MONTREAL - A picture book on the artwork of singer Joni Mitchell is stirring up controversy in Saskatoon.

The Mendal Art Gallery produced the catalog, in conjunction with its exhibit of Mitchell's paintings. For a while, the book was only available at the Mendel's gift shop.

A national distributor of gallery catalogs, Art Books Canada, couldn't get a single copy. This, despite having a contract with the Mendel.

The company's Lawrence Boyle says he was told no one outside Saskatoon could see the book. The reason: American publishing giant Random House was planning its own Joni Mitchell coffee table book, and didn't want to compete with the gallery. Boyle says he had to fight, to get the Mitchell catalogue.

"We really had no choice. To have acquiesced on this would have been unethical," he says. "There was no way that this could not be put into distribution. Why would anyone produce such a wonderful book that no one would be allowed to see?"

Eventually, Boyle was given a few hundred copies for distribution. But his company's long-term relationship with the Mendel has been terminated.