Addenda to Henry Collen and the treaty of nanking

Abstract

In 1922, the combined work of journalist Victoria Hayward and photographer Edith S. Watson was collected in a publication entitled Romantic Canada. Introduced by Edward J. O'Brien and published in Toronto, it is 254 pages in length and generously illustrated with 77 halftone reproductions.¹ The book takes the reader from the eastern to the western shores of Canada, following rural pathways through isolated settlements and historic villages, and stopping along the way to study the particularities of place and custom. What is extraordinary about this book is the way in which the photographs and text complement each other in creating a pictorial and literary celebration of traditional country life. For the photographic historian, the work offers insights into the discursive relationship between photographic aesthetics and the cultural role of woman journalists in post-First World War Canada.