Huge cache of Canadian history hits U.K. auction block, tests Library and Archives – May 25, 2013, Postmedia News

A May 25, 2013 article by Randy Boswell of Postmedia News, which David Juliusson has informed me about, begins with the following opening paragraphs:

A huge cache of Canadian history, stored for 200 years in three wooden chests held at a British estate, is set to be auctioned next month in London — a possible test of whether the controversy-plagued, funding-challenged Library and Archives Canada is still in the business of acquiring newly available treasures of documentary heritage. An extensive and important collection of letters, maps and other original artifacts left to posterity by Sir John Coape Sherbrooke — the Nova Scotia governor who conquered Maine during the War of 1812 and later served as Canada’s governor general — is to be sold on June 19 as the showcase lot in a major Bonhams auction of rare books and manuscripts.

A large, coloured and “exceptionally fine” map of the village of York and the Lake Ontario shoreline that was created for Sherbrooke in 1817 — showing the future Toronto in such minute detail that individual homes are depicted — is a highlight of the sale, appearing on the cover of the auction catalogue.

[End of excerpt. To access the full article, click here.]

Caption from Postmedia News article: A huge cache of Canadian history, stored for 200 years in three wooden chests held at a British estate, is set to be auctioned next month in London. UNDATED - 1817 ‘Plan of York’ –future Toronto. Handout photo, Postmedia News