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D & E Lake Ltd.

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Toronto, ON
D & E Lake Ltd.

From rare to new and everything in between, we are Toronto's largest family owned & operated rare bookstore.

Beyond books, we sell antique maps & prints, art, etchings, engravings, posters, stamps & coins, custom picture framing & more.

07/12/2026

Today we celebrate the birthday in 1904 of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature.

NERUDA, Pabo (Text) & Luis SEOANE (Illus.).
Insepulta De Paita Elegia Dedicada A La Memoria De Manuela Saenz Amante De Simon Bolivar Grabados En Madera Por Luis Seoane.
Buenos Aires: Editorial Losada, S. A., [1962]..
folio. pp. 60, [3]. 9 full-page wood engravings (5 in colour). illus. paper over bds. (extremities bit rubbed). First Edition Illustrated by Seoane, Limited to 400 numbered copies (plus 29 hors commerce).
$3000

07/05/2026

Today we commemorate the death in 1963 of Canadian artist and printmaker Walter J. Phillips.

PHILLIPS, Walter Joseph [1884-1963] (RCA & CPE). Community Houses At Mamalilicoola [ British Columbia ]. signed & numbered 2 of an edition of 120 in pencil. [1930]. 5 ¼” x 5 ¾” (13.4 x 14.9 cm). wood engraving. $2,800

Boulet, The Tranquility And The Turbulence, MBL146.

07/03/2026

Quebec was founded on this day in 1608, by French explorer Samuel de Champlain.

CHAMPLAIN, Samuel de [c1570-1635].
Oeuvres De Champlain Publiées Sous Le Patronage De L'Université Laval Par L'Abbé C.-H. Laverdière.Seconde Édition.
Quebec: Printed at the Seminary by Geo.-E. Desbarats, 1870..
6 Volumes in 2. 4to. 2 p.l., lxxvi, iv, 48; iv, viii, 63; 2 p.l., xvi, 327; 2 p.l., viii, 143; viii, 15, [1], 328; 343, 55, 8, 20, 36, 30, [1 leaf]. [also paginated continuously throughout the set]. with half-title. first title in red & black. frontis. portrait, 3 text illus. & 77 maps & plates (some folding, a few colour, some double-illus.). decorative ornaments & initials. new quarter calf over contemporary cloth sides. Second Edition. "A fire in the press destroyed the first edition, from the proofs of which this second edition was prepared." (TPL) Dionne I 1079. Gagnon I 767. Lande 120. TPL 26.
$1500

06/27/2026

June 27, 1885 marks the birthday of Canadian Group of Seven painter Arthur Lismer.

LISMER, Arthur [1885-1969](RCA, OSA, CSPWC, Group of Seven, P-CGP). Isle of Spruce. 29 ¼” x 39 ¼”.colour silkscreen on board. signed in the screen. Ottawa: Issued by the National Gallery of Canada. Printed by Sampson-Matthews Ltd., Toronto.label on verso, [1943]. $2,000

Lismer had one silkscreen in the Sampson-Matthews program: “Isles of Spruce”. First printed in 1943, it was one of the bestselling prints for two decades, second only to Tom Thomson’s “Northern River". The silkscreen was based on a painting from 1922 that is now in Hart House, University of Toronto. Lismer’s best-known work and one of Canada’s few truly iconic paintings, it was issued by Canada Post as a six-cent stamp in September 1970, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Group of Seven.

06/18/2026

WOODVILLE, Richard Caton, Jr. [1856-1927] (After). JACQUET, Jules [1841-1913] (Engraver). [Napoleon with his Old Guard at the Battle of Waterloo 1815]. signed by Woodville & Jacquet. signed ‘R.Caton Woodville [18]95’ in plate, lower left margin. vignette bust portraits of von Blücher and Wellington lower left, & remarque of imperial eagle lower right. 21 ¼ x 35 ¼ inches (54.5 x 89.8 cm., entire sheet). etching (blank hmargins damaged as a result of previous framing – no loss). London: Published Henry Graves & Co. Limited, 6 Pall Mall, Copyright 1897 U.S.A. British Arts Publishers Union…, 1897. $1,000

Richard Caton Woodville Jr. was a British artist who specialized in battle scene paintings. This detailed depiction of the Battle of Waterloo, June 18, 1815, shows cavalry and infantry positions, and Napoleon on horseback in the middleground. Napoleon was defeated in the engagement by two of the armies of the Seventh Coalition, commanded by the Duke of Wellington and Field Marshal von Blücher. Napoleon abdicated four days later, and the Napoleonic Wars and the First French Empire came to an end.

06/15/2026

Today we celebrate the birthday in 1809 of French-Canadian historian François-Xavier Garneau.

GARNEAU, François-Xavier [1809-1866]. Histoire Du Canada DepuisSaDécouverteJusqu'à Nos Jours.TroisièmeÉdition Revue Et Corrigée. 3 Volumes.8vo. pp. xxii, 371; 457; 373.with half-titles. A nice set in contemporary roan, all edges gilt (marginal dampstains to endleaves in Vols. I-II). Quebec: P. Lamoureux, 1859. $750

Third Revised and Enlarged Edition of a "French-Canadian classic" by the “greatest French-Canadian author of the nineteenth century”,a vibrant response to Lord Durham’scategorization of French Canadians as a people “without history and without a literature”."In writing the history of the colony, Garneau looked beyond the civil, military, and religious leaders to base his work on the men and women who had pioneered and developed the country; in so doing he provided inspiration and themes for a generation of poets, novelists, folklorists, and writers of memoirs." (Story) The centenary of the book’s publication was marked by impressive celebrations in Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec, and Garneau has been honoured by the naming after him of numerousschools, streets, parks, &c. The François-Xavier Garneau Medal is the highest award given by the Canadian Historical Association and is given once every five years for an outstanding Canadian contribution to historical research.
TPL 2455.Dionne I 362n.Gagnon I p. 198.Sabin 26675. Story p. 309. cfLande 261.

06/09/2026

Today marks the anniversary of the death in 1870 of English novelist Charles Dickens.

DICKENS, Charles [1812-1870].
The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby. With Illustrations By Phiz.
London: Chapman And Hall, 1839.
8vo. pp. xvi, 624. with half-title. engraved frontis. portrait by Finden after Maclise & 39 etched plates by Hablot Knight Browne. A fine copy in full modern red morocco by Bayntun, gilt spine, portrait of Dickens in gilt on upper cover & signature in gilt on rear cover, gilt inside dentelles, all edges gilt (hint of foxing to a few plates). First Edition in Book Form. This copy with correct reading 'sister' on p. 123 and first 4 plates in second state. Podeschi A41. Smith I 5. Sadleir I 105. NCBEL III 793.
$2000

06/06/2026

MACDONALD, Sir John Alexander [1815-1891] [First Prime Minister of Canada (1867-73 & 1878-90)]. Autograph Letter, Signed, on 'Crown Law Department, Upper Canada' crested stationery, dated 'Office of Minister of Justice', Ottawa, Feb. 3rd, 1868, to G.H.Ryland, Registrar, Montreal. 4to. pp. 1 with integral blank. (horizontal & vertical folds). with initialed free-franked cover. Ottawa: 1868. $3,500

Reading: "I beg leave to state that in my opinion you, as Registrar of Montreal, are an officer of the Local Government, and that by such Local Government your securities are to be approved." Over the course of many years MacDonald supported George Herman Ryland, Registrar of Montreal and former Clerk of the Executive Council for the Province of Lower Canada, in his efforts to obtain financial compensation from the government. Ryland's claim was based on a promise made to him by Lord Sydenham, the first Governor-General of the United Province of Canada (1841). At the time of this letter Macdonald held the portfolio of Minister of Justice and was in the second year of his first term as Prime Minister.

Macdonald, the dominant figure of Confederation, became the First Prime Minister of Canada in 1867, serving to 1873 and again from 1878 to 1891 (he was forced to resign in 1873 over the Pacific Railway Scandal). During his administration Canada acquired the vast territory of Rupert's Land from the Hudson's Bay Company for the equivalent of 1.5 million dollars in 1869-70. The territory encompassed the whole of the Hudson's Bay watershed, what is now northern Labrador and Quebec, northern and western Ontario, all of Manitoba, most of Saskatchewan, south and central Alberta, and parts of the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the northwestern United States. Following the Riel Rebellion, the newly created province of Manitoba became part of Confederation along with the North West Territories. British Columbia joined in 1871. The North West Mounted Police was created to establish law and order in the frontier lands. The Macdonald administration was challenged by two western insurrections, the Red River Rebellion of 1869-70 and the North-West Rebellion of 1885, both led by Louis Riel. The treatment and ex*****on of Riel for treason divided the country along religious, linguistic and racial grounds. Macdonald's government also implemented a 'National Policy' of high tariffs that would protect the small Canadian firms from American competition and completed the Intercolonial and the transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railways which were so essential to Canada's nationhood.

06/01/2026

This day in 1967 marks the death of Canadian artist Alexandra Luke.

LUKE, Alexandra. CSPWC. CGP. OSA. The Painters Eleven. [1901-1967]. [Composition in yellow, red & green]. 18 x 11 1/2 inches. oil on masonite. signed on recto. [c1947]. $5,000

Alexandra Luke was one of two female founding members (the other was Hortense Gordon) of the Ontario-based group of abstract artists known as Painters Eleven. It wasn’t until 1945 that Luke began formal training in art, first at the Banff School of Fine Arts (1945) where Jock Macdonald supported her interest in abstract art and subsequently at the Hans Hoffman School of Art in Provincetown, Massachusetts, 1947-52. In 1952 Luke organized the first Canadian Abstract Exhibition where she met other artists who would form the ‘Painters Eleven’. Shortly before her death Luke and her husband donated their personal collection of Canadian art and provided financial assistance toward the creation of the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa in 1967.
Provenance: The collection of fellow “Painters 11” artist Hortense Gordon, inscribed by Gordon on verso.

05/30/2026

On this day in 1914, the luxury liner Aquitania made its maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York.

THE SHIPBUILDER. Souvenir Number...The Cunard Quadruple-screw Atlantic Liner "Aquitania," 45,647 Gross Tons. Britain's Largest Steamship.
Newcastle-On-Tyne & London: 1914..
8vo. pp. 154. profusely illus. incl. 5 colour plates (1 tipped-in) & 5 folding plans. contemporary half roan (rubbed, cellotape repair to marginal tear in 1 folding plate). A detailed description of the building, design, and outfitting of the last and largest of the Cunard Line's three great transatlantic express liners, preceded by the Mauretania and the Lusitania, published just following the beginning of her maiden voyage on May 30, 1914. The Aquitania was designed by Cunard naval architect Leonard Peskett and built in the John Brown and Company yards in Clydebank, Scotland, where the majority of the Cunard ships were built. The grand appointment and opulence of the design of her interior earned her the nickname 'Ship Beautiful'. "The vessel was retired and scrapped in 1950 at Farslane in Scotland, thus ending an illustrious career which included steaming 3 million miles in 450 voyages. Aquitania carried 1.2 million passengers over a career that spanned nearly 36 years, making her the longest-serving Express Liner of the 20th century. "Aquitania" was the only major liner to serve in both World Wars, and was the last four-funnelled passenger ship to be scrapped. The ship's wheel and a detailed scale model of Aquitania may be seen in the Cunard exhibit at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax." (Wikipedia)
$600

Address

239 King Street East
Toronto, ON
M5A1J9

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Tuesday	10am - 6pm
Wednesday	10am - 6pm
Thursday	10am - 6pm
Friday	10am - 6pm
Saturday	10am - 6pm
Sunday	11am - 2:30pm

Telephone

+14168639930

Website

http://www.delakeltd.com/

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