AUTUMNS ON THE SPEY. By A.E. Knox, M.A., F.L.S. With four illustrations by Wolf. Medlar Press leather-bound edition.

(1872) 1999 new edition. Small 8vo (125 x 195mm). Pp158. Tinted plates by J. Wolf. Pictorial dark green leather gilt, silk marker. Slipcase.

A facsimile of the first edition of 1872. "Knox's classic has long been valued by salmon fishers for its fascinating and unique list of nineteenth century Spey flies, but this diverting book deserves a much wider audience. The author was a lucky man indeed to fish the Spey a hundred and forty years ago, when the river was silver with fish and the old flies still held sway. Within a generation, the lures he treasured would be eclipsed by the gaudy riot of standard patterns so beloved of Kelson and Hale. But for a precious moment, Knox was free to fish the old way, before the rising tide of popularity of salmon fishing swept away everything he knew and treasured. A wonderfully evocative book about the glory days of salmon fishing on Scotland's most famous river." "The great value of Knox's book apart from his descriptions of the heyday of sport on the Spey in the latter half of the 19th Century lies in the recipes for the old Spey flies." (FFCL catalogue). "Amongst the volumes of my modest fishing library I have come to appreciate the ones with the 'real' fishing stories more than those which are mainly dealing with the theory and practice of fishing and fly-tying. I like a good story about fishing, especially when written by an experienced angler - and A. E. Knox was just that." (Henrik Strandgaard).