
HUNTING
& FISHING
Aelianus, Claudius. [4 lines in Greek, then] Aeliani de natvra animalivm.... Londini: Gulielmus Bowyer, 1744. 4to (26.2 cm, 10.4"). 2 vols. I: xiv, xxvii, [35 (index)], 603, [1] pp. II: [605]–1128, [88 (index and addenda)] pp.
$500.00
Attractive 18th-century printing of Abraham Gronovius’s edition, here presented in the original Greek with Conrad Gesner’s Latin translation and comments on facing pages, and with additional commentary by Daniel Wilhelm Triller. Dibdin calls this an “excellent and ample edition” of the Natura Animalium, an entertaining collection of animal-related tales and folklore compiled by Aelian, a 2nd-century a.d. Roman scholar of rhetoric and Greek literature who borrowed much of the material from earlier Greek authors. The work includes one of the earliest known references to fly-fishing, a description of the Macedonian fashion of catching river fish with lures constructed of feathers and bright red wool.

Provenance:
Neat ownership signature of “J.W. Blakesley, Trin. Coll.”
— very likely the Dean Blakesley who, among other things, wrote the first
English life of Aristotle and edited Herodotus.
ESTC T88657; Dibdin, I, 232; Schweiger, I, 2. Contemporary vellum-covered
boards, covers framed and panelled in blind with central blind-stamped strapwork
medallions, spines with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels; front
joints repaired and now strong, vellum soiled. Front free endpapers with early
inked owner's name as above; shadow of shelf number once pencilled on title-page,
erased. Spotting of various sorts and minor smudging in upper margins of some
pages; leaves otherwise clean.

The Philosophical Angler
“Angler,
An” [i.e, Humphry Davy].
Salmonia: or days of fly fishing. Philadelphia: Carey & Lea, 1832. 12mo
(17.1 cm, 6.75"). 312 pp., 3 plts.
$187.50
Click the images for enlargements.
First American edition of one of the best books in the realm of angling literature, illustrated with three plates depicting various types of real flies and their imitation hooks. And yes, the author is Sir Humphry Davy, he of science fame.
Provenance:
Front free endpaper with inked signature of Henry D. Gilpin, the U.S. Attorney
General who argued the Amistad case; title-page with inscription of T.L. Gilpin.
American Imprints 12098; Westwood, Bibliotheca Piscatoria, 77. Publisher's mushroom-colored cloth, lightly rubbed overall, spine sunned with original printed paper label now present only in remnants. Title-page with early inked ownership inscriptions of Henry D. Gilpin. Pages darkened and spotted. A solid, sturdy copy with nice provenance. (27329)

The First Lady of
Fly Fishing?
Berners, Juliana. The treatyse of fysshynge wyth an angle. London: William Pickering, 1827. 8vo (18.1 cm, 7.2"). Frontis., [2], xiii (pagination skips v–viii), [1], 41, [1] pp.; 4 plts.
$650.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First Pickering edition of the first known English work on fishing. Reprinted from the Boke of St. Albans, the famed sporting book originally published by Wynkyn de Worde in 1496, this essay on angling is generally attributed — although not certainly so — to Dame Juliana Berners (or Barnes), supposed prioress of Sopwell nunnery circa 1450. If that attribution is correct, this is not only the earliest printed English work on fishing, but also one of the earliest published English works by a female author. Regardless of its source, it seems to have served as an inspiration both to Izaak Walton and to William Pickering, who printed several editions of Walton, including a particularly lavish production in 1836.
The volume is printed with the original language and spelling preserved, and is illustrated with a woodcut frontispiece of a fisherman taken from de Worde's 1518 edition that is cited as the earliest known depiction of an angler fishing with a rod, as well as with six woodcuts (provided at the back of the volume in the form of four plates) showing types of poles, hooks, etc. As the title-page proclaims, the work was printed with the types of John Baskerville, making it one of the last such printings done in England. A later hand has helpfully added pencilled marginalia clarifying archaic or obscure terms and suggesting subject headers.
NSTC 2B20037; Keynes, Pickering, 42. Later half calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-decorated raised bands, and gilt-stamped fishing creel devices in compartments; spine label with small edge chips and mild rubbing to paper. Pencilled annotations as above, pages and plates otherwise pleasingly clean. (28566)
In
the Dutch National Library
Not Reported Elsewhere
(Chinoiserie).
Verhalen uit China. Met platen. Leiden: P.J. Trap (pr. by H.R. De Breuk), [ca.
182545]. 12mo (18.8 cm, 7.4"). vii, [1], 135 (lacking pp. 33/34 &
39/40), [1 (blank)] pp.; 5 col. plts.
$485.00

