What a title! This book compiles years of research results that paint a detailed picture of the Canadian psyche. I hear there will be charts and graphs inside. I'm excited to read this. I submitted four comps and this is my pick of the pack.



Here's the runner-up...



*final subtitle TBD.

Edward Dacres is a dissolute, unsuccessful painter living in London in the late 1930s. He receives a letter addressed to Edward Davis (a successful painter of salon-style "Fox & Hound" scenes) requesting Davis' participation in a cultural exchange designed to educate the colonies in the "Finer Arts". Assuming the identity of Davis (among others), Dacres hops on a ship to Canada and hilarity, gin and personal disasters ensue. Think Kingsley Amis meets Evelyn Waugh.

These are two of the rough comps sent through earlier this week and I hope to hear back on which one is selected soon.



The archival shot below is of The Art Gallery of Toronto (later to be the AGO) found in the utterly fantastic and fascinating photo section of the City of Toronto Archives website.

Here's a question: does a the cover for a book about Metallica, or any other heavy metal band, have to look like a heavy metal album cover? This book collects photos from some of the band's earliest shows when they were nobodies on the bottom of the bill. I thought this picture said it all - and it's a rare glimpse of the band when they were mingling with the kids. When they were kids.



Now I also have some flailing-hair-and-distressed-typography covers up my sleeve but, I just wanted to throw this one out there.