First published in Toronto in 1886, this sprawling cyclopaedia gathered the lives of the men who built, governed, healed, and profited in the young Dominion of Canada—statesmen of the Confederation era, railway promoters, bankers, clergy, physicians, and pioneer settlers. Here are the sketches as they first appeared: confident, detailed, occasionally partisan, and unmistakably a product of their time. This edition reproduces the COMPLETE, UNABRIDGED original text, paired with a new introduction that situates the work in its publishing context and reader's notes that illuminate obscure references, flag the era's blind spots—including the near-total exclusion of women and Indigenous peoples—and connect its portraits to the Canada we know today. Whether you are a genealogist tracing an ancestor, a historian of Victorian Canada, or simply a curious reader, these pages open a window onto a nation describing itself to itself. Part of The Founding Texts Library.