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News Release

What's New

Rare Hockey Book available on Library and Archives Canada website

Hockey: Canada's Royal Winter Game now digitized

(Ottawa, October 26, 2006) - Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is pleased to announce that the rare Canadian publication Hockey: Canada's Royal Winter Game has been digitized and is now accessible on LAC's popular website Backcheck: A Hockey Retrospective.

Hockey: Canada's Royal Winter Game was written by hockey player Arthur Farrell, a Stanley Cup champion in 1899 and 1900. Published in 1899, it is thought to be the first book ever written about the sport. The book contains many rare annotations and illustrations, such as Paul D'Anton's drawing of a female hockey player, entitled A Dream of the Future. Only four copies of the book are known to exist, and no library in Canada holds it in its collection.

This particular copy of the book once belonged to Dr. J.M.F. Malone, who was the team doctor for the Trois Rivières Reds in the mid-20th century. His son Brian Malone facilitated the loan of the book for digitization purposes, expressing the wish that it be made available to hockey researchers and historians. The book has now undergone conservation treatment at LAC. Although several pages have been damaged or lost, the remaining pages have been digitized in the exact manner as they appear, and are presented using virtual page-turning technology.

"This rare publication about our national game is well known to many hockey historians. Unfortunately, few have ever seen it, " says Ian E. Wilson, Librarian and Archivist of Canada. "Library and Archives Canada is privileged to be the only institution in the world to have a digital copy of this book."

LAC is an institution dedicated to bringing Canada's history to life and making it accessible to all Canadians. The conservation, digitization and presentation of Hockey: Canada's Royal Winter Game on our website ensures that hockey lovers worldwide will enjoy this book for generations to come.

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Information:
Pauline M. Portelance
Media Relations Officer, Library and Archives Canada
613-996-6128 or 613-293-4298

media@lac-bac.gc.ca.

For historical information visit: Archived What's New