Sous-fonds SF32 - Lorne and Edith Pierce collection. Rufus Hawtin Hathaway sous-fonds

Rufus Hawtin Hathaway was a renowned book collector and bibliophile, and devoted student of Canadian literature; upon his death, he is said to have owned the finest library of Canadiana in the Dominion. Hathaway dedicated his collecting activities primarily to the works of those authors known as the Group of the Sixties or the Confederation Poets (i.e. Charles G.D. Roberts, Carman, Archibald Lampman, William Wilfred Campbell, Duncan Campbell Scott, and Pauline Johnson). He had an uncanny sense for what would become popular and was the champion of many writers before they became collectable. Hathaways main editorial work was the preparation of editions of Carmans work Later Poems (1921), Ballads and Lyrics (1923) and the Collected Poems (1931). Hathaway's personal regard for Carman led him to help organize the Bliss Carman Benefit held in Convocation Hall at the University of Toronto on 31 March 1920 to raise money for the ailing poet.