Extremely scarce Dutch Orientalia. These short stories set in China
are illustrated with five lovely, elaborately hand-colored lithographed plates
including two scenes of childrenone in which they are blowing bubbles
and one in which they are
fishing out
of a boat with a carved dragon prow. The first plate is very faintly marked
"H.J. Backer," but the illustrations are otherwise unattributed.
No holdings of this book are listed by RLIN, OCLC,
or NUC Pre-1956; the only other copy we were able to find is
held by the Dutch national library. The wait for "a better copy" is
likely to be long.
Not in Brinkman. Contemporary cartonné binding
covered in decorative printed paper, shown above right; spine showing a small
undarkened area where label is now lacking. Front joint tender. Lacking two
leaves, pp. 33/34 and 39/40; some signatures loosening. Pages with a very
few small spots, otherwise clean and pleasing.

Rambling about
the U.S. Countryside
Country walks for little folks. Philadelphia: H.C. Peck & Theo. Bliss, [ca. 1855?]. 32mo (8 cm, 3.15"). Frontis., 191, [1] pp.; illus.
$120.00
Click the images for enlargements.
A popular miniature children's book that introduced many a youngster to the joys of nature, singing the praises of threshing, sheep shearing, hops gathering, rural churchgoing, birdwatching, fishing and hunting, etc., in both prose and verse, with
48 wood-engraved illustrations, including one showing a girl making lace. This Americanized version of the English work has been modified to fit its audience: the chapter on gypsies is now on Indians (although the accompanying poem, with references to a possibly stolen kettle and its boiling contents, is taken straight from the original gypsy version), and references to the Church of England have been removed.
Binding: Publisher's dark gray-green vermiform cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped cattle-herding vignette, spine with gilt-stamped title and eagle design. All edges gilt.
Provenance: Front free endpaper with early pencilled inscription of Frances Stephens of Pennsylvania.
There is quite a lot of how-to, here!
See Welsh, Miniature Books, 2053 for 1840 London edition. Binding slightly cocked, showing minor wear (only) overall. Front free endpaper with inscription as above, back endpapers with additional pencilled inscriptions. Soiling, generally light; spots, generally small; a solid and pleasing copy of a book that was often loved to pieces. (29676)
First
(Sole) Edition
of the
First
U.S.
Aquarium Manual:
“A World
in Miniature . . . Removed into
Our Parlor”
Edwards, Arthur
M. Life beneath the waters; or, the aquarium in America. New York
& London: H. Baillière, 1858. 12mo (19.4 cm, 7.6"). [4], [ix]–170
pp.; 10 plts.
$350.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Sole edition of one of the two earliest published guides to aquarium-keeping
in the United States, and likely the actual earliest; for while another appeared
in the same year and priority has not been firmly established, at least one
1858 periodical claimed
“nothing
had been published in regard to the subject” before the present work
(American Journal of Science & Arts, XXVI, 284).
Illustrated with
10
full-page stipple-engraved plates done by J. Erxleben, this
guidebook covers efficient tank construction, freshwater aquarium inhabitants
readily obtainable in the wild (goldfish, sticklebacks, sunfish, minnows,
crawfish) as well as likely marine candidates (crabs, anemones, gobies, blennies,
pipefish), and the basic overall principles of balancing species (fish, plants,
snails, etc.) so that the tank seldom needs to be cleaned or have its water
changed. It should be noted that the author is not wholly reliable in his
identifications of American vs. British natives — but then again,
the fad of aquarium-keeping was brand-new at the time, very few people could
lay claim to more than Edwards' two years of aquarium experience, and all
previous published works on the subject had been thoroughly British.
Binding: Publisher's textured
olive-green cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title and publisher; front cover
framed in blind around a gilt-stamped central medallion offering a decoratively
lettered title accented with images of small swimming fish, shells, and seaweeds.
NSTC 2E5035. Bound as above; extremities rubbed and spine slightly sunned with small area of discoloration around paper shelving label at head. Ex–social club library: shelving label as noted, call number on endpaper, rubber-stamp on endpapers and two pages (not title-page), no other markings. Back pastedown with small ticket of New York bookseller, partially effaced. A few leaves with very short tears from outer margins, not touching text; pages clean. (29024)
CORNERSTONE
for an
AMERICAN
SPORTING
LIBRARY
“Gentleman
of Philadelphia County, A” [i.e.,
Jesse Y. Kester]. The American shooter's manual, comprising such plain and simple rules, as are necessary to introduce the inexperienced into a full knowledge of all that relates to the dog, and the correct use of a gun; also a description of the game of this country. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Carey, 1827. 12mo (18.5 cm; 7.125"). [2] ff., pp. [ix]–248, [1] p., [1 (errata)] f., [3 (ads)] ff.; frontis., 2 plts.
$1800.00
Click the images for enlargements.
The first American illustrated sporting book and the first American sporting book written by an American. Only one sporting book published in America preceded it: The Sportsman's Companion (NY,1783; later editions Burlington [NJ], 1791, and Philadelphia, 1793), “by a gentleman, who has made shooting his favorite amusement upwards of twenty-six years, in Great-Britain, Ireland, and North-America.”
Kester deals almost exclusively with game birds and waterfowl native to the Delaware Valley that surrounds Philadelphia: wild turkeys, partridge, snipe, quail, grouse, and ducks. With regard to rifles and guns he addresses cleaning, powder, wadding, etc. And when writing about dogs, in addition to notes on training and conditioning them, he offers recipes for common ailments and gun-shot wounds.
The plates are signed “F. Kearny,” an artist born in Perth Amboy, NJ, who studied drawing with Archibald and Alexander Robertson and engraving with Peter Maverick. From 1810 to his death in 1833 he practiced engraving in Philadelphia.
There are two states of gathering “U”: this copy has the typographical error “tibbon” with the stop-press correction to “ribbon” on p. 235.
The volume ends with advertisements for several sporting and fishing goods suppliers.
Shoemaker 27838; Howes K108; Henderson, American Sporting Books, 6; Phillips, Sporting Books, 21; Streeter Sale 4084; Bennett, Practical Guide, 60–61. On Stauffer, American Engravers, I, 148–49. Publisher's sprinkled sheep with simple rope roll in blind on board edges, some abrasion to leather; round spine with gilt double rules forming “spine compartments,” black leather title label. The usual light and scattered foxing noted in all copies, nothing more.
A very nice copy. (28553)

