Résumés
Abstract
We know little about the transnational publishing experience of authors of books about scientific topics in Canada. This study therefore explores the nineteenth-century publication of a Canadian author’s manuscript in the United States and Great Britain: Man’s Moral Nature (1879) by Ontario physician Richard Maurice Bucke. Although this book is relatively unknown, Bucke’s personal records about this, his first book, provide insights into publishing processes, from finding a publisher through to understanding book production and copyright. As the book’s reception shows, Bucke not only was unable to position his scientifically-oriented book for his intended general readership but he also received criticism from medical colleagues for his attempt. Bucke’s emphasis on obtaining a North American readership, however, adds further evidence of a continental market described by book history scholars.
Keywords:
- R.M. Bucke,
- authorship,
- publishing,
- book history,
- popular science
Résumé
Au Canada, nous savons très peu de l’expérience en matière de publication transnationale des auteurs de livres traitant de sujets scientifiques. Cette étude examine la publication aux États-Unis et en Grande Bretagne du manuscrit d’un auteur canadien au dix-neuvième siècle : Man’s Moral Nature [La nature morale de l’homme] par le docteur ontarien Richard Maurice Bucke. Ouvrage relativement inconnu, ses papiers personnels élucident les démarches à suivre et les procédés entourant la publication d’un livre à l’époque allant de la recherche d’un éditeur jusqu’à la manière dont l’auteur comprend les processus de production et les droits d’auteur. Comme le montre l’examen de la réception qu’a connue le livre, Bucke n’a pas réussi à faire en sorte que son ouvrage scientifiquement orienté soit susceptible d’intéresser le grand public comme il le souhaitait, mais en plus, il s’est attiré les critiques de ses collègues médecins pour avoir tenté de le faire. L’importance que Bucke attache à toucher des lecteurs dans l’Amérique tout entière fournit cependant un exemple supplémentaire de l’existence d’un marché nord-américain tel que décrit par les chercheurs dans le domaine de l’histoire du livre.
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Acknowledgements
I am indebted to Bertrum H. MacDonald, whose research informs this discussion for Canada, and who co-authored studies with me that examined Canadian scientific authors and their publishing processes. Versions of our papers that briefly included Bucke were presented at the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing, and a joint session of the Canadian Association for Studies of Book Culture and the Bibliographical Society of Canada. I would also like to thank William Knight and two anonymous reviewers of Scientia Canadensis for their thorough and insightful comments on an earlier draft of this article.
Biographical note
Jennifer J. Connor is Professor of Medical Humanities in the Faculty of Medicine, with a cross-appointment to the Department of History, Memorial University of Newfoundland. In 2015 she received both the Marie Tremaine Medal and the Watters-Morley Prize of the Bibliographical Society of Canada in recognition of her historical and bibliographical scholarship that focuses on medical book culture. Her essays have appeared in many books and journals; her latest book is Jennifer J. Connor and Katherine Side, ed., The Grenfell Medical Mission and American Support in Newfoundland and Labrador, 1890s-1940s (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2019).