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Reprint. Hard cover, 8vo, in blue cloth blocked in black and gold in an art nouveau cover design of orientalized bare branched trees, below which sway a line of abstractly styled jonquils, perhaps, with intertwined leaves, atop another band of five-lobed flowers. The titles are lettered in gold upon a banner breaking the design. Series vignette stamped in blind to the rear board. Spine printed in black with blocked gold title. Patterned endpapers, with a chromolithographed Sunday school prize bookplate, dated 1902. Tissue-guarded frontispiece and illustrated title page by Rhind. (2), 156pp. plus an undated 4pp. publisher's catalogue titled "Boys Library of Travel and Adventure." CONDITION:Very Good Minus. Exterior soiling seen to rear board., tips very gently worn. Browning to two eps.. some intermittent soiling within.**Prolific Halifax, Nova Scotia Author James Macdonald Oxley (1855-1907) penned a number of juvenile adventure titles near the beginning of the twentieth century, becoming a celebrated Canadian author of his time. Fifteen year-old Frank Kingston must leave school and his home in Calumet to support the family after the death of his lumberjack father in a snowstorm. A good reading copy of the author's most popular title, demonstrating noble ideals of snowy self-sufficiency and hard work among the timber lots of the Quebec wilderness. Themes include recognition of the conflicts between the forces of progress and resultant losses to indigenous people and the environment. Wolves, sleighs and adventure under "the sylvan monarchs" of the forest set the tone for a good winter's read.
Ref: JUVI 9609
$35.00