BLACKER'S ART OF FLY MAKING, etc...

(1842) 1855 revised edition. 12mo (110 x 175mm). Ppxvi,259. Engraved (b/w) frontispiece, 17 hand-coloured plates of flies, 3 plain plates. Original green cloth, spine titled in gilt, blind-stamped design to both boards.

"...Comprising angling, and dying of colours, with engravings of salmon and trout flies shewing the process of the gentle craft as taught in the pages. With descriptions of flies for the season of the year as they come out on the water. Rewritten and revised by the author Blacker, himself, fishing tackle maker, of 54 Dean st, Soho, London. 1855." Blacker set up as a fly-dresser and tackle-dealer in Soho in the 1820's. His exciting salmon-fly patterns were among the first to use exotic materials. His book was first published in 1842, then re-issued in 1855 with wonderful new colour plates. "In this edition there are 20 engraved plates of flies, fly-making and tackle, of which 18 are coloured. The work is a strange medley of practical usefulness and rhapsodical exravagance. The instructions for fly-making are peculiarly precise and clear." Westwood and Satchell. The early issues of this edition had only 14 coloured plates and a coloured frontispiece, and were generally bound in full dark purple roan. The later issues (as this copy) had a plain frontispiece and some extra plates - this copy has 17 coloured and 3 plain plates, but is missing the b/w frontispiece.