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Canoe Country and Snowshoe Country Florence Page Jaques |
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Two legendary naturalists journey through the North Country’s seasons. When Canoe Country and Snowshoe Country were first published, in 1938 and 1944, respectively, readers were charmed by their loving portrayal of the wilderness of northern Minnesota. Florence Page Jaques and her husband, Francis Lee Jaques, became celebrated champions of the Boundary Waters and its majestic environs. Now, for the first time, these classics of nature writing and art—depicting all the moods and seasons of the north woods—are brought together in one beautiful volume. A well-traveled New York sophisticate, Florence Page Jaques fell in love with northern Minnesota during her first trips to the region, and recounted those early travels in Canoe Country and Snowshoe Country. She writes of the excitement of traveling by foot, canoe, snowshoe, and dogsled. Weeks of solitude canoeing through the Boundary Waters are interrupted by encounters with the denizens of the north country: Native Americans preserving the vestiges of traditional culture, colorful and sometimes eccentric lumberjacks and trappers, and hard-working homesteaders. Her vivid stories are matched by her famous husband's spectacular drawings; Francis Lee Jaques captures the delicate power of Minnesota's seasons, from the cascading falls of summer to the frozen lakes of winter. "Here is the freedom, and untrammeled strength and grace of the wilderness as seen by an artist who loves it. As warm and friendly a presentation as a cold country ever had." —New York Herald Tribune "Mrs. Jaques's diary is a series of pictures as clear and captivating as those drawn by her husband." —London Times "Whether you're an active or vicarious woodswoman, you can count on Jaques to bring you into the forest with her, sharing her quiet adventures." —Minnesota Women's Press Florence Page Jaques (1890-1972) and Francis Lee Jaques (1887-1969), one of America's greatest nature artists, wrote and illustrated eight books together. They met in New York City and were married in 1927; their honeymoon, a canoe trip through the Minnesota-Ontario boundary waters, was described in Canoe Country, published in 1938. They returned to experience "the same land in another guise" during the winter of 1942, and Snowshoe Country was published as a result in 1944. This book received the prestigious John Burroughs Medal as the outstanding nature book of the year. Their other books are The Geese Fly High (Minnesota, 1939), Birds across the Sky (1942), Canadian Spring (1947), As Far as the Yukon (1951), and There Once Was a Puffin and Other Nonsense Verses (1957). Lee's autobiography, completed by Florence after his death, was published as Francis Lee Jaques: Artist of the Wilderness World in 1973. Justine Kerfoot was born in 1906 in Barrington, Illinois. She moved to Gunflint Lake in 1928 and was owner and operator of Gunflint Lodge for fifty-one years until she retired in 1979. Kerfoot's life in the boundary waters region has fascinated readers for years, from Florence Page Jaques's accounts in Snowshoe Country to Kerfoot's own book, Woman of the Boundary Waters. 208 pages | 91 illustrations | 7 1/2 x 10 | 1999 |
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$24.95 Cloth/jacket