Fonds F2589 - Harvest House Ltd. Publishers fonds

Harvest House was a small English-language publishing house established in 1960 by Maynard and Anne Gertler in Montreal. The Directors of the company were Ann, Maynard and Leonard Gertler. At one time it was the most important English-language publishing house in the province. The publishing house operated along the lines of a one-person university press with an initial focus on Québécois literature in translation. Harvest House produced English-language translations of the works of Québécois intellectuals, academics, novelists, and poets, fostering a significant cultural exchange within Canada at a time of significant cultural division. The Gertlers were not only unique for the type of material they chose to translate, but also for the manner in which they approached the production side of the business. Although they received some funding, much of the early translation work was carried out prior to the inauguration of the Canada Council’s translation grants program in 1972. Harvest House also made a determined effort to produce inexpensive editions of translated works, intended for the mass market and not as specialty items. Each of their books came out in both cloth and paperback version simultaneously.
The production of literature in translation was later accompanied by books about science, the environment, history, urban planning, and biography, as well as reprints of classics produced by authors such as Henry David Thoreau and Emile Zola. Harvest House also ventured into bilingual publications in collaboration with the French Canada Studies Programme at McGill, producing books such as Bilingualism as a World Problem (Mackey) and Canadian Society During the French Regime (Eccles) continuing with their philosophical stance of helping to create and foster a knowledge base for all Canadians across language divides. Throughout the 1960's and 1970's the Press produced an average of four books a year. This rate of production decreased in the 1980's and ended when Harvest House sold its assets to the University of Ottawa Press in 1995. The sale included 100 titles, 31 of which were still in print. Maynard Gertler passed away in April of 2011.