Raincoast Chronicles Fourth Five: Stories and History of the BC Coast

Ann Turner is the financial and budget manager of the University of
British Columbia Library.

This is the fourth and largest volume in the hardcover collector’s
editions of Raincoast Chronicles, bringing together essays, articles,
poems, archival photographs, and artwork from the softcover issues
16–20.

Editor Howard White began the popular softcover series in 1972 to raise
awareness about the realities of life on the wild west coast of British
Columbia and its place in B.C.’s history. The articles are invariably
well-researched and well-written, often drawing on personal
reminiscences and photographs to vividly re-create times past.

This collection includes two lengthy pieces, each of which occupied a
full issue of the softcover volumes: “Time and Tide: A History of
Telegraph Cove” by Pat Wastell Norris (Vol. 16), and “Lilies and
Fireweed: Frontier Women of British Columbia” by Stephen Hume (Vol.
20). The remaining three issues were more typical of the Raincoast
Chronicles format: together they contained 32 shorter pieces by various
authors. The index covers the entire hardcover volume. The stories are
enlightening and entertaining, and each makes a worthy contribution to
the body of knowledge regarding B.C.’s history. The hardcover edition
simply makes it more convenient to collect and preserve them.