The Farfarers: Before the Norse, Mowat, Farley. Published by Key Porter Books, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1998. First Edition. 8vo up to 9½” tall., xiv, 377pp., index, maps, notes, photos. Blue boards, copper spine titles, mapped endpapers. Both volume and unclipped jacket are in fine, unread condition.
Mowat challenges the conventional notion that the Vikings were the first Europeans to reach northern Canada. Mowat offers instead an unforgettable portrait of the Albans, a race originating from the island now known as Britain. Battered by repeated invasions from their aggressive neighbours—Celt, Roman and Norse—the Albans boarded seaworthy, skin-covered boats and fled west. Their search for safety, and for the massive walrus herds on which their survival depended, took them first to Iceland, then to Greenland, and, finally, to the land now known as Newfoundland and Labrador.
Farley McGill Mowat, OC (1921-2014), was a Canadian writer and environmentalist. His works were translated into 52 languages, and he sold more than 17 million books.
