GENTLEMEN'S PURSUITS: A COUNTRY MISCELLANY FOR THE DISCERNING. From the pages of Country Life. Compiled and edited by Sam Carter and Kate Gatacre.

2012 1st edition. 8vo (158 x 208mm). Ppxii,243 + 1pp ads. B/w photographs and illustrations. Grey boards, spine titled in gilt.

"Being a gentleman takes much more than merely dressing the part. Which horse to back in the 3.15 at Sandown, what gun to take for an elephant or a duck and how to sail a model yacht - all are important to the mannered man. From its very first publication, Country Life's pages were full of the most valuable knowledge, covereing every aspect of adventure, manners, dress and sporting excellence to which a gentleman should aspire." "Somerset Maugham wrote that the only value of being a gentleman lay in the fact that it wasn't a pretence. This privileged look into the archives of Country Life shows us the real gentleman at work and at play. Beyond the classic triumvirate of hunting, shooting and fishing, we have meditations on idleness, expert analysis of pipe smoking and ruminations on the charm of early motoring. And all this alongside the most exacting of sartorial advice: Country Life well knew that only God forgives the badly dressed." Contents include:- "Manners maketh man"; Handy hints; The man of fashion; The great and the good; Hunting and horsemanship; Shooting; Fishing; The playing field; Aviation and motoring; Schooldays; Curiosities and oddities; Pastimes and study.