A BOOK ON ANGLING: BEING A COMPLETE TREATISE ON THE ART OF ANGLING IN EVERY BRANCH WITH EXPLANATORY PLATES, ETC. By Francis Francis. Fourth edition, revised and improved.

(1867) 1876 4th edition. Small 8vo (135 x 203mm). Ppxvi,508 + 4pp ads and 32pp publisher's catalogue. Sixteen engraved plates, six of them hand-coloured. Maroon cloth, blind-stamped decoration and border to upper and lower board, spine titled in gilt.

The engraved plates are of fishing tackle and flies. Four of the six fine hand-coloured plates are of classic salmon flies, and a large portion of the text is devoted to tying salmon flies as well as recommended patterns for various rivers. Further editions were published in 1880 (5th), 1885 (6th) and 1920. One of the greatest and most comprehensive angling books. Good section on pike with plates of rigs and flights. "His main book, covering every aspect of angling, coarse, spinning and fly, A Book On Angling, was far in advance of anything that had been published before. Some of it is still quoted, notably this: 'The judicious and perfect application of dry, wet and mid-water fly fishing stamps the finished fly fisher with the hallmark of efficiency.' " (From a newspaper article by Conrad Voss Bark). "...In this edition I have made large alterations, and to it I have made considerable additions; one of the plates has been entirely recast, and between thirty and forty pages of fresh matter have been added. In bottom-fishing there have been valuable alterations and improvements, and in spinning, trout-fishing, etc., etc., also - but the largest changes have been made in the salmon-fly list. This being a point that nearly every salmon-fisher and tackle-maker in the kingdom is interested in, I have thought it desirable to revise and renew the list of flies for all the principal rivers, so as to bring it up to the present date..." (From the author's preface to the fourth edition). The author noted in his preface to the third edition that the first and second editions "...sold more rapidly than any other Angling book produced during the last quarter of a century".