Honorary Degree Books 2008
Esko Tapani Aho
The youngest Prime Minister in the history of Finland, Esko Tapani Aho championed substantial investments in research and development that have made a significant contribution to Finland's status as one of the most advanced economies in the world. He served for 20 years as a Member of the Finnish Parliament and, following his retirement, was appointed President of the Sitra, the Finnish National Fund for Research and Development. Aho continues to serve as a member of the Science and Technology in Society Forum, the InterAction Council, and the Club de Madrid.
Karimo, Aarno. Kuva-Kalevala. Helsinki: Pellervo-Seura, 1953.
Kuva-Kalevala
The Kalevala is the national epic of Finnish and Karelian folklore. It was compiled by the physician, folklorist, and philologist Elias Lönnrot (1812-84) who travelled throughout the country carefully making notes of the sung poems. The first version published as a coherent body of work appeared in 1835. The illustrator of this publication, Aaro Karimo (1886-1952) was a Finnish soldier, painter, and writer whose major opus Kuva-Kalevala was published posthumously. This edition is in the original Finnish, but the epic has been widely translated into over thirty five languages. It is bound in half leather with gilt title and decorations on the spine. [PH 323 A2 1953]
Bertha (Berdie) Helen Fowler
Bertha (Berdie) Helen Fowler, a distinguished alumna of Augustana in Camrose, is a recipient of the Outstanding Contributions Award in 2002 from the Independent Free Press Papers of America, the Alberta Order of Excellence in 2006, and the Camrose Literacy Award in 2007. A former City Councillor and the first woman in Alberta to be elected President of a Chamber of Commerce, Fowler was also the first woman in Alberta to be appointed to the Alberta Apprenticeship Board and the Board of the Alberta Opportunity Company.
Chapone, Mrs. Hester. Letters on the Improvement of the Mind.
London: Printed by H. Hughs for J. Walter, 1774.
Letters on the Improvement of the Mind
Hester Chapone, acentral figure in the Bluestocking circle of the eighteenth century, was a protégé of Dr. Johnson and Samuel Richardson. This collection of letters stresses the importance of education for young women. Her themes include religion, economy, geography, history, politeness, accomplishment, government of the temper, and regulation of the heart and affection. Chapone's books were highly regarded and went into many editions. This set is bound in contemporary full mottled calf with gilt decorated spines and ribbon bookmarks bound in. [BJ 1681 C46 1774 v.1-2]
Fil Fraser
Program Director of Canada's first educational television station and founder of the Banff World Television Festival, Fil Fraser is an award-winning feature film producer who organized and chaired the first Alberta Film Festival in 1974. A mentor for many young people across the country and a passionate advocate for the arts, Fraser is a Member of the Order of Canada and is currently the Chair of the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Awards Foundation.
Seastone, Leonard. Good Movies: A Film Noir in Book Form. Purchase, N.Y.: Tideline Press, 1988.
Good Movies: A Film Noir in Book Form
During the mid-twentieth century the Eastman Kodak Company published dozens of editions of handbooks “for the amateur movie maker.” This work is an enlarged montage, a visual rewriting of the manual. In the artist’s statement he suggests that his key was the “Kod” (pronounced code) in Kodak and that if a book is not just something to contain predetermined information then Good Movies surely is, in essence, investigative. He cautions, “the facts have been changed to forewarn the innocent,” and sees “an alignment of the co-development, in the 1840s, of the camera and the mystery novel with language that overlaps in its parlance of violence and predictive hints” of future dire events. The book is bound in quarter leather, stamped title in printed paper boards. [N 7433.4 S438 A6 G646 1988 folio]
Alex Simeon Janvier
Alex Simeon Janvier is a Canadian artist of international stature whose style fuses Aboriginal traditions with modernist abstraction. Recipient of lifetime achievement awards from the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, the Tribal Chiefs Institute, and the Cold Lake First Nations, he was elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts in 1992 and was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2007. Earlier this spring, Janvier received a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts.
Schmoller, Tanya. To Brighten Things Up: The Schmoller Collection of Decorated Papers. Manchester: Manchester Metropolitan University Library, 2008.
