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The Bear necessities: Marian Engel’s novel gets a makeover

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Ebook  
It was decided that the digital edition would keep the original cover art, but first, Janine Laporte, Penguin Random House Canada senior vice-president and director of production, embarked on a mission to hunt down the identity of the original illustrator, whose name does not appear on the book’s copyright page. Seligman says, “I suspect that what happened at the time is that we bought all rights. As to why the illustrator wasn’t acknowledged, it seems odd to me, but there must have been a reason and a discussion at that time.”

Seventeen, who scanned a friend’s copy of the yellowing paperback for the new, cleaned-up ebook cover, says they are “98 per cent sure” the illustration can be attributed to prolific ’70s artist Fred Pfeiffer.