Evelyn de Mille

Evelyn de Mille (born 1919) is a Canadian known for being the first woman in Calgary, Alberta to own her own stand-alone bookstore in the city. [http://www.collectionscanada.ca/women/002026-293-e.html Evelyn de Mille] , "Library and Archives Canada"; URL accessed May 19, 2006.] She opened her first bookstore in 1956.Brennan, Brian, "Evelyn de Mille: Book seller extraordinaire: After 43 years in the trade, retailer is ready to turn the page on an illustrious career Series: International Year of Older Persons",, Calgary Herald. Calgary Herald. Calgary, Alta.: Jun 27, 1999. pg. E.1.FRO] In 1974 she became the first woman in Canada to found a bookstore chain.

In 1972, she was the first female president of the Canadian Booksellers Association. [ [http://cbabook.org/aboutus/CBA.Presidents.1952-2006.pdf CBA Presidents. 1952-2006 (PDF)] , " [http://cbabook.org/ Canadian Booksellers Association] "; URL accessed May 19, 2006.] In this role, she helped found the "Bookseller of the Year Awards". In 1974 she sold her business to W H Smith, with whom she was involved in a legal dispute with.Evelyn de Mille bought the Owl's Nest bookstore in 1979 and operated it until she sold it 1996. [Toneguzzi, Mario, "Owl's Nest has an eye for customer service: Bookstore survives arrival of chain stores". "Calgary Herald", August 8, 2005. pg. E.2.] In 1999, she announced she was retiring permanently from the trade and would sell her last remaining book store, DeMille Technical Books. It was later sold to McNally Robinson bookstore chain. [Parker, David, "Paperwork completed on bookstore", "Calgary Herald", January 2, 2002, p. E.3]

In 1998, she was awarded an honorary degree as a Doctor of Laws by the University of Calgary.

Further reading

The following list is from Library and Archives Canada:
*Crawford, Anne, "De Mille savors 40 years as a bookselling pioneer", "Calgary Herald", October 7, 1996. p. C1.
*Cusipag, Marjo, "Evelyn deMille : Calgary's first female bookseller", "Canadian bookseller", Vol. 20, no. 5, June/July 1998. p. 61.
*De Mille, Evelyn, "The bookseller's dilemma", "Library Association of Alberta bulletin", Vol. 4, no. 2, April 1973. p. 38-41.
*"The Evelyn de Mille Collection on the Book and the Book Arts.", "Calgary : Special Collections Division, University of Calgary Libraries", 1991. -- 28 p. -- (Occasional paper no. 9)
*"WHS settles with De Mille", "Quill & quire", Vol. 46, no. 1, January 1980. p. 16-17.

References