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Available copies of Distant Summers I and II

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Alan Gage

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As some of you know PG Downes' trip journals (Distant Summers, Volumes I and II) are no longer in print and sources of reasonably priced copies seem to have dried up in the last couple years. Which is really a shame since they're wonderful books with a lot of northern history and native folklore.

This morning my girlfriend was telling me about her favorite online source for used books (alibris) and just for fun I thought I'd see if they had Distant Summers. Lo and behold they do! Both volumes!

Here's the link for anyone interested in purchasing them: https://www.alibris.com/booksearch?keyword=distant+summers+downes&mtype=B&hs.x=0&hs.y=0&hs=Submit

NOTE that it appears Alibris isn't the actual seller of the books. Rather they're being sold by J. Patrick McGahern Books Inc. out of Ottawa and they only have a 1 star seller rating. I don't see anywhere that says what they did to deserve that rating so buyer beware.

Alan
 
Alan Gage said:
NOTE that it appears Alibris isn't the actual seller of the books. Rather they're being sold by J. Patrick McGahern Books Inc. out of Ottawa and they only have a 1 star seller rating. I don't see anywhere that says what they did to deserve that rating so buyer beware.

Alan
Click to expand...

I found their rating/review page and it doesn't look so bad. Only two comments and both positive.

https://www.alibris.com/stores/mcgahernbooks/feedback

Alan
 
recped said:
J. Patrick McGahern Books is the publisher, they have stock of both books (I saw a stack of them at the canoe symposium last week).

You should be able to order directly from them without issue.

http://www.mcgahernbooks.ca/new-ssr...nes&textTitle=&txtPub=&txtDate=&submit=Search
Click to expand...

Well that certainly is good news. My google skills must be slipping since I couldn't find any reasonable priced copies available when I looked 6 months ago.

Thanks for posting that.

Alan
 
Second what recped said about availability. I've bought a number of books from McGahern and always had good service.

wjmc
 
The copyright should have expired in 2009 or 2010. I wish someone would make the books available in ebook format at an even more reasonable price.
 
Regarding classic tripping tomes (and availability), I re-read The Complete Wilderness Paddler (thanks Erica). It had been a while; mine is a 1983 paperback, so old that I broke the spin when I opened it.

I was most struck on reread by the books mentioned in the Preparations chapter. Classic and historic tripping tales I wholly ignored in ’83 but have since found my way to, some in thanks to discussions here.

I have still managed to overlook a few books mentioned in that Chapter (Appendix III is worth checking as well).

(The) Hudson’s Bay Company, two different authors, or The Honorable Company.
Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories
Journey from Prince of Wale’s Fort in Hudson’s Bay to the Northern Ocean
The Legend of John Hornsby
Voyages from Montreal on the River St. Lawrence, through the Continent of North America, to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans
The Friendly Arctic

Anyone familiar with those?

A couple of are rare used, or less rare but still pricey, and a couple are still available as $6 paperbacks. Time to see if my public library system has any of the pricey ones.
 
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