Winner, 2020 Basil Stuart-Stubbs Prize. Sponsored by UBC Library and the Pacific BookWorld News Society, this prize recognizes the best scholarly book published by a Canadian author on a BC subject.
Winner, 2020 Basil Stuart-Stubbs Prize. Sponsored by UBC Library and the Pacific BookWorld News Society, this prize recognizes the best scholarly book published by a Canadian author on a BC subject.
The author’s latest work –
In Nature’s Realm – completes his trilogy of award-winning histories of Vancouver Island exploration, joining The Land of Heart’s Delight and A Perfect Eden.
2019 winner of the
Lieutenant Governor's
Medal for
Historical Writing
The Land of Heart's Delight, A Perfect Eden and In Nature’s Realm can be found at bookstores, libraries, and museum shops on Vancouver Island and beyond, as well as online. Published by Touchwood Editions in Victoria BC
In Nature’s Realm: Early Naturalists Explore Vancouver Island (2019)
HARMONY & RAGE
THE REAL STORY
Masterful … consummately executed
research and investigation.
–– Dr. Susan E. Parker, UBC University Librarian,
May 3, 2020
A work of great range, breadth, and synthesis.
–– Richard Mackie, Ormsby Review, Apr 2, 2020
Never a dull moment in this beautiful and thoroughly enjoyable book.
–– Caroline Woodward, BC Booklook, May 4, 2020
Never a dull moment in this beautiful and thoroughly enjoyable book — Caroline Woodward, BC Booklook, May 4, 2020
Masterful … consummately executed
research and investigation — Dr. Susan E. Parker, UBC University Librarian, May 3, 2020
A work of great range, breadth, and synthesis — Richard Mackie, Ormsby Review, Apr 2, 2020
The greedy—fur traders, prospectors, timber speculators—rub elbows with the officious— surveyors, cartographers, planners, missionaries—as well as the mad and the magnificent on all sides — Stephen Hume, Vancouver Sun, Dec 21, 2016
Sheds new light on some of the long-familiar stories — Dave Obee, Publisher, Times Colonist, Dec 4, 2016
The choicest morsels from hundreds of logbooks and diaries…. illustrated with antique engravings and beautiful maps, complemented by a selection of modern paintings of historical scenes — Robert Amos, Times Colonist, Dec 4, 2016
Filled with beautifully detailed colour and black-and-white reproductions, this coffee-table book is a must for fans of cartography and history — Mark Collin Reid, Editor-in Chief, Canada’s History (formerly The Beaver)
Readable, entertaining and informative … a reference work for many years to come — Dave Obee, Publisher Times Colonist, Nov 3, 2013
Meticulously researched and lavishly illustrated — Margaret Thompson, The Coastal Spectator, Jan 14, 2014
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Layland at Munro’s Books, 2019.
“World traveller finds a treasure trove of print and digital maps” published in the Times Colonist, October 25, 2016, about the author’s passion for maps, and how his first two books came to be.
Born and educated in England, Michael Layland trained as an officer and mapmaker in the Royal Engineers of the British Army. As a civilian, he continued with mapping-related projects in South and Central America, Arabia, North and West Africa, and Antarctica.
Throughout his career he experienced first-hand the challenges, complexities, and hazards of working in undeveloped regions. These experiences fostered his empathy and great admiration for the early explorers of Canada’s west coast, in particular Vancouver Island, his home since 1992.
His extensive research of the cartographic and exploration history of the Island fuelled his first two books. In the third, In Nature’s Realm, he combined his love of exploration history with a deep, life-long interest in the natural world.
Michael Layland has served as president of the Friends of the BC Archives and the Victoria Historical Society. He is a member of the Victoria Natural Historical Society, the Victoria Historical Society, The Writers Union of Canada, Science Writers and Communicators of Canada, and the International Map Collectors’ Society. A past member of the Society for the History of Discoveries, he reviews books for British Columbia History magazine and the Ormsby Review. His articles on explorers and exploration history have appeared in international encyclopedias, including eight entries in the two-volume Oxford Companion to World Exploration.
TALKS AND MORE
Because of restrictions imposed to contain COVID-19, all in-person talks scheduled for 2020 were cancelled or postponed. As the situation permits, events will be re-scheduled.
As venues reopen, please check back here for updates.
To arrange a talk, reading, or interview, please email the publisher’s marketing representative at Touchwood Editions or email the author directly.
ORDER
FOR READERS
The Land of Heart's Delight, A Perfect Eden and In Nature’s Realm can be found at bookstores, libraries, and museum shops on Vancouver Island and beyond, as well as online. Published by Touchwood Editions, Victoria, BC, Canada
FOR BOOKSELLERS
To order in Canada
Heritage Group Distribution
1.800.665.3302
e: orders@hgdistribution.com
To order in the US
Publishers Group West / INGRAM Content Group
1.866.400.5351
e: ipsorders@ingramcontent.com
For International orders
e: IPS_Intlsales@ingramcontent.com