A Perfect Eden: Encounters by Early Explorers of Vancouver Island

Shortlisted for two 2016 BC Book Prizes
Finalist for the 2016 Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing

A compelling history of the earliest explorers to Vancouver Island, brought to life with illustrations and maps.

In 1842, when explorer James Douglas encountered the rugged natural paradise that would become Vancouver Island, he described it as “a perfect Eden.” This book gathers the early recorded histories and personal accounts left by Chinese seafarers, Spanish and British naval officers, traders seeking sea otter pelts, colonial surveyors, as well as soldiers, settlers, and other adventurers, starting from many centuries ago up to 1858. Collected here in detail for the first time, these accounts create a multilayered tale of discovery and exploration.

A Perfect Eden is the companion volume to the acclaimed The Land of Heart’s Delight: Early Maps and Charts of Vancouver Island, which was shortlisted for the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice BC Book Prize, and for the City of Victoria Butler Book Prize.

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