TUNNY FISHING: AT HOME and ABROAD. By L. Mitchell-Henry.

1934 1st edition. 8vo (148 x 224mm). Ppxi,137. B/w photographs, illustrations, bibliography. Brick red cloth, spine titled in gilt.

Lorenzo Mitchell-Henry pioneered angling for bluefin tuna, or tunny, in Nova Scotia and in the North Sea. In 1914 he caught a "...fish of 520 lb. after a severe fight of over four hours. This was the first tunny ever caught on rod and line unaided, in the open sea off Nova Scotia." Previously Captain Laurie Mitchell had told him that "...of 79 fish which they had hooked during the past 8 years, not one of them had been landed." He went on to catch tunny in Denmark in 1927 and then the first from the North Sea in 1930. The next three years saw the rapid growth of the sport, but with very mixed results. Mitchell-Henry was very critical of the members of the newly formed Tunny Club, and of Zane Grey, all of whom were apparently guilty of using unsporting methods. The fishery was short-lived and although it resumed briefly after the Second World War, it came to an end early in the 1950s.