Publisher Responds to ‘Abysmal Ignorance’ : Canadian Encyclopedia a Sellout in Four Days

The idea for the new Canadian Encyclopedia came to Edmonton publisher Mel Hurtig during a visit to a high school where, he says, he found students in “abysmal ignorance” about their own country.

“I was appalled by the lack of Canadian content in the curriculum,” Hurtig said in an interview in his office. Just as bad, there were few Canadian reference books in the school library, and Hurtig decided to do something about it.

The result is more than 3 million words in 8,000 articles written by 2,500 expert contributors, including such well-known authors as Margaret Atwood and Farley Mowat.

It is not only the biggest publishing project in Canadian history, but the most successful. Within four days of the September publication date of the three-volume set, Hurtig Publishers declared the full 154,500-book printing a sellout. In Canada, sales of 5,000 can put a book on national best-seller lists.

Big Discount

Those who ordered it before publication got a discount from its list price of 175 Canadian dollars ($128).

A big assist came from the Alberta government, which in 1980 set aside cash from its booming oil royalties to pay for a set of the encyclopedia for every library and school in Canada.

Now Hurtig, one of the most outspoken economic nationalists in Canada, hopes his brainchild can help Canadians learn about themselves.

“Because we live next door to a country that happens to be an aggressive exporter of its own culture, it became apparent to me that if (Canada) was going to survive, we were going to have to pay greater attention to understanding in our young people why people established a separate country on the American continent,” he said.

Not everyone shares Hurtig’s view, and there has been some criticism of the encyclopedia’s handling of Canadian nationalism.

Bad Guys, Good Guys

“The reader is led to consider the struggle for Canadian independence against American economic strength and pressures as a contest between the bad guys with eagles on their gloved fists and the good guys sheltering beavers. There are, of course, alternate interpretations,” wrote William M. Baker, a professor of history at the University of Lethbridge, in a commentary in the weekly magazine Alberta Report.

Most comment on the encyclopedia, though, has been overwhelmingly favorable. William French, in a long review in the Toronto Globe and Mail, said the entries “are remarkably thorough and authoritative.”

“A reader quickly gets the feeling this is an encyclopedia one can trust,” French continued. “It covers just about every conceivable aspect--and some inconceivable ones--of Canada and Canadians, past and present.”

A browser can learn of the discovery of insulin by two Canadian doctors, of the current tennis exploits of young Carling Bassett, of acid rain, auks, authors, musicians and painters.

Hurtig calls it “an amazing compendium of Canadian accomplishments.”

This is actually the fourth encyclopedia of Canada. There was a five-volume set in 1899, a six-volume effort in 1935 and the 10-volume Encyclopedia Canadiana, published in 1958.

Little Space to Artists

“There’s been a lot of change in this country in the last 30 years,” Hurtig said. The Encyclopedia Canadiana, he said, devoted “enormous space to lieutenant governors and very little space to Canadian artists. Our priorities were very different.”

Another priority was to keep the price down to 175 Canadian dollars.

Although there was enough material for 10 volumes, “I kept it at three volumes so the average Canadian family could afford to have it in their own home,” Hurtig said.

In addition to wide distribution in Canada, Hurtig said, his encyclopedia has been sold to buyers in all 50 U.S. states and 12 other countries, mostly to libraries, schools and corporate offices.

Despite the sellout, Hurtig has decided not to order a second printing. Instead, work is proceeding on a second edition, expected to be available in four volumes in 1988. A French translation is to be published in Montreal next year.