THE COMPLEAT ANGLER: OR THE CONTEMPLATIVE MAN'S RECREATION.

(1653) 2003 new edition. 8vo (160 x 240mm). P224. Colour plates and b/w ills by Arthur Rackham. Full bonded leather gilt, silk marker, marbled eps. Edition limited to 150 numbered copies.

The Compleat Angler was first published in 1653 as a modest volume small enough to fit into an angler's pocket. This venerable book had lived through centuries and 460 editions to entertain today's anglers. Charles Cotton joined the history of fly-fishing and the world of literature in 1676 when Walton published the fifth edition, which included Cotton's Being Instructions How to Angle for a Trout or Grayling in a Clear Stream. His fine text and fly patterns have enshrined Cotton as the father of modern fly-fishing. Here is a splendid version of Walton's classic, illustrated by the master hand of Arthur Rackham and including Henry Williamson's Introduction. The text of this edition is a reprint of the 1931 edition, George G. Harrap and Co., using the text from the fifth edition of 1676 edition from the fifth edition, the last to be revised by the author, but the spelling is modernised. Scarce and expensive in the original edition, our handsome volume with 12 plates in colour, will make a beautiful addition to your library. Sound advice from that great Irish writer and angler, O'Gorman: I again recommend all my brother anglers to possess themselves of Walton..