A Basket of Apples: Recollections of Historic Nova Scotia

Barry J. Edwards was a librarian with the Metro Toronto Library.

The many scenic beauties of Canada’s “ocean playground” have long captured the eye of artist and photographer alike. With the variety of its landscape and the sharp contrasts in its weather, Nova Scotia more than makes up for its small size. Innumerable sheltered coves along its tempest-tossed coastline alternate with the undulating sweep of the Annapolis Valley at apple time and the rugged grandeur of Cape Breton. To a Nova Scotian like myself, A Basket of Apples is a sumptuous spread of memories and much more besides.

In this album of recollections of historic Nova Scotia, author Harry Bruce and photographer Chic Harris take a long and lingering look at both the land and its people. From the early days of the first French settlers back in 1604 and the tumultuous years fighting the English and the more hostile elements, we witness Nova Scotia in its heyday as one of Canada’s wealthiest provinces, and then its subsequent decline. More than a collection of stunning colour photographs, A Basket of Apples offers a text that is elegant and affectionate, but at the same time rich in local colour and detail. We learn, for instance, that Nova Scotia’s serrated coast-line winds for 4,625 miles, longer than the breadth of the entire continent. More interesting still is Bruce’s account of the time when lobsters “were so tiresomely plentiful that farmer-fishermen dumped them on their fields as fertilizer. Lobster meat was supposedly fit only for the poverty-stricken, and children begged their mothers not to shame them by forcing them to carry lobster sandwiches to school.” Even when Bruce makes questionable generalizations to reinforce a point, he is merely taking a cue from Nova Scotia’s famed literary creation, Sam Slick.

There have been other photographic accounts of Nova Scotia, though few can match the masterful and breathtaking quality of these pictures. Oxford University Press is to be commended for this handsome production, which brings with it the tang of salt air and fresh apple pie.