The Book of Dene - 1976.

The book contains the histories, traditions and beliefs of Chipewyan, Dogrib, Slavey, and Loucheux peoples. The Dene told these histories and beliefs to Emile Petitot who wrote the words down in the Dene Language. The stories were compiled by Petitot between 1862 and 1875.

Historical note:

Emile Fortune Stanislas Joseph Petitot (1838 - 1916) was born in southern France near Marseilles. At the age of twenty-four he was ordained to the priesthood and joined the order of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate which sent him to North America in 1862. He spent the next 13 years in the Mackenzie Valley as a missionary and explorer. During his travels in northern Canada, he collected information and material for his dictionary of the major Athapaskan Indian languages (published in Paris in 1887) and for his other works on the character and customs of the Inuit and the Hareskin, Dogrib, Slave, Chippewyans, Loucheux, Cree and Hare Indians.