Reflecting on Anne of Green Gables

About Reflecting on Anne of Green Gables

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Painting of Anne of Green Gables by Peter Swan

Reflecting on Anne of Green Gables presents new research about influences on L.M. Montgomery’s writing of Anne of Green Gables and a selection of material relating to the success of the novel, its subsequent adaptations to stage and screen, and its astonishing and enduring appeal.

Key items on display include:

• Four pages from Montgomery’s handwritten manuscript for Anne of Green Gables (on loan from the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island)
• Original letters written by Montgomery, her first publishing contract and a very rare private collection of her poems that she assembled and sent out as a Christmas gift
• Two 1905 magazines that Montgomery read and which inspired her writing
• More than 45 books including a very rare first edition of Anne of Green Gables and numerous foreign translations showing wildly-different depictions of the title character
• Posters from different stage and screen adaptations, including a reproduction poster from the now lost 1919 silent film
• Clips from the 1934 film adaptation by RKO films and the 1985 television mini-series by Sullivan Entertainment
• The original painting by Peter Swan of Anne of Green Gables commissioned for the 1975 Canada Post stamp and the new 2008 stamp
• Commemorative coins from the Royal Canadian Mint

Items on display in the exhibition come mainly from the Library and Archives Canada collection, enhanced by loans from the Canada Post Corporation, the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, the Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre at Ryerson University, Parks Canada, the Royal Canadian Mint, and Sullivan Entertainment.

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Anne of Green Gables, London: G.G. Harrap, 1925

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Anne et le bonheur, French edition, Paris: Hachette, 1964

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Anne of Green Gables, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1935

 

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Poster from the National Arts Centre production of Anne of Green Gables, Library and Archives Canada/National Arts Centre/Accession no. 1978-43-753, 1978

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Anne et la maison aux pignons verts, Québec: Éditions ABC, 2000

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Anne of Green Gables, Arabic edition, Stokholm: D_ar al-Mun_a, 1998