Our friends at the Bytown Museum have news of a book release by by Robert Serré, with images from the museum’s unique collection 0f 19th century photographs and illustrations.
The cover of the book itself is an image of Lieutenant Colonel John By from a watercolour painted in 1832, and will appear in the next Bytown show “Hidden Treasures” starting on June 22. Here’s the news release:
Bytown At Your Fingertips is the essential document of the formative years of Ottawa. Key events, places, and people of Ottawa between the years 1826 and 1854 are fully examined and explored. Bytown Museum Director, Mike Steinhauer says, “Written for both the expert historian and those with a more casual interest, this is the book for all Ottawa enthusiasts.”
The reference book includes 16 pages filled with beautiful photographs of artefacts from the collection of the Bytown Museum, depicting the early history of Canada’s national capital. “This publication provided us with an opportunity to include key pieces from our collection that relate to Serré’s text.” said Steinhauer. “One particular engraving, Locks on the Rideau Canal, 1841, by W. H. Bartlett, gives us a rare glimpse of what Ottawa looked like before it became the nation’s capital.”
Bytown At Your Fingertips features an extensive bibliography and three chapters that outline dates, keywords and the biographies of key figures from Bytown between 1826 and 1854. Among the over 150 biographies found within this text are entries on Nicholas Sparks, a city alderman for whom Sparks Street is named, Thomas McKay, the architect for the original building that is now Rideau Hall, and Élisabeth Bruyère, a member of the congregation of Grey nuns and founder of the hospital in the Byward Market that now bears her name.
Bytown At Your Fingertips
by Robert
Bytown Museum, 2011
292 pages, 20 colour plates, bilingual publication
$19.95 + HST
$14.95 + HST for Bytown Museum Members