog, I occasionally come across items about proofreaders—the catch-all term then applied to editors of any sort, it seems. Some of these are so amusing, and some so recognizable to anyone in…
Our evolving language
As we have celebrated the 25th anniversary of West Coast Editorial Associates in 2017, we’ve looked at our past, present, and future, as well as a few editorial highlights of 1992, the year WCEA was formed. I have recently been…
A most agreeable cover
We’re delighted to see partner Lana Okerlund’s article on Seth Thorne Tilley on the cover of the fall 2017 British Columbia History magazine. You can find Lana’s absorbing tales of the province’s pioneer booksellers and stationers on her blog, A Most…
Forward ho!
Typically, anniversaries are times of looking back, reminiscing and celebrating successes. My partners have already written about the founding of WCEA 25 years ago and stories that we share of our past. But anniversaries are also an opportunity to look…