Maple Leaf Club 1903

Washington, D.C.: Privately printed, 1903. (11 x 8 1/2 inches). 29 leaves of text (printed double-column on rectos only) with occasional manuscript ink corrections; 62 mounted photographs (mostly 3 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches) facing text on versos of printed leaves or on separate thicker paper. Original red ribbon tied green printed green wrapper.

Likely privately printed account of an August 1903 camping and fishing trip into Canada's Muskoka region, by fourteen people from the Indian Territory, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, Washington, DC, and Northampton and Boston, Massachusetts.

Hosted by Major Breckenridge, this trip was a follow-up to a 1902 trip ruined by bad weather and other problems and cut short. This 1903 trip was better organized, and with a larger party. The group assembled at a cottage on Lake Rousseau north of Toronto, and took canoes to camps on Lakes Blackstone and Crane near Parry Sound. The first four chapters relay descriptions of their travels, camping gear, fishing tackle, boats, the scenery, local farms, and preparations for various activities, among many other details. The final chapter of the book ("August, 1903") was written by Mary Breckenridge, and provides a detailed account of the fishing: "We now had a plentiful supply of fish. Luck was good for nearly everyone...to the major rested the honor of the largest fish, a wall-eyed pike, with a really ferocious countenance..." The photographs closely track the narrative, with the images reflecting the text opposite, and show docks and buildings along the traveled routes, scenes of the Canadian backwoods, camps, and members of the party engaged in various activities including swimming, boating, fishing, cooking, etc. Major Breckeridge wished to "provide [a trip] which would make his girls permanent lovers of fishing and camping, and willing companions of his future expeditions, for...none are too tender to cultivate the angler's art." He bought a small number of maple leaf pins, which he distributed to the party, and which became the badge of the Maple Leaf Club.