IMAGES OF ANGLING: AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW OF THREE CENTURIES OF BRITISH ANGLING PRINTS. By David Beazley. Collectors Edition.

2010 1st edition. Large 4to (235 x 307mm). Ppviii,256. Colour and b/w illustrations from old prints throughout. Blue cloth, spine titled in silver-gilt.

Covering approximately three centuries, David Beazley's story brings together a history of printmaking and a social history of angling in Britain. It reproduces over 350 illustrations of angling, created by more than 150 artists and as many printmakers. Several artists merit their own chapter - George Morland, Henry Alken, James Pollard, H.L. Rolfe, W. Dendy Sadler and Norman Wilkinson - and other great British artists like John Constable and J.M.W. Turner are also represented. Humourists from Henry Bunbury and Thomas Rowlandson to G.E. Studdy and H.M. Bateman have a place, and there are chapters on political cartoons, young lovers fishing for each other's hearts, children fishing and many other subjects. And of course there are illustrations of people trying - and sometimes managing - to catch fish, images that reveal how this wonderful sport has evolved. A comprehensive section explains all the processes used in producing the prints. With over 20 pages of indexes, this important study draws on many sources: historical, biographical and artistic. It will meet the needs for many years to come of collectors, dealers and all those who love the history of fishing as much as they love fishing itself.