To Brighten Things Up: The Schmoller Collection of Decorated Papers
Decorated papers have been used for centuries as endpapers or wrappers for books or pamphlets. The types of decoration described and illustrated in this book are gold embossed, marbled, block printed, paste, machine printed, and other techniques mainly from Japan and China. The collection was painstakingly gathered by the late Hans Schmoller who was a book designer and typographer and later Director of Penguin Books. Such collections are invaluable sources of inspiration for artists, students, and researchers of all kinds with interests in design, surface pattern, book history, and much more. The cover is bound in marbled paper designed by Tirzah Ravilious, and the end papers are examples of late twentieth century marbling by Karli Frigge. [Z 271.3 S36 T6 2008 folio]
Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean
Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean is the vice-regal representative of the Queen in Canada and an articulate advocate on social issues. Anchor for Le Telejournal's daily edition on Radio-Canada and host for both The Passionate Eye and Rough Cuts on CBC Newsworld, Madame Jean has won numerous honours for her professional achievements. These include the Prix Anik for best information reporting in Canada, the 2001 Gemini Award for best interview in any category, and the inaugural Amnesty International Canada Journalism Award.
Depestre, René. Un été indien de la parole. Plouédern, France: Editions Double Cloche, 2001.
Un été indien de la parole
This livre d’artiste is the result of a collaboration between the renowned Haitian born poet René Depestre, recipient of many prestigious literary awards, and the noted French artist, Yves Picquet. In his preface to the work the poet claims to have kept his words in his memory with the hope of finally expressing them with grace and strength and maturity of body and mind. He says he has dreamed of Indian Summer for thirty years and thus it becomes both a distillation and climax of his work. He rejoices in the artist’s work calling it a dream accompaniment to his poetic text. The unbound sheets of text and serigraphs are in a custom made cloth covered case. [PQ 3949 D42 E84 2001]
Dr Elizabeth (Betty) Millard Jones
Elizabeth (Betty) Millard Jones introduced and has trained thousands of medical professionals from 48 countries in Kangaroo Care, a program that has saved countless preterm infants by stabilizing their heartbeat, temperature, and breathing through skin-to-skin contact with their mothers or caring adults. Today 82% of neonatal intensive care units in the United States use Kangaroo Care.
Nelson, James. An Essay on the Government of Children under Three General Heads: viz. Health, Manners and Education. London: R. and J. Dodsley, 1753.
An Essay on the Government of Children
This is the first edition of the authoritative manual by the noted London apothecary James Nelson (1710-1794), who practiced in London for half a century and whose book is still used as a valuable source for studying the relations of parents and children in eighteenth-century England. One of his rationally stated recommendations for fostering healthy children is to feed them regularly scheduled meals. This copy, in a contemporary full calf binding has end papers heavily annotated with an early owner’s children’s birth dates. [HQ 769 N425 1753]
Dr Bartha Marie Knoppers
Bartha Marie Knoppers is a lawyer and U of A alumna known internationally for her significant contribution to law reform and to medical ethics, including the issues of stem cell research, genomics, genetic testing, informed consent, and patenting. She was a member of the International Bioethics Committee of the United Nations, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization from 1993 to 1997, an organization that drafted the Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights. Knoppers is an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Wells, H.G. The Island of Doctor Moreau. London: William Heinemann, 1896.
The Island of Doctor Moreau
Written decades before the discovery of DNA, the double helix, and the concept of genetic engineering this is H.G. Wells’s sardonic parable about science without ethics. In it, he attacks scientific research run amok, research that he saw being pursued without thought and purpose. The prospect of the events on Moreau’s island becoming a reality has haunted thinking scientists for decades and reinforces the important role of established ethical codes and their regulation. This is the first edition, bound in the publisher’s original tan cloth, pictorially decorated in black and red. [PR 5774 I82 1896]
k.d. lang
An internationally acclaimed singer/songwriter who was born in Edmonton and grew up in Consort, Alberta, k.d. lang has won eight Juno Awards along with four Grammy Awards. Voted artist of the decade by the Canadian music industry in 1990, she received the Governor General's National Arts Centre Award in 2005. An outstanding vocalist who received a BRIT award for Best International Female Artist and was named an Officer of the Order of Canada for her services to music, lang has recorded over 13 albums, including Hymns of the 49th Parallel, a showcase for Canadian songwriters.
