Compiled by Barbara J. Lowther and Muriel Laing, A Bibliography of British Columbia: Laying the Foundations, 1849-1899 serves as a comprehensive guide to the historical texts documenting the province's formative half-century. The catalogued works extensively map the colonial expansion across this rugged Pacific Northwest terrain, from the early maritime hub of Victoria on Vancouver Island to the burgeoning mainland ports of the Burrard Inlet. Furthermore, the bibliography highlights literature detailing the arduous inland routes forged by prospectors navigating the treacherous Fraser River canyon and the remote Cariboo goldfields. Through its exhaustive collection of early regional literature, the book offers a foundational literary geography of how British Columbia transitioned from isolated coastal fur-trading outposts into a unified Canadian province.

Every effort has been made to include the government publications of the two colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia and, after their union in 1866, of the united colony of British Columbia to 1871.

Bibliographies, British Columbia, British Columbia Bibliography, British Columbia History Bibliography, bibliographies

"Prepared under the auspices of the Social Sciences Research Centre, University of Victoria."

"Prepared under the auspices of the Social Sciences Research Centre, University of Victoria."