OUTSIDE DAYS: SOME ADVENTURES WITH ROD AND GUN. By Max Hastings. Line drawings by William Geldart.

1989 1st edition. 8vo (155 x 240mm). Ppviii,216. B/w illustrations by William Geldart, photograph end-papers. Olive cloth, spine titled in gilt.

"In this selection of gentle, contemplative musings, Max Hastings shares some of his favourite rural moments; tramping the snipe bogs of Waterford; dogging hedges in Hampshire and moors in Sutherland; casting a fly from Scotland to Iceland and Alaska; and shooting in India and the west of Ireland." "Adventure makes the best dreams, whether 'tiger-fishing' in Zimbabwe or crawling alone, rifle-armed and belly-flat, along a Scottish mountainside in winter, the essential physical endeavour and solitude are contained in these accounts of the author's days outdoors." (Country Life). Contents include:- Great expectations; Paternal blessings; Scottish idylls; Pointing and setting; 'Wind him in, then!'; The art of the possible; Not exactly Halford; Ireland in the rough; Limited rods; Running away to the river bank; Smoke salmon for breakfast; High days and by-days; A few arguments for fox hunting; A taste of Alaska; Confessions to a gamebook; Not so pukka sahibs; Porridge and kippers; Grouse fever; The sporting wife; In praise of the yeoman dog; A stalk without a stalker; The Tweed 'auxiliary'; Guineas and tigers; Duck soup; Long pond; A shoot in the shires; Bag and baggage; Hit and miss in Argyll; Reflections on a December pheasant peg; Chancing a snipe; Literary diversions; Unsporting occasions; Back-end day; A future for field sports.