Beube, Douglas. The Many Lives of Miss Chatelaine.
Brooklyn: D. Beube, 2008.
The Many Lives of Miss Chatelaine
In his artist statement Douglas Beube refers to The Many Lives of Miss Chatelaine as a “metaphor and tribute to kd lang who has gone through numerous musical and personal changes throughout her career and my artwork is an impression or sketch rather than an exact rendering of her life.” To accomplish this complex portrait, Beube has gathered numerous books that have either directly or tangentially affected the singer. He feels that some of her musical influences and collaborations with Roy Orbison and Patsy Cline were monumental and her affinity with animals, nature, and the earth are essential elements in her life as is her belief in the freedom of individuals to be in love relationships that are true to their soul whether they are gay, lesbian, or straight. Through collage, sculpture, written text – using lists of birds and flowers from Alberta for example – lyrics from her songs, cut paper, stitching zippers, and text pages, the composite portrait both figuratively and literally unfolds. [N 7433.4 B566 A6 M36 2008 folio]
Preston Manning
Preston Manning, a U of A alumnus, served as a Member of the Canadian Parliament from 1993 to 2002. He founded two political parties, the Reform Party of Canada and the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance, and served as leader of the Opposition from 1997 to 2000. After retiring from Parliament, he wrote the book Think Big, describing his use of the tools and institutions of democracy to change Canada's national agenda. In 2007, Manning was made a companion of the Order of Canada.
Blue, John. Alberta Past and Present: Historical and Biographical.
Chicago: Pioneer Historical Pub. Co., 1924.
Alberta Past and Present
This three-volume set offers a comprehensive history of Alberta from the early explorations of the fur traders to its transformation into a rich and populous province. Provincial Librarian John Blue was inspired to write the story by his long residence in Western Canada, and he assembled an impressive historical record from the resources of the Provincial Library at Edmonton, the University of Alberta Library, and Dr A. C. Rutherford’s excellent collection of Canadiana. The volumes are copiously illustrated and include numerous portraits of prominent Albertans and early scenes in Alberta, from Main Street in Medicine Hat to Fort Calgary at 1878. The set features a handsome frontispiece portrait of the author, lovely marbled edges, and green cloth with gilt lettering on the spines. [FC 3661 B65 1924 v.1-3]
Dr J. Peter Meekison
J. Peter Meekison is a distinguished international advisor on constitutional and human rights issues. A former professor, Associate Dean in the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, and Vice-President (Academic) at the University of Alberta, he also served as Deputy Minister of the Department of Federal and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Province of Alberta. An Officer of the Order of Canada and an expert on constitutional affairs, Meekison authored a proposal for the amending formula that was ultimately incorporated into the Constitution Act, 1981.
Voltaire, Francoise-Marie Arouet de. A Treatise on Toleration. London: Printed for Fielding and
Walker, 1779.
A Treatise on Toleration
This is the first edition of these three translations by the Rev. David Williams. Voltaire’s impassioned plea for impartial justice for Protestants and Catholics alike eventually led to the exoneration of an individual executed for allegedly murdering his son rather than see him renounce his religion in favour of Catholicism. The second translation is a treatise on scepticism and the nature of philosophical comprehension. The last is an important contribution to penological reform. Williams was a founder of the Royal Literary Fund and a close friend of Oliver Goldsmith. This edition is bound in a handsome period-style mottled calf panel binding with gilt rules and gilt-stamped corner fleurons. [PQ 2075 T72 1779]
Dr Anthony James Pawson
One of only nine Canadians in history to be named by Queen Elizabeth II to the Order of Companions of Honour, Anthony James Pawson has made outstanding contributions to biomedical research. His research has contributed greatly to our understanding of why tumours form and how cancer cells spread from tumours to other areas of the body. Distinguished scientist at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at the University of Toronto, he is a Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Canada, an Officer of the Order of Canada, a member of the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame, and a recipient of a Gairdner Foundation International Award.
Darwin, Erasmus. Zoonomia, or, The Laws of Organic Life. London: J. Johnson, 1796.
Zoonomia, or, The Laws of Organic Life
Erasmus Darwin was a physician, naturalist, poet, inventor, and the author of several works of poetry and science. The first volume of this, his most important work, was published in 1794 with the second volume appearing two years later. In Zoonomia, Erasmus Darwin proposed his own theories of the gradual evolution of animals and plants, and stressed the influence of environment, anticipating by decades the work of his renowned grandson Charles. The set is bound in contemporary full calf with gilt spine labels. [QP 29 D22 v.1-2]
Dr J. Craig Venter
Listed in 2007 as one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world, J. Craig Venter has made revolutionary contributions to our understanding of genomics, microbiology, and the fundamental biodiversity of our planet. Pioneering the use of Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) for gene discovery, he decoded the genome of the first free-living organism, a bacterium. Venter also pioneered the use of the whole-genome shotgun and assembly method and, in 2007, decoded his own complete DNA sequence.
Leeuwenhoek, Antoni van. Anatomia Seu Interiora Rerum: cum Animatarum Tum Inanimatarum, Ope & Beneficio Exquisitissimorum Microscopiorum Detecta, Variisque Experimentis Demonstrata, una Cum Discursu & Ulteriore Dilucidatione Epistolis Quibusdam ad Celeberrimum, quod Sermis Magnae Britanniae Regis Auspicio Londini floret, Philosophorum Collegium, Datis Comprehensa. Lugduni Batavorum: Apud Cornelium Boutesteyn, Bibliopolam, 1687.
Anatomia Seu Interiora Rerum
This rare publication was printed in Leiden during van Leeuwenhoek’s lifetime (1632-1723). He is commonly known as the Father of Microbiology and considered to be the first microbiologist. He used microscopes of his own making to discover bacteria, protozoa, spermatozoa, Hydra and Volvox, and also parthogenesis in aphids. This book is a Latin translation of the letters van Leeuwenhoek wrote over a number of years to the Royal Society in London wherein he transmitted his observations and drawings. It contains many woodcut illustrations and numerous foldout diagrams and is bound in the original publisher’s binding with a paper spine label. [QH 271 L48 1687]
Pamela Wallin
Pamela Wallin was the first woman in Canadian network television history to be appointed Ottawa Bureau Chief (1985), and she later anchored the nightly national newscasts for both CTV and CBC. An equally articulate and influential advocate on issues related to health and education, Wallin is Chancellor of the University of Guelph and Co-Chair of the National Strategy Council of the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute in Edmonton.
National Council of Women of Canada. Women of Canada: Their Life and Work. Montreal, 1900.
Women of Canada
This rare handbook was intended to provide an aperçu of the history, achievements, and position of Canadian women as a whole. The first issue was prepared for the Canadian Section of the Paris Exhibition of 1898 to ensure an adequate presence was provided. It includes a prefatory note by Ishbel Aberdeen (founder and Advisory president of the National Council of Women of Canada) and chapters on immigration, charities and reform, art and handicrafts, trades and industries, professions open to women, and women's legal status, as well as a checklist of literature by Canadian women authors. This issue, in bright pictorial paper wrappers was distributed three years later at the amazing exposition in Buffalo, New York. [HQ 1453 N27]
John B. Zoe
A leading statesman and key catalyst in launching and resolving the Tlicho negotiations with the Canadian federal government, John B. Zoe is currently the Chief Executive Officer for the Tlicho government. One of the foremost experts on Tlicho history, a custodian of Tlicho culture, and a driving force in the protection and enhancement of the Tlicho language, he helped to create the Behchoko Community Teacher Education Program which incorporates Indigenous education philosophies into a modern curriculum.
Ingstad, Helge. The Land of Feast and Famine.
New York: Knopf, 1933.
The Land of Feast and Famine
The Norwegian explorer Helge Marcus Ingstad (1899-2001) is most famous for discovering the ruins of L’anse aux Meadows on the north coast of Newfoundland in 1960 proving Vikings reached North America 500 years before Columbus or Cabot. In the 1920s Ingstad sold his law practice and travelled to the Northwest Territories where he lived as a trapper in the company of aboriginal and white trappers and hunters. This book describes his numerous adventures and also provides a remarkable body of knowledge about native medicine. This first English edition is in the original publisher’s yellow cloth binding with dust jacket. [FC 4167.2 I55 E5 1933a]