 Fredrick William Ellis |
Bill Elllis sits in his small wooden Bookhouse
on the tideline at Bearskin Bay, at the northwest edge of Queen Charlotte City. When he
looks up and out of the west-facing windows, he sees the scenic bay, the prolific vegetable
garden, the raspberry patch and flower gardens. The tide comes in and out, the herons feed
in the shallow waters, and the eagles watch from the spruce trees. Among his recent customers who dropped by for an impromptu visit were Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson and John Ralston Saul. Not many booksellers can operate in such an idyllic setting. Here our new columnist Terry Stillman pays tribute to Ellis and his integral role in the expansion of awareness of Native titles and, by association, society's understanding and appreciation of indigenous culture. Bill Ellis, my favourite amongst the 'Deans of British Columbia Booksellers', owns the "Northwest Coast Book Company" in Queen Charlotte City and has been an important figure in the providing of easy access to books dealing with Northwest Native peoples. I first met Bill in the 1980's when he was already in his 60's. He's always reminded me of a grizzled old trapper who just came into the city after working winter traplines. |
| Bill's son, David, disagrees with me on the trapper point. He's the one with the trapping
experience. His father is an old sailor who went to war in the 1940's and served aboard the
H.M.C.S. Athabaskan, the subject of a book, Unlucky Lady by Len Burrow
and Emile Beaudoin. Bill fortunately booked off the Athabaskan the week that
she was sunk. Unlucky Lady, Lucky Bill. Bill started his own Art and Prints business in 1963. During the 1960's he was the agent for Haida carver and print maker Bill Reid. In the mid 1970's he sold this first business and moved to Queen Charlotte City. Bill continued to dabble in Native art prints and also added books on Western Canadiana and some books on Northwest Natives from his own collection. Books soon became the dominant portion of his business. He then further refined his book business to specializing in books dealing with North American Native art and culture, especially the Pacific Northwest. Ellis proceeded to create for himself a nice little niche in the book business by acquiring all the new publications and the out-of-print books on the subject that he could find. Ellis crisscrossed Canada several times, seeking out hundreds of out-of-print titles dealing with Northwest Coast Native peoples. He visited Halifax, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and many smaller cities and towns, building solid relationships with other booksellers. A few years ago David Ellis visited many of the same Eastern Canadian bookstores and many dealers remembered his father's visits. For the past 25 years, Ellis has been supplying public and university libraries, museums and various Native groups with all the books they need. His pitch to all of these organizations is that they can save time and money by ordering all their Northwest Native titles from one source. And he can still offer a discount! In the process, Ellis has helped build many individual tribal nation libraries. His daughter Diana tells of the many occasions she has watched her father contact his customers and convince them that these are exactly the books they need. "Not many people seem to know that he has accumulated such a large collection," says Jill Grafton of Grafton Books in Victoria. "He deserves some recognition." Bill Ellis loves the book business and is particularly passionate about his specialty. He regrets that there seems to be few young people coming into the out-of-print side of the book business. So, in their absence, he's continuing on. A stroke last year slowed his speech and gait a little, but not his wit. He's still going strong, although he says he's made his last cross-country buying trip. Bill will be 80 next year (2002) and he plans on issuing a new business card stating that he's the oldest bookseller in British Columbia. (I believe he beats out David Moon of The Bookstall in Ambleside by a few months.) |
|
an email