Canadian Reference Books

Abstract

1. Buxton, Bonnie and Betty Guernsey. Montreal Inside Out. Enl. and rev. Ottawa, Wax Wing; distr. by Burns and MacEachern, 1976. 282pp. $3.95 paper. ISBN 0‐919988‐01‐6. The first edition was in 1974, at the same price, but printed on the worst sort of paper imaginable. Buxton and Guernsey at that time merely reprinted their Montreal Gazette columns. This current work, while it has adapted much of the same material, is now a better book for outsiders. Hotels and tourist homes have been added; the restaurant section, while redesigned from expensive to budget (it was formerly “budget to expensive”), still is non‐critical; and purely local references have been deleted, such as “the great Montreal sausage hunt.” As I really love sausages, I simply decided to rip out those particular pages for adding to the second edition. Also odd as it may seem, the YWCA between 1974 and 1976 apparently eliminated its “free” women's toilet (there is no mention of it here), while the YMCA boosted its facilities — probably too many ladies used the john. The book now begins with a general overview that proceeds through the usual guidance of selecting room and board, things to do and to see, entertainment and sports, fashions, shopping, buying food (breads, candy, patisseries, fish, markets, etc.), day trips off the island, and the vital “services, emergencies, and repairs.” Its companion volume is Great Montreal Walks (1976) — both produced in time for the Olympics, but of course current for a few years afterwards.

Citation

Tudor, D. (1976), "Canadian Reference Books", Reference Services Review, Vol. 4 No. 3, pp. 101-102. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb048590