A Perfect Eden Encounters by Early Explorers of Vancouver Island [Hardcover]

Shortlisted for two 2017 BC Book Prizes.

In 1842, when explorer James Douglas encountered the rugged natural paradise that would become Vancouver Island, he described it as a perfect Eden. This book, a compelling history of the earliest explorers to Vancouver Island, gathers the early recorded histories and personal accounts left by Chinese seafarers, Spanish and British naval officers, traders seeking sea otter pelts, colonial surveyors, as well as soldiers, settlers, and other adventurers, starting from many centuries ago up to 1858. Collected here in detail for the first time, these accounts create a multilayered tale of discovery and exploration.

A Perfect Edenis the companion volume to the acclaimedThe Land of Heart's Delight: Early Maps and Charts of Vancouver Island, which was shortlisted for the Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice BC Book Prize, and for the City of Victoria Butler Book Prize.

A well-organized, well-written guide to first contact [between European explorers and First Nations in BC]. Vancouver Sun

This book is informative and highly readable, and no matter how much you have read about exploration of [Vancouver] Island, you will surely learn from this book as well. Dave Obee,Times Colonist

Layland is the perfect guide. He has read everything about Vancouver Island from 1774 to 1862, and delivers the choicest morsels from hundreds of log books and diaries. He introduces us, in pictures and stories, to the people whose names we live with every day . . . and takes us with them as they charted these waters and measured the land . . . This book is my top pick. Robert Amos,Times Colonist