Some call it a craft, some folk art. Others, like professor William C. Reeve, prefer to label it utilitarian art. However it’s viewed, the handcrafting of wooden duck decoys has been a quintessentially North American art form for well over a century. Today, specimens from top craftsmen like Ontario’s Peter M. Pringle trade at auction for thousands of dollars. In Peter M. Pringle: Master Decoy Maker, Reeve chronicles the life and achievements of a man he considers a Canadian national treasure.

Pringle, who died in 1953 at the age of 75, carved decoys for most of his adult life, including 120 meticulously detailed pieces that are rated among the finest anywhere. They are handsomely photographed in this illuminating book, which also details Pringle’s methods and vividly portrays the man through his letters and the reminiscences of friends. Pringle was a polymath – besides his renown as a decoy maker, he was a talented commercial artist, avid outdoorsman, and amateur archaeologist. He was also an inveterate bachelor who, in his later years, was isolated by poverty and profound deafness. His refusal to sell his decoys – though he gave them away generously to friends – delayed the wide acknowledgment of his talents until fairly recently. This beautiful monograph should spread his reputation even wider.