GONE FISHING. By William Nathan.

(1960) 2014 new edition. 8vo (151 x 217mm). Pp175. B/w woodcuts by Kenneth Lindley. Maroon boards, spine titled in gilt.

A new edition of a forgotten angling classic. This book of Bill Nathan's is a wonderful book of lost carp lakes, pike pools, wild bass coastlines and soft sea-trout rivers and is the perfect fireside read. The author of this entertaining miscellany, Gone Fishing, is himself an all-