A HISTORY OF PIKE FISHING. VOLUME I and II. By Graham Booth. Two volumes together in gilt-decorated slipcase.

2011 and 2014 1st editions. 4to (188 x 245mm). Pp347 and 275. Colour and b/w photographs, colour and b/w illustrations. Burgundy boards, spine titled in gilt. Gilt-decorated cloth slipcase.

This is an extraordinarily well-researched and comprehensive book on the history of pike fishing, and incidentally of angling generally. Beautifully illustrated. "There are many books on pike fishing, but until now none of them had provided the reader with a comprehensive history of the sport. ...It not only explores the specific discipline of pike fishing, but also examines its status within the context of the social and economic history unfolding around it. ...Intensely detailed and wide ranging, ...entirely based upon original research." Contents include:- Ancestral voices - pike fishing before 1815; Prophesying progress, 1815-1865; Fertile ground, the Golden Age, 1865-1914; Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree - 'pikeists' of the Golden Age; Stately pleasure domes - the angling exhibitions of the Golden Age; A mighty fountain - pike fishing in the Golden Age; Beneath a waning moon - the pike fishing dark ages, 1914-1950; notes to the text. The index and notes refer to many sources. A bibliography is included in Volume II (our stock number 27391) which covers the period 1950 to the present day.