THE LAND OF OPEN DOORS Being Letters from Western Canada

London: Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. Ltd., 1914. (UK) 2nd printing 1914. Bookplate to inside front cover, small ownership label to end paper, couple of faint spots to the half-title, spot to the title page and to the first page of the forward, spie is faded and spotted with rain(?), note in pen to the author's name on the title page which indicates that he was the 4th son of the Vicar of Leeds, born Jan 14, 1888, thus Good minus only; lacking the dust jacket, Red cloth with gold titles, top edge gilt, xxiv, 266pp, then [10]pp of publishers ads. Tissue-protected frontis, 24 B&W photo plates and a fold out map of Edmonton. Bickersteth joined the Anglican mission in Edmonton a year after its establishment in 1910. As a lay missionary he travelled in the country northwest of Edmonton for two years, during the first year among homesteaders, and in the second among railroad builders. In his letters to friends and relatives in England he described the land he found so captivating and ‘life in the raw’ as he witnessed it day by day. He wrote ‘of some discomfort, of occasional hardships, but most certainly of absorbing interest and unique opportunity.’ On his return to England in 1913 he was encouraged to publish his letter by Lord Grey, who has written the foreword to this book. (2.2 JM LVR 200/b5. Hardcover. Good (-)/Lacking the Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾".