Holland College will host a lunch time launch and book signing for Samuel Holland: His Work and Legacy on Prince Edward Island, written by Earle Lockerby and Doug Sobey at noon on Monday, July 6, in the Centre for Applied Science and Technology on the Prince of Wales Campus in Charlottetown. Refreshments will be provided.

The book, a co-publication of Island Studies Press at UPEI and Holland College, is the definitive work regarding the 18th century surveyor’s mapping of Prince Edward Island, said Ed MacDonald, professor of history at UPEI.

“Samuel Holland changed the course of P.E.I.’s history with this map. This book tells us how.”

This year marks the 250th anniversary of the completion of Holland’s survey of the Island, and the book is being released to coincide with several events taking place the first weekend of July, including the opening of Imperial Designs: Samuel Holland’s 1765 Map and the Making of Prince Edward Island at Confederation Centre of the Arts. Holland created the first truly modern, accurate map of the Island. The map is housed and was restored at The National Archives in Kew, United Kingdom, and is returning to Prince Edward Island for the summer for the first time in 250 years.

Holland College vice president Michael O’Grady said the co-publication of the book, the first time the college and UPEI have collaborated on such a project, was one way for Holland College to pay tribute to its namesake.

“Holland College has always been proud to bear the name of such an accomplished technician and teacher. This year, we have been pleased to strengthen the association we have to Samuel Holland.”

Co-Authors Earle Lockerby and Doug Sobey have strong ties to the Island.

Lockerby was born and raised in Hamilton, P.E.I., and spent his working life as a chemical engineer in the nuclear power industry, primarily in Ontario. Since his retirement in 1996, Lockerby has been specializing in 18th-century Maritime history, particularly that of Prince Edward Island. He is published in many journals and historical periodicals, and published Deportation of the Prince Edward Island Acadians in 2008. He is also co-author of Jeremiah Bancroft at Fort Beauséjour & Grand-Pré, which was short-listed for an Atlantic Book Award in the category of scholarly writing.

Doug Sobey, born and raised in Summerside, is retired from the University of Ulster, where he spent his teaching career specializing in environmental biology and ecology at various institutions of higher education in Northern Ireland.

Sobey’s research interests are in the field of forest ecology and forest history, and since 1992 he has been researching the present forests of the Island and their past history. This has involved extensive study of early descriptions of the forests and of early survey records and maps. His research has been published in Canadian journals and in The Island Magazine, and P.E.I. government publications. He is a recipient of the J. Angus Maclean Award from the Island Nature Trust and the Natural Heritage Activity Award from the P.E.I. Museum and Heritage Foundation.

For more information about this year’s celebration of the Holland Map, visit www.samuelholland250.ca.