A BOOK ON ANGLING: BEING A COMPLETE TREATISE ON THE ART OF ANGLING IN EVERY BRANCH, WITH EXPLANATORY PLATES, ETC. By Francis Francis of "The Field."

(1867) 1885 6th edition. Small 8vo (130 x 200mm). xvi pp + 528 pp (including 8 pp advertisements) + 12 pp publisher's catalogue at rear. Frontispiece, 16 engraved plates, 6 of them hand-coloured. Burgundy cloth, spine titled in gilt.

One of the greatest and most comprehensive angling books. Good section on pike with plates of rigs and flights. "His main book, covering every aspect of angling, coarse, spinning and fly, A Book On Angling, was far in advance of anything that had been published before. Some of it is still quoted, notably this: 'The judicious and perfect application of dry, wet and mid-water fly fishing stamps the finished fly fisher with the hallmark of efficiency.' " (From a newspaper article by Conrad Voss Bark).