Lancelot Press
Lancelot Press was a Canadian publishing company which operated between 1966 and 1997. It specialized in non-fiction titles, many of which were of a regional nature centered on Maritime Canada, in the fields of local history, spirituality and personal memoirs. For many years, Lancelot was one of the very few Maritime publishing companies.
The business was founded by Reverend William Pope (1923-2010),[1] a United Church minister, near Hantsport, Nova Scotia. Responsibilities for its operation were shared with his wife Isabel. Between its founding and wrapping up, it published more than 500 titles.[2][3][1] Many well-known writers in the region published with Lancelot, including Douglas How, Bridglal Pachai, Alden Nowlan and Dorothy Perkyns. The poet Margaret Avison published several titles with Lancelot including No Time (1989) which won the Governor General's Award for Poetry.
Many Lancelot Press titles remain in print through a publishing arrangement with Nimbus.
Robert Pope Foundation
The Popes wrapped up Lancelot Press in 1997 to focus on a new enterprise, the Robert Pope Foundation.[4] Named for their late son and artist Robert Pope, who died of Hodgkins Lymphoma, the foundation shares his legacy of art which conveyed the artist's impressions of illness and healing from a patient's point of view. His work was published in the book Illness and Healing: Images of Cancer, which is today presented by the Robert Pope Foundation to first-year medical students across Canada. Pope's Illness and Healing was the recipient of the Richardson Award in 1992. In 2012, Pope's work was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.[5]
Selected writers and works published
| Writer | Titles | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Margaret Avison | sunblue A Kind of Perseverance No time* Not Yet but Still | 1978 1984 1989 1997 | * Winner, Governor General's Award for Poetry |
| Douglas How | Canada's Mystery Man of High Finance Night of the Caribou One Village One War | 1986 1988 1995 | - |
| J. E. Belliveau | The Splendid Life of Albert Smith and the Women He Left Behind Running Far In: The Story of Shediac The Monctonians (Vol. 1) The Monctonians (Vol. 2) The headliners: behind the scenes memoirs "Crackie": the Sumner family business dynasty | 1976 1977 1981 1982 1984 1986 | - |
| Allison Mitcham | Offshore islands of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Three Remarkable Maritimers Paradise or Purgatory Island Keepers Atlin, the last utopia Signs of the times The angora goat: its history, management and diseases Taku: the heart of North America's last great wilderness The Best of Abraham Gesner Poetic voices of the Maritimes: a selection of contemporary poetry | 1984 1985 1986 1989 1989 1990 1992 1993 1995 1996 | with Stephanie Mitcham Sexton with Theresia Quigley |
| Jean Vanier | Images of love, words of hope A network of friends, volume one : 1964-1973 : the letters of Jean Vanier to the friends and communities of L'Arche | 1991 1992 | |
| James Cameron | About Pictonians More About Pictonians Still More About Pictonians | 1979 1983 1985 | - |
| Watson Kirkconnell | The Flavour of Nova Scotia Designs Upon the Trestle Board | 1976 1981 | Poetry non-fiction |
| Bridglal Pachai | My Africa, My Canada | 1989 | - |
| Alden Nowlan | Nine Micmac Legends | 1983 | - |
| Charles R. Saunders | Sweat and Soul | 1990 | - |
| Dorothy Perkyns | The Mystery of the Hemlock Ravine Rachel's Revolution* The Mastodon Mystery Peril at Plover Point Signal Across the Sea | 1986 1988 1996 1991 1994 | * Co-winner, Billson Award |
References
- Obituary of Rev. William Pope
- George L. Parker, "Small Presses", Canadian Encyclopedia
- Company Listing
- Jock Murray, "Humane Health Care ..."
- Elissa Bernard, "Robert Pope’s legacy revisited", Chronicle Herald (Halifax), September 22, 2012
