The book trade in Canada – origins and development

The first printing press in what would later become British North America was brought to Halifax, Nova Scotia, from Boston in 1751. A second press was brought to Quebec in 1764, just after the formal recognition of British rule in the Treaty of Paris (1763). The European population in 1761 was just under 76,000. There was rapid settlement of all six eastern provinces by American and British settlers, many of whom were accustomed to having newspapers and books in their homes. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars the country had nineteen printing presses, stretching from St John's, Newfoundland to the Niagara frontier. Under the mercantile system, colonies were in a subordinate economic position to the mother country, which expected to have the exclusive right to sell her products (particularly manufactured goods) in colonial markets. Colonies were not encouraged to develop industries which might compete. As a result, the book trade was organised to import books and periodicals. Most British North Americans had little time or money for books. Late eighteenth-century literacy rates were low, especially among the poor and farmers, though there were efforts (particularly from missionaries) to change this. A handful of booksellers imported works for a small, select group of readers: government servants, garrison officers, clergy, teachers, merchants and ladies. American books, newspapers and periodicals also circulated. Montreal led the retail bookselling trade in the early decades of the nineteenth century.