B.C. publisher celebrates 50 years of local literature

It started with a magazine. 

Howard and Mary White launched the Raincoast Chronicles in 1972 after receiving a local initiatives grant from the federal government of the day. 

"We're book fiends and took English in college," Howard White told CBC's North by Northwest host Margaret Gallagher.  "We were kind of fated to do something like this, I guess."

The grant ran out, but their love of publishing did not. 

The pair bought an old printing press, trucked it up to Pender Harbour in pieces, put it back together and taught themselves how to use it. 

"I was never a great printer, but yes, we started off printing all our own books and then once they were printed I'd load them in the back of my pickup truck and I'd drive all around B.C. trying to sell them," White said. 

Now, the couple is celebrating 50 years of Harbour Publishing, their company, dedicated to sharing stories about British Columbia.  

When he started writing and publishing, White felt there were few stories about the history of the province available in print. So, he and Mary, who both grew up in B.C., endeavoured to get those stories told. 

"All our earlier books were about pioneer days on the B.C. coast, and pre-pioneer days. We did a lot of writing about Indigenous peoples as well."

Harbour has published hundreds of titles through the years, including children's books by Indigenous artist Roy Henry Vickers, Canadian journalist Claudia Cornwall's British Columbia In Flames and several bestsellers by White himself.

Longtime friend and fellow publisher Alan Twigg says that, arguably, the most important book Harbour has published is The Encyclopedia of British Columbia, edited by Daniel Francis. 

"The audaciousness of putting all the information that you need to know about British Columbia into one book, it was a remarkable achievement," he said. 

The Whites were, and are, interested in B.C. — which is why that's been the focus of their publishing house. 

White said they did buy rights to books from other countries, but they didn't get the same fulfillment from that. 

"We were B.C. born and bred, and we just really felt that our job here on earth was to tell B.C. stories."

'Beyond books'

Twigg's first book, Conversations with 24 Canadian Writers, was published by Harbour in 1981.

But their relationship goes "beyond books," Twigg said. 

"Howie has helped me as a friend as I know he has helped many others sort of behind the scenes. He'll go to bat for you. He's also someone who gives very wise counsel. I know he goes out of his way to do good things for other people."

When Twigg launched B.C. Bookworld, a newspaper about books, he said White was "very supportive."

"He was always the advisory smart person who told me, 'Alan, don't say that, Alan, don't do that,'" he said with a laugh. "He has a paternalistic relationship with me sometimes."

Changes

The publishing industry has been through many changes through the decades. When Harbour first launched, it was in competition with several other local publishers, namely, Douglas & McIntyre. 

"There was a period … when it was a very collegial group of competitors in that they all saw themselves as doing this job of informing society," he said. 

In 2013, the Whites bought Douglas & McIntyre. 

There have also been changes to the way publishing is actually done, White said. 

"When I first started, we were still typesetting manuscripts in great big machines called linotypes that had to melt down lead in order to form the type," he said.  "Now, of course, you just type it into your computer and tell the program to make it into a book and bingo, it's done."

The types of retailers he's working with have shifted, too. In the early days, Harbour dealt primarily with independent bookstores, but now, White said they work mostly with Amazon and Chapters Indigo.

Regardless of the changes the company has been through, White said he's hopeful Harbour Publishing will continue through another 50 years. 

As he ages, he relies on his dedicated staff to carry on his legacy. 

"The good thing is that the manuscripts just keep coming in, so hopefully, we'll keep producing books, and hopefully, people will keep buying them," White said. 

"And this is another great thing: despite all the scary stories, people last year across Canada bought 50 million books. So the interest in books doesn't seem to be diminishing either."