Mary Pickford: Queen of the Silent Film Era

At the age of 17, Toronto-born Gladys Louise Smith, known to the world as Mary Pickford, burst onto the silent-film scene. But Pickford was more than just 'the girl with the curls'. In addition to her acting career--an unequivocal success spanning 52 features--Pickford helped establish the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as well as the studio United Artists. The first woman to create her own film corporation, she pioneered the roles of the independent actress, film star, producer and distributor.

In Mary Pickford, Queen of the Silent Film Era, wood engraver George A. Walker tells the story of Pickford's life in a visual, sequential narrative not unlike the silent films of old. Walker's black-and-white wood engravings recall the monochromatic media of Pickford's films, and echo the experience of interpreting stories visually.

Mary Pickford, Queen of the Silent Film Era originated as a limited edition of 35 copies hand printed in Walker's studio in Leslieville, Toronto.

199 Pages
8.75" x 5.5"
2020

George A. Walker (Canadian, b. 1960) is an award-winning wood engraver, book artist, teacher, author and illustrator who has been creating artwork and books, and publishing at his private press since 1984. For over twenty years Walker has exhibited his wood engravings and limited edition books internationally, often in association with The Loving Society of Letterpress (and The Binders of Infinite Love) and the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild ( C B B A G ). Walker is the illustrator of the first Canadian edition of Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass books (Cheshire Cat Press). George A. Walker was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Art for his contribution to the cultural area of Book Arts.

The Porcupine’s Quill is an artisanal book publisher that values the art and craft of the book in form and content. They specialize in acquiring work by Canadian authors whose voices are new, underrepresented or verging on oblivion, with a particular focus on books that represent the intersection between literature and other creative disciplines: between text and image, memoir and music, letterpress and offset.