Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
William Hoffer fonds
General material designation
- Textual records
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
Level of description
Fonds
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
-
1893, 1967-1993, predominant 1980-1993 (Creation)
- Creator
- Hoffer, William
Physical description area
Physical description
1.4 m of textual records and other material
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
William (Bill) Hoffer was born on May 29th, 1944 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Saskatchewan, and subsequently enrolled in the Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology department at Simon Fraser University. Hoffer was discharged from SFU for his participation in student rebellions, prior to receiving his Master of Arts degree. He began his bookselling career in 1969 with the opening of Falstaff Books, a used bookstore, in Vancouver. He later moved his store to 58 & 60 Powell Street, Vancouver, where he worked until his retirement.
Hoffer was acknowledged as an authority on Canadian literature in the antiquarian book trade. He published several special edition books, including works by W.P. Kinsella, Susan Musgrave, Robert Bringhurst, Elizabeth Smart, John Metcalf, and Ernest Hemingway. During his career, Hoffer was engaged in several literary feuds, and was a strong critic of government subsidization of the arts. He was particularly disdainful of Canada Council, and wrote several critiques to this effect.
In 1991, Hoffer closed his bookstore and moved to Russia, where he married and worked in the book trade. He remained in Russia until diagnosed with lung cancer in August of 1998, when he returned to BC for treatment from his father. Hoffer died on September 28th 1998, at the age of 53, in Victoria, BC.
Custodial history
Records were purchased by Stephen Lunsford, likely from Hoffer`s estate, and in turn sold to Simon Fraser University Special Collections and Rare Books in March 2006 and Winter 2008.
Scope and content
Fonds consists of records reflecting Hoffer`s bookselling and publishing activities during the 1980s. Records include correspondence, fiscal files, client files, journals, book catalogues, galleys, proofsheets, critical pieces, articles, and review. The fonds is composed of the following series: Series 1. Correspondence, Series 2. Publication files, Series 3. Business files, Series 4, Miscellaneous.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Inventory available with series descriptions and file lists.
Finding aid
Associated materials
Accruals
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number area
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Hoffer, William (Subject)
- Falstaff Books (Subject)
Genre access points
Control area
Description record identifier
Institution identifier
Rules or conventions
Rules for Archival Description
Status
Published
Level of detail
Full
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Created May 20, 2014, LZ
Language of description
- English
Script of description
Sources
Digital object metadata
Filename
FINDING_AID_HOFFER.pdf
Latitude
Longitude
Media type
Text
Mime-type
application/pdf