FLY-FISHING: SOME NEW ARTS AND MYSTERIES. By J.C. Mottram. Second edition.

(1915) Not dated (1921) 2nd edition. Small 8vo (125 x 187mm). Ppxii,272. B/w photographs, text illustrations, end-paper ads. Dark blue cloth, titled in gilt spine and front.

"..has been described as "one of the twelve peaks of angling progress", the great sleeper among British angling literature. Gingrich (The Fishing in Print) says: "I had come to think of him as the completely unsung genius of English angling literature. I consider Some New Arts and Mysteries one of the most innovative fishing books ever written." Mottram was a radiologist. His scientific training gave him great advantages as an investigative trout angler. His fly patterns for nymphs, smuts and "silhouette" duns were years ahead of their time. These patterns date from pre-1915! In his Introduction, Mottram suggests the different types of fisherman he is addressing: "For the hunter, there is much of practice, therecord of many facts, the outcome of many experiments. Chapters on optics, mechanics, and the colour-sense of fish will, it is hoped, interest the scientific. For the fly-tier, there are hints on waterside fly-tying and a discourse on flies of the future. For the fish-breeder, waterweeds and the treatment of mud are discussed. The naturalist is told of birds and the habits of fish, and even the poacher will, it may be, find some things a little to his liking." This is an important book for the fly-fisherman and fly-tyer, as relevant today as it was eighty years ago. Few writings since have reached the same level of complete and articulate intelligence on the part of a master fisherman." Flyfisher's Classic Library Catalogue 2007.