This edition of The Story Girl was published by The Ryerson Press (Toronto) in 1944 and was the first edition of the book published by a Canadian press. It appeared alongside similar reissues of Kilmeny of the Orchard and The Golden Road and had been preceded by Ryerson Press reissues of Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, and Anne of the Island in 1942 and of Chronicles of Avonlea in 1943. This edition was reprinted from the plates of the original edition (published by L.C. Page and Company in 1911) and would be reprinted several times, including by the amalgamated company McGraw-Hill Ryerson, which published a new edition of The Story Girl in 1972.
{ The Story Girl } { The Story Girl: Editions } { The Ryerson Press } { Editions, 1940–1949 }
![The Story Girl (Ryerson Press, 1944 [1966 printing]): front cover](https://i0.wp.com/lmmonline.org/wp-content/uploads/sg-1944-ryerson.jpg?resize=212%2C300&ssl=1)
![The Story Girl, by L.M. Montgomery (Ryerson Press, 1944 [1966 printing]): front boards](https://i0.wp.com/lmmonline.org/wp-content/uploads/sg-1944-ryersonpress-fb-yellow.jpg?fit=843%2C400&ssl=1)
Front cover, front board, and title page of The Story Girl, by L.M. Montgomery (The Ryerson Press, 1944); front cover of 1953 printing; front board from 1966 printing.
Author
L.M. Montgomery
Title
Language
English
Country
Canada
Publisher Location
Toronto
Publisher
Publication Date
Format
Print, jacketed hardcover, 7 7/8” x 5 3/8”, viii + 365 pp.
Dust Jacket Flap Copy
This is the first Canadian edition of The Story Girl, by the author of Anne of Green Gables. When The Story Girl was originally published, the Toronto Globe wrote of it: “It will be read and, we venture to predict, reread many times, for there is a freshness and sweetness about it which will help to lift the load of care, to cheer the weary and to make brighter still the life of the carefree and the happy.”
L. M. Montgomery (Mrs. Ewan MacDonald) has almost a score of other books to her credit and these, like Anne of Green Gables, have grown out of her life. She was born November 20 [sic], 1874, at Clifton, Prince Edward Island. When she was a year old, her mother died and she was brought up by her grandparents at Cavendish, P.E.I. She early showed signs of literary ability, at twelve years of age winning a short story contest sponsored by the Montreal Star. In 1890, when she was sixteen, she spent a year at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, with her father, who had married again. For one winter she attended Dalhousie University, where she was a student of Dr. Archibald MacMechan. While still in her teens, she taught school at Biddlesford and Ellerslie in P.E.I. She returned to Cavendish, at twenty years of age, to live with her grandmother. Here she met and in 1911, married, the Reverend Ewan MacDonald, who was the Presbyterian minister. They moved to Leaskdale, Ontario, later to Norval, then to Toronto, where they lived from 1935 to 1942. Mrs. MacDonald died in April, 1942, just as the first Canadian edition of her books was coming off the presses.
“Green Gables,” together with the farm where Lucy Maud Montgomery grew up, has now been included in the National Park of Prince Edward Island. Many spots in the district, which her writings have made famous, have been preserved as they were described in her books. The “Avonlea” of her novels is the town of Cavendish, which she loved especially for the fact that it was close to the sea. She wrote, later, of her grandparents’ farm that it was “twelve miles from a railroad station, twenty-four miles from the nearest town, but only one-half mile from the sea.” It was here that her thoughts turned in later years, when she was living in far distant places. And it is here that she is buried, in the village of Cavendish, where she started her literary career.
Back Cover Copy
[1966 printing]
L. M. Montgomery
Further Chronicles of Avonlea
A real publishing event. This book was “lost” for thirty years.
Anne of Avonlea
The second book in the series, this continues the story of Anne of Green Gables.
Anne of Green Gables
“I take it as a great test of the worth of the book that, while the young people are rummaging all over the house looking for Anne, the head of the family has carried her off to read on his way to town.” —Bliss Carman.
Anne of the Island
“Should have a permanent fictional place of high esteem.” —New York Herald.
Kilmeny of the Orchard
“A story born in the heart of Arcadia and brim-full of the sweet and simple life of the primitive environment.” —Boston Herald.
Chronicles of Avonlea
“The author shows a wonderful knowledge of humanity, and great insight in the manner in which some of the scenes are treated.” —Baltimore Sun.
The Story Girl
“The Story Girl is of decidedly unusual conception and interest, and will rival the author’s earlier books in popularity.” —Chicago Western Trade Journal.
The Golden Road
“Any true-hearted human being might read this book with enjoyment, no matter what his or her age, social status, or economic place.” —Chicago Record-Herald
[Also includes praise quotes for four titles by Sir Charles G.D. Roberts.]
Contents
(i) [Half-Title Page]
(ii) The Novels of L.M. Montgomery ¶ Canada Edition
[1944 printing]
Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Avonlea
Anne of the Island
Chronicles of Avonlea
Kilmeny of the Orchard
The Golden Road
The Story GirlIllustrated Edition
Anne of Green Gables
DeLuxe Edition, Eight Colour Illustrations
[1966 printing]
Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Avonlea
Anne of the Island
Chronicles of Avonlea
Kilmeny of the Orchard
The Golden Road
The Story Girl
Further Chronicles of Avonlea
(iii) [Title Page, including epigraph]
[1942 printing: The Ryerson Press ¶ Toronto; Halifax]
[1966 printing: The Ryerson Press ¶ Toronto]
(iv) [Copyright Page]
(v) [Dedication]
(vi) [Blank]
(vii–viii) Contents
(1–365) [Chapters 1–32]
Copyright Statement
Copyright, 1910 [sic] ¶ By L. C. Page & Company (Incorporated)
Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London
Printing History
First Canadian Edition, September, 1944
Reprinted, 1946
Reprinted, 1953
Reprinted, 1961
Reprinted, 1966
Related Editions
The Story Girl (L.C. Page and Company, 1911)
The Story Girl (McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1972)
The Story Girl (McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1988)
Notes
This edition reprints from the plates of the original edition, published by L.C. Page and Company in 1911, omitting the frontispiece and the ads for Page’s books in the end matter. The list of Montgomery’s books, the title page (see above), and the copyright page are new to this edition.
Montgomery’s birth date is listed erroneously on the dust jacket as November 20, 1874; it should be November 30.
The original copyright date is listed erroneously as 1910; it should be 1911.
Dust jacket copy and back cover copy are from the 1966 printing. The back cover copy refers to the Ryerson Press’s republication of Further Chronicles of Avonlea, which occurred in 1953.
An alternate two-colour cover (black and green), shown above, appears to have been used for the 1953 printing only, although why that happened is impossible to guess.
The epigraph and the dedication are included.
Sources
Copy of 1944 printing (without dust jacket and with blue boards) and of 1966 printing (with dust jacket and yellow boards) are part of the site owner’s personal collection. Scanned images above are from those copies. Thanks to Joanne Lebold for providing a scan of the alternate cover used for the 1953 printing.