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National Library News
July/August 1999
Vol. 31, nos. 7-8



From the Rare Book Collection

by Michel Brisebois,
Rare Book Curator

William George Beers, 1841-1900,
Lacrosse, the National Game of Canada,
Montreal: Dawson Brothers, 1869. xvi, 256 p.

It was Father Jean de Brébeuf who, in 1683, witnessed a game of lacrosse being played by the Algonquin tribes of the St. Lawrence valley. The Natives called it "baggataway" (meaning "ball") but Brébeuf coined it "la crosse" after the shape of the stick, which resembled a bishop’s crosier or "crosse" in French. For the Natives, the game was a religious rite and served to train young warriors. Aside from a few symbolic games between whites and Natives, lacrosse did not become popular among the white population until Confederation.

William George Beers (1841-1900), one of Canada’s foremost dentists, became the driving force behind the sport’s great popularity in the period from Confederation to the Great War. Beers saw the need to codify the often unruly and violent sport, and to introduce a scientific component which he thought would be a way for young people, including ladies, to build their character. He published the rules in 1860 and, by Confederation, had embarked on a campaign to make lacrosse Canada’s national sport. An ardent nationalist, Beers maintained that cricket, which was the most popular summer sport in Canada at the time, was not worthy of the title since it had been imported from Britain.

Lacrosse, the National Game of Canada, the first book on lacrosse published in Canada, was the culmination of his efforts. The book contains chapters on the origin of the game, a detailed description of the equipment, the different positions, and the skills required in order to play. An appendix reprints the rules of the sport. The edition is enriched by a double-page frontispiece which is a mosaic of 12 small original photographs by William Notman, the well-known Montreal photographer, showing players displaying various skills. The studio photographs also show how Notman used painted backgrounds to simulate actual outdoor shots.

This publication is a relatively early example of how original photographs, instead of the conventional wood engravings, were used to illustrate books. Later technology would involve reproductions of photographs rather than the expensive use of originals. Although Beers claimed that lacrosse had officially been adopted as Canada’s national sport, the Canadian Parliament never passed legislation to this effect. The popularity of lacrosse increased tremendously in Canada, and even abroad, until the First World War when it began to lose ground to baseball. William George Beers is remembered both as the "father of lacrosse" and also as the most renowned dentist of his time.

This important publication can be seen along with more than 200 books, pamphlets, leaflets and broadsides in the National Library's exhibition entitled Impressions: 250 years of printing in the lives of Canadians. This exhibition is located in the main exhibition room at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa and is open to the public until January 7, 2000. Admission is free. A Web version of the exhibition is available at <www.nlc-bnc.ca/events/twofift/eimprint.htm>.


Copyright. The National Library of Canada. (Revised: 1999-7-28).