The Book of Small

Sketch of book cover

To the left is a picture of Emily Carr's original sketched idea for the cover of The Book of Small. It is a pencil on newsprint drawing and is housed at the B.C. Archives.

Shown below is what the first edition cover was actually printed as...

Book cover

"One year after the publication of Klee Wyck, The Book of Small appeared...The Book of Small was entirely different from Klee Wyck. She was bigger. Some people liked her more, some less. The first half of Small was a collection of childhood (our childhood) stories, the life we lived in the far West where Father and Mother pioneered and raised their large family.

The other half of Small was called A Little Town and a Little Girl. It told of little old Victoria before she was even a town. Nearly all the people who lived there were English and they had a good many difficulties to cope with. They had only small Chinaboys as helps, no plumbing, only pumps and wells, no electric light and no telephone. Indians went round the streets selling their beautiful cedar-bark baskets or trading them for old clothes, or peddling clams or pitch wood tied in bundles for the lighting of fires. The Book of Small told of the slow, conservative development of Canada's most Western city."

--Growing Pains p. 276.
The Book of Small was just as popular as Klee Wyck had been, if not more. Emily's editor wanted even more books from her now, and Emily was happy to comply.
Emily Carr at Home and at Work
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Gallery Tour Family Writing Issues Team

Last updated: 23 July 1997
Sponsored by: Industry Canada
Produced by: Schoolnet Digital Collections Team
Content provided by: BC Heritage Branch, Province of British Columbia