PEOPLE OF THE DEER: with drawings by Samuel Bryant by MOWAT, Farley - 1952

Boston: Little, Brown, 1952. Blue-green cloth, colour endpaper maps. pp viii, 344. Very light yellowing and faint foxing to page edges, gilt spine stamping just a mite dulled, else fine. Dust jacket has some foxing to the spine, not glaring because of the art on the spine, tiny rubbed spot to front flap fold and outer corners, 1 cm nick to rear panel, else fine, flap price intact. The beloved author's first book, about the last of the Ihlamiut, a very small group of surviving inland Eskimos living in the Barrens northwest of Hudson's Bay. "The factuality of this book was debated in the House of Commons of Canada in 1953. Mowat was derided as a liar by Jean Lesage (then Minister of Northern Affairs and National Resources) and the existence of the Ihalmiut was questioned. Mowat's account of the famine, epidemics and forced relocation of the Ihalmiut continued to be denied for decades by churches, industry and government. However, the version of the story told in People of the Deer and several subsequent works, has since been vindicated." - Wikipedia. This first printing is remarkably uncommon. This is the nicest copy of the few that I handled over the decades. . First printing. Hardcover.