An enterprising Scotsman who, according to Henry Morgan, "may almost be said to have been cradled among books," Graeme Mercer Adam already possessed considerable experience in the book trade when he came to Canada in 1858 at the age of nineteen. From then until he went to New York in 1892, his activities as bookseller and importer, publisher, editor, and author, as well as his association with the Canadian Monthly and the Week, influenced and encouraged the growth of Canadian letters. Adam "had much to do with almost all the literary undertakings which originated in Toronto between the years 1872 and 1892," says Morgan, and wrote, edited, or contributed to many books, including school texts, fiction, history, and travel narratives.

Upon his arrival in Canada Adam became manager of Cunningham Geikie, a book and stationery business in Toronto, and within two years he established, with a partner, the publishing firm of Rollo...