Gratius, Faliscus, & others. Poetae latini rei venaticae scriptores et bucolici antiqui. Lugduni Batavorum & Hagae Comitum: apud Jahannem Arnoldum Langerak, J. Gosse & J. Neaulme, Rutg. Christoph. Alberts, & J. Vander Kloot, 1728. 4to ( ). Frontis., [30] ff., 583, [1] pp., [8] ff., 335, [1] pp.
$375.00
Click
the image above for an enlargement.

Grand collection of Latin poetry concerning hunting (including
hunting with DOGS) and matters bucolic. The writers represented include Marcus
Aurelius Olympius Nemesianus (fl. 284), Titus Julius Calpurnius Siculus (fl.
3rd century), and Faliscus Gratius (ca. B.C. 19– ca. A.D. 8); the volume
benefits from the scholarship of Gerhard Kempher (d. 1737) and Diomede Guidalotti
(ca. 1482–1526). The title-page lists others whose notes are included:
“cum notis integris Casp. Barthii, Jani Vlitii, Th. Johnson, Ed. Brucei.
Accedunt M. Langii dispunctio notarum Jani Vlitii, & Caji libellus De canibus
Britannicis. Itidem ... Roberti Titii, Hug. Martelli, Casp. Barthii, Jani Vlitii.”
Handsomely printed, the volume begins with a fine engraved frontispiece opposite the title in black and red. Engraved head- and tailpieces appear in expected places; each page is heavily laden with printed notes.
Brunet 759; Schweiger, II, 328. Contemporary vellum over paste boards with blind-embossed center device on covers; that on front cover slightly loose due to a vandal’s attempt to excise it! Top of spine pulled (uncommon on a vellum-bound book); vellum soiled and binding a little sprung. Bookplate removed and glue residue visible on pastedown. The odd spot or small stain only; some light foxing and dust-soiling.

Riviere Binding Fore-Edge
Fisherman Painting
Herrick, Robert. Chrysomela a selection from the lyrical poems of Robert Herrick. London: Macmillan & Co., 1892. 8vo (15.7 cm, 6.2"). xxviii, 199, [1] pp.
$500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
“Golden Treasury” series edition of this collection of Herrick's verse, arranged with notes by Francis Turner Palgrave. The volume is decorated with a
delicately tinted fore-edge painting on the gilt edges depicting a red-jacketed fisher, up to his calves in the water and casting his line, in an otherwise deserted bucolic setting. (That the edges are gilt, and so highly reflective, makes getting a good photo difficult! though it only enhances the effect of the fore-edge as viewed in hand.)
Provenance: Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of John Train.
Binding: Signed binding by Riviere & Son of full brown morocco, spine with raised bands and gilt-stamped title, board edges with gilt double fillets, turn-ins with one wide and one narrow gilt roll. All edges gilt.
NSTC 0337624 (for 1877 Golden Treasury ed.). Binding as above, joints and lower corners carefully repaired with toned long-fiber tissue. Offsetting to endpapers from turn-ins; unobtrusive repair to upper inner portion of front free endpaper; back free endpaper starting to separate. Pages clean and gently age-toned. A lovely portable edition of Herrick's lyrics, in a simple but elegant Riviere binding with attractive fore-edge painting. (30083)

Everything
You Need to Know
about the
Healthy
Joys of Country Life
— from a
Literary Lawyer's Perspective
Jacob,
Giles. The country gentleman's vade mecum. London: William
Taylor, 1717. 12mo (15.8 cm, 6.25"). Frontis., [10], 132 pp.
$1750.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Sole
edition of this useful and eminently portable overview
of practical topics such as animal husbandry, hunting, fishing, gardening (including
care of fruit and other types of trees), and the cost of timber and stone as
well as labor for carpenters, masons, or glaziers — along with rules for
management of a large family, and a seasonal calendar which includes monthly
good health practices. The volume opens with a copper-engraved frontispiece
depicting a well-laid-out country estate with formal garden, frolicking deer
in the woods, and laborers at work in the fields; towards the back of the volume
are a compilation of thoughts on natural philosophy, “A General Description
of England, and particularly of London; with an Account of the Taxes, Revenues,
Government, Great Offices, and Courts of Judicature of England, &c.,”
and a poem “In Praise of a Country Life.”
Jacob (1686–1744) was a legal writer known for his Every Man His Own Lawyer. He
also dabbled in poetry, drama, and literary criticism; in the same year as the present work's
appearance, he published a parody called The Rape of the Smock, and was subsequently
immortalized by Pope's unkind remarks regarding both his grammar and his status as “the
Blunderbuss of Law.”
ESTC T90927; Goldsmiths’ 5344. On Jacob, see: Oxford
Dictionary of National Biography online. Contemporary mottled sheep,
framed and panelled in blind, rebacked with very complementary mottled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped title, author, and date; minor scuffing now nicely refurbished and front hinge (inside)
unobtrusively reinforced. Pages mildly age-toned and cockled, with a few instances of light
staining towards back of volume; one early pencilled correction. Last few leaves with upper
outer corners torn away, touching a few page numbers and in one case one letter. Overall a solid
and pleasing copy. (30232)

Lakeside
Views in
Prose
& Photos
James, George
Wharton. The lake of the sky:
Lake
Tahoe in the high Sierras of California and Nevada. Boston:
L.C. Page & Co., 1928. 8vo. xxii, 351, [1] pp.; 32 plts. (30 double), 1
fold. view, 1 fold. map.
$80.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Early history of Lake Tahoe, with evocative descriptions of the area and its
beauties, native lore, natural history, accommodations, etc. This later edition, part of the
publisher's “See America First” series, was revised by Edith E. Farnsworth and features 32 plates
(most double-sided; note that the title-page's claim to “80 plates” includes the multiple images on
many plates), a very large, folding panoramic view of the lake, and a folding map.
Binding: Publisher's brown
cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and scenic vignette stamped in
gilt and blue, spine likewise.
Binding as above,
light wear to joints and extremities, front cover cloth noticeably bubbled but not torn, spine with
inked shelving number. Front pastedown with institutional bookplate. A few signatures
unopened; pages and plates very clean. (29140)

The ANCIENT ART of
FISHING
Oppianus. Oppian's halieuticks of the nature of fishes and fishing of the ancients in V. books. Translated from the Greek, with an account of Oppian's life and writings, and a catalogue of his fishes. Oxford: Pr. at the Theatre, 1722. 8vo (23.3 cm, 9.125"). [4] ff., 13, [1 (blank)] pp., [1] f., 232 pp, [4] ff.
$275.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Oppian (fl. ca. A.D. 225) lived in Cilicia, in southeast Asia Minor. He wrote this work in five books on fishing in Greek hexameter, and another work, on hunting, is sometimes also attributed to him. William Diaper (d. 1717) prepared this translation, in English verse, and it was taken to the publisher by John Jones, who dedicated it to the Marquis of Carnarvon. The press's engraved vignette depicting the Sheldonian Theatre appears on the title-page in a nice example; the “Catalogue of Fishes Mention'd in Oppian” is present; a list of subscribers, with a fair representation of the Oxford colleges, is appended.
ESTC T139002; Schweiger, Handbuch der classischen Bibliographie, I, 217; not in Dibdin. On Oppian, see: Oxford Companion to Classical Literature, 395. Recent quarter calf over marbled paper; spine gilt with a red leather title label. A brittle copy and some pages and gatherings now pulled loose. A little soiling in some top margins, and a few occasions of spotting. A few spots of very shallow chipping. Rubber-stamps from a now-defunct library, including one on title-page. All edges speckled red. (3011)

GUIDEBOOK
from the Leader
of
the
Boy Scouts
&
the
“Woodcraft Indians”
Seton,
Ernest Thompson. The book of Woodcraft.
Garden City: Garden City Publishing Co., © 1921. 8vo. xxvi, 590 pp.; illus.
$30.00
Early edition of this manual of outdoor life and “scouting”
activities from the founder of the League of Woodcraft Indians (later the Woodcraft
League of America) and co-founder of the Boy Scouts of America, illustrated
with numerous drawings by the author. The League was an American youth program
featuring Indian themes; the present guidebook provides songs, dances, and ceremonies
for use in such activities, as well as a great deal of information on natural
history.
In
addition, while promoting camping and outdoors life as a cure for what ails
modern man, Seton also argues at length against prejudiced misrepresentations
of Native Americans.
Publisher's green cloth, front cover with moose vignette stamped
in brown, spine with brown- and black-stamped title and additional moose;
rubbed, spots of soiling, spine sunned and with inked shelving number. Front
pastedown with institutional bookplate (no other library markings); back pastedown
with bookseller's small ticket. Pages clean.
Still
fun and you can still learn stuff. (27088)

Isn't
“Rustlings in the
Rockies” a GREAT
Title??
Shields, G.O. Rustlings in the Rockies: Hunting and fishing by mountain and stream. Chicago: Belford, Clarke & Co., 1883. 8vo. Frontis., xvi (vii/viii bound in after xvi),9–306, [6 (adv.)] pp.; illus.
$100.00
Early edition, following the first of 1880 (published as Hunting the Great West): Outdoors adventures among the bears and buffalo — not to mention the trout and the alligator — as well as encounters with the Cheyenne and Sioux, all illustrated with numerous full-page and in-text steel engravings. The author (a.k.a. Coquina) was president of the League of American Sportsmen and a frequent contributor to American Field.
Click the images for enlargements.
Binding: Publisher's brown cloth, front cover with black-stamped hunting scene and title framed in gilt, spine with gilt-stamped title.
Binding as above, corners and spine head lightly rubbed. Ex–social club library: call number on endpaper, rubber-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Pages clean. (27113)

A Scandinavian Epic — A Swedish Production — Contributions from Longfellow!
Tegnér, Esaias. Frithiof's saga. Stockholm: Pr. for the Limited Editions Club by the Royal Printing House, 1953. 8vo. 248, [4] pp.; illus.
$85.00
Click the images for enlargements.
One of the most beloved of all works in Swedish literature, Tegnér's Frithiof's Saga is an epic poem consisting of 24 cantos or ballads, each describing an event in the legendary hunter's life. The text of this edition was compiled by John T. Winterich from four English verse translations by William Lewery Blackley, Lucius Sherman, Thomas and Martha Holcomb, and, of all people, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In 1837, 12 years after the epic's original publication, Longfellow wrote a paper for the North American Review synopsizing each canto, interspersing selected lines of translation in English.
Longfellow's synopses, along with his contribution to the translation of Frithiof's Saga (225 lines in all), are happily here incorporated complete into one volume for the first time. Bayard Taylor wrote the general introduction.
The book is profusely illustrated with pen drawings by Eric Palmquist, who has signed the colophon; of these, some are full-page, and some are spread across two pages with the text printed beneath. Most are smaller in-text drawings, including an extensive series of decorative tailpieces.
This edition was prepared under the supervision of Ragnar Svanström at the Royal Printing House in Stockholm, Sweden, and is limited to 1500 copies. Designer Karl-Erik Forsberg used a hand-set Berling Roman font which he himself designed; Forsberg also drew uncial letters, printed in red ink, for use on the title-page and for the canto-opening initials.
The binding is half natural Swedish linen stamped on the spine in red and black; the sides are covered with Swedish paper hand-grained to look like wood, and bear a small gold-stamped design of a warship, the Norse drakkar.
This is numbered copy 972 of 1500 printed; it was
signed by the illustrator. The relevant Club newsletter is laid in.
Binding: Quarter tan Swedish linen with streaked red paper–covered sides, front cover with gilt-stamped Viking ship, spine with decorative title in black and red, in the original matching slipcase with printed paper spine label.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 232. Binding as above, spine slightly sunned, slipcase with moderate shelfwear to edges and one edge opening.
A solid, attractive copy of a handsome book. (29946)
Piscatory
Tales in a
Shimmering
Dragonfly Binding
Van Dyke, Henry.
Little rivers a book of essays in profitable idleness. New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1910. 8vo. [12], 348 pp.; 8 plts.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
Evocative meditations on the joys of fishing and riverside wandering,
originally published in 1895. Van Dyke experiments with photography (“Never
before, so far as I knew, had a camera been set up on Ampersand [Lake]”
(p. 89), visits Scotland, and goes camping in Canada with his wife — and
above all else, fishes with enthusiasm and skill. The essays are
illustrated with eight color-printed plates done by
Frank Vincent DuMond in very muted tones of mauve and dusty blue,
in a style influenced by both Art Nouveau and Symbolism.
Signed binding:
Publisher's dark blue cloth, top edge gilt, front cover with
Art Nouveau dragonfly and flower design stamped in green, white, and gold;
spine with decorative gilt-stamped title. Front cover
signed by Margaret Armstrong with her
“MA.”
Binding as above, minimal wear to corners and spine extremities,
front cover gilt very slightly rubbed in one small spot. Some signatures towards
back of volume unopened; final signature opened in somewhat ragged fashion.
Pages and plates very clean. An attractive copy of a beautiful book. (28581)

A Hunting Accident Followed by a
Religious Experience
The wagon-boy; or trust in Providence. New York: J.S. Redfield, [1845?]. 16mo. 16 pp.; illus.
$40.00
Redfield's toy book, “Second series — no. 9,” according to the front wrapper. The tale is illustrated with a title-page vignette and five wood engravings, including a hunting scene signed “W. Howland.”
Click the images for enlargements.
Provenance: Inside front wrapper, faint pencilled inscription, “Lydia Smith from Theodosia Warfield.”
Publisher's printed paper wrappers, spine resewn some time ago. Scattered light spots, corners bumped. Pp. 3/4 torn at inner margin with loss of paper and three letters, not affecting ease of reading. (27838)

The Art of Angling
Illustrated by Adams
Walton, Izaak. The compleat angler or the contemplative man's recreation being a discourse of fish and fishing not unworthy the perusal of most anglers ... decorated by Frank Adams. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1930. Folio (35 cm, 13.5"). Frontis., [10], 124, [2] pp.; illus.
$350.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Beautifully enhanced facsimile of the first edition of Walton's beloved classic, possibly the highlight of fishing literature. The pages are graced with numerous black-and-white decorations in addition to a color-printed frontispiece and nine scenes of gentlemen fishing done in elegantly muted shades of green, blue, and brown by American artist Frank Adams (1871–1944), known for his children's illustrations. This is numbered copy 359 of 450 printed, and signed by the artist.
Provenance: The publisher-issued bookplate and box label proclaim that this copy belonged to L. Haskell Sweet, a New York businessman.
Coigney 308. Publisher's quarter vellum and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; original glassine dust wrapper and original charcoal-colored paper-covered box with personalized label present, wrapper with chips, short tears, and some creasing, and box split at seams with two side elements fully detached (one lost). Vellum of the volume's spine faintly darkened and spotted, book otherwise clean and fresh with top edges gilt; sweet identification as above.
A good catch. (28332)

Fishing Classic, Important Lives, & Two Fore-Edge Paintings
Walton, Izaak. The complete angler [and] The lives of Dr. John Donne, Sir Henry Wotton, Mr. Richard Hooker, Mr. George Herbert, and Dr. Robert Sanderson. London: John Major, 1824–25. 8vo (17.1 cm, 6.75"). 2 vols. I: lviii, 416 pp.; 14 plts. II: xviii, [2], 503, [1] pp.; 11 plts.
$900.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First major appearance of Walton's beloved treatise in combination with his collected lives of authors, the set (here in its stated second edition) charmingly illustrated with copper-engraved plates and wood-engraved in-text illustrations. The Angler plates generally represent dashing young men — and a few young ladies — in the garb of Walton's day, while many of the in-text illustrations depict hooked fish; the Lives volume opens with a representation of the subjects' signatures within a decorative frame and includes, along with a portrait of each, ten renditions of important moments and locations in the subjects' careers as well as numerous smaller portraits, coats of arms, etc.
Each volume is decorated with a vertical fore-edge painting.
Fore-edges: Angler with two jaunty 17th-century gentlemen and their rods and lines, Lives with a portrait of Walton, both paintings within arabesque frames.
Bindings: Straight-grained maroon morocco, covers framed in gilt triple fillets, spines with gilt-stamped author and title; board edges with gilt roll, turn-ins with gilt double fillets. All edges gilt.
Provenance: Front pastedowns each with armorial bookplate of collector John Train; front fly-leaves with early inked ownership inscriptions of Lucy S. Sanford and T. (or J.?) Lister.
NSTC 2W4371. Bound as above, rubbed at joints/extremities, hinges (inside) tender; text block of vol. II starting to separate from spine and front free endpaper with outer edge chipped. Pages generally clean; moderate foxing to some plates, with offsetting to surrounding pages.
Unusual and very attractive. (30156)
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a short “shelf” devoted to
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Willis
“Pitched His Tent”
by the
Susquehanna
River
Willis,
Nathaniel Parker. A l'abri, or, The tent
pitch'd. New York: Samuel Colman (pr. by Scatcherd & Adams), 1839. 12mo
(19.2 cm, 7.6"). 172, 12 (adv.) pp.
$150.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition of this series of lighthearted letters written in
and about the valley of the Susquehanna, near Owego, New York. An author of
notable but ephemeral fame, Willis came from a talented family: His grandfather
published newspapers in both the north and south of the U.S., his father founded
the Youth's Companion (the first newspaper specifically for children),
his sister enjoyed much literary success under the pen name Fanny Fern, and
his brother Richard Stolls Willis was a music critic and composer known for
hymns including “It Came upon the Midnight Clear.”
Willis himself was the founder of the magazine that became the Home Journal,
and was celebrated in his day for his essays and travel writings as well as
several collections of his journalistic work. The Cambridge History of
American Literature calls him the “prince of magazinists,”
and remarks on “the evanescent sparkle and glancing brilliance”
of A L'abri, later known as Letters from under a Bridge. These
charming, witty essays touch on Willis's Yale education (and its lack of practical
application!); fishing; a dinner with Lady Blessington, Benjamin Disraeli,
Count D'Orsay, and Lord Durham; the possibility of local railroad construction
to connect the Hudson with Lake Erie; the relationship of American to British
literature, etc. Whatever the ostensible topics of the individual letters,
each touches in affectionate and amusing fashion on some aspect of life in
the Susquehanna region.
A publishing practice, demonstrated: Bound
in at the back of this volume are yellow printed paper wrappers for John
Smith's Letters, and the title-page and preface for Fireside Education
— both items published by Colman in the same year as the present work.
BAL 22752 (spine label in first state, cloth described
as “Brown S cloth “); American Imprints 59260; Fearing,
Check List of Books on Angling, Fishing, Fisheries, Fish-Culture, etc.,
135; Sabin 104504. On Willis, see: Cambridge History of American Literature
online. Publisher's brown cloth embossed with floret and dash pattern,
spine with printed paper label; corners rubbed, and spine cloth chipped with
paper label chipped and darkened. Front free endpaper with early pencilled
ownership inscription. Foxing throughout; occasional pencilled marginalia
and marks of emphasis. (25806)
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