There are several general works on the history of Montreal. The best is undoubtedly Raoul Blanchard's L'ouest du Canada franìais, MontrÄal et sa rÄgion (MontrÄal: Beauchemin, 1953). Robert Rumilly's Histoire de MontrÄal (MontrÄal: Fides, 1970) is useful; volume II covers the period 1760-1867. The most readily available book in English is Kathleen Jenkins' Montreal, Island City of the St. Lawrence (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1966). J.I. Cooper's Montreal, a Brief History (Montreal: McGill Queen's University Press, 1969) unfortunately gives only a little space to the pre-industrial period. Still useful, even though it is not very recent, is W.H. Atherton's Montreal, 1534-1914 in three volumes (Montreal: Clarke, 1914). A general article that covers the whole of the eighteenth century is Louise DechÉne's "La croissance de MontrÄal au XVIIIe siÅcle", Revue d'histoire de l'AmÄrique franìaise, vol. 27, no. 2 (September 1973), 163-179. Finally, Jean-Claude Marsan's study, MontrÄal en Ävolution (MontrÄal: Fides, 1974), places the development of Montreal's architecture and environment in their socio-cultural context.
A number of books look at Montreal from the more general viewpoint of the history of Lower Canada and North America. The two most important are D.C. Creighton's The Empire of St. Lawrence (Toronto: MacMillan, 1956) and Fernand Ouellet's Histoire Äconomique et sociale du QuÄbec 1760-1850 (MontrÄal: Fides, 1966).
An interesting work that provides a contemporary viewpoint is Newton Bosworth's Hochelaga Depicta; the Early History and Present State of the City and Island of Montreal (Montreal: William Greig, 1839; reissued in 1974 by Coles, Toronto). A number of accounts by French, British and American travellers were published in the nineteenth century and several of them have chapters on Montreal.
In the area of more specialized study, several articles have been written about the Montreal bourgeoisie in the period 1760-1850. Of the most recent, it is worth singling out JosÄ Igartua's "A Change in Climate: The Conquest and the Marchands of Montreal," Canadian Historical Association/SociÄtÄ historique du Canada, Communications historiques/Historical Papers, 1974,115-134; G. Tulchinsky's The River Barons; Montreal Businessmen and the Growth of Industry and Transportation 1837-53 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1977); Jean-Claude Robert's "Les notables de Montreal au XIXe siÅcle", Histoire sociale/Social History, vol. VIII, no. 15 (May 1975), 54-76; E.E. Rich's Montreal and the Fur Trade (Montreal: McGill University Press, 1966); and Henry Masson's Joseph Masson, dernier seigneur de Terrebonne, 1791-1847 (Montreal: Published by the author, 1972).
Information on the occupational structure can be obtained from the chapter "Structure des occupations et ethnicitÄ dans les villes de Quebec et de Montreal (1819-1844)" in Fernand Ouellet's ElÄments d'histoire sociale du Bas-Canada (Montreal: Hurtubise HMH, 1972; Les Cahiers du QuÄbec, 5 Collection Histoire) and Jean-Paul Bernard, Paul-AndrÄ Linteau and Jean-Claude Robert's "La structure professionnelle de MontrÄal en 1825", Revue d'histoire de l'AmÄrique franìaise, vol. 30, no. 3 (December 1976), 383-415. "PropriÄtÄ fonciÅre et sociÄtÄ a MontrÄal: une hypothÅse", an article on real estate in 1825 written by Paul-AndrÄ Linteau and Jean-Claude Robert, appears in Revue d'histoire de l'AmÄrique franìaise, vol. 28, no. 1 (June 1974), 45-65.
Several engravings and drawings provide views of Montreal or illustrate parts of the city. Eighteenth-century examples are rare but the first half of the nineteenth century saw an increase in their numbers. Various works may contain one or two reproductions but the most important have been assembled in two collections: C.P. de Volpi and P.S. Winkworth, MontrÄal, Recueil iconographique/A Pictorial Record (Montreal: Dev-Sco Pub, 1963) and F. St. George Spendlove, The Face of Early Canada (Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1958).
For biographical information on many of the leading figures in Montreal the Dictionary of Canadian Biography (Toronto: University of Toronto Press) is a valuable and readable source. Volume IX was published in 1976 and contains biographies of people who died between 1661 and 1870.
