The history of publishing in Canada

Illustration by Robert Holmes in "Rambles of Canadian Naturalist"
1916

In the publishing industry design, typography, type design, printmaking, commercial art, and illustration are closely related to each other.

Richard Hollis wrote in "Graphic Design: A Concise History" (1994): 

Graphic Design is the business of making or choosing marks and arranging them on a surface to convey an idea

But with the publication design, it is different. 

Until the end of 19th century, the majority of fine artists in Canada were trained in a more practical nature with quite a limited choice within the art industry. However, with the developing of the canadian publishing industry, there were more and more art colleges, founded in Halifax, Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Montreal, Quebec and other large cities, which began introducing students to commercial art, lithography, engraving, lettering and illustration.
Noticeably, that quite a number of people, who put an effort into development of Canadian print media and design, where immigrants.

Canada`s first publishers were also Canada`s first printers and type designers, hand-setting newspapers and books in small mid-eighteenth-century such as that of the Neilsons in Quebec City.

Lithography was invented by a German printmaker Alois Senefelder in 1796, and was brought to Toronto (formally York) in 1832 by Samuel Tazewell. It was then developed by Hugh Scobie in 1843, opening new possibilities for book, magazine and newspaper publishers.

Alois Senefelder

In the late 1800s, linotype machines and other innovations gradually replaced press-men and compositors. Increased mechanization in the 1900s saw most print shops replaced by printing plants.

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Prior to Confederation and the rise of responsible government in the Canadas, books, newspapers, journals, and notices were issued and controlled by the government.

In the first several decades of the twentieth century, Canadian publishers, such as Macmillan of Canada and McClelland & Goodchild (later known as McClelland & Stewart), were either branch-plant publishers or agents primarily for foreign publishers. 

Yet many publishers, including the small press and private presses, have necessarily restricted their audience and readership. No two publishers in Canada are the same. 

The history of the Canadian advertising

Creative agency "BBDO Toronto"

Original vintage magazine ad for Canadian MacNaughton Whisky
"Canada, you are too good to us", 1969

The advertising for immigrants to Western Canada,
1870-1930

Advertising has always been a strong communication tool. It reflects and personifies different changes in everyday life, such as political, cultural, economic and artistic, and makes strong impact on people. 

Halifax Gazette

Canadian advertising history begins with the first formal advertisement in an official governmental publication called Halifax Gazette. It represented an offer of butter for sale and appeared in 1752. Interestingly, that HG was the first newspaper in Canada.

The print media offered 4 types of possible ads - daily newspapers, general-interest magazines, special-interest magazines, and posters.

Eaton`s 1904 catalogue
(issued as the first mail-order catalogue)

In 1889, Anson McKim opened an office in Montreal in order to organize the placements of advertisings in Ontario newspapers, thus, he created the first Canadian advertising agency. McConnel Advertising became the second one and was opened in London, Ontario, in 1900s.

The vintage style of print advertising in Canada could be characterized as minimalistic. It excluded heavy graphic and design components and typography, yet remained quite an impressive example of the print posters at that date.

Canadian advertisement, 1916

Toronto Star, February 5, 1942

Old Spice Ad by Unilever

Axe Ad by Procter&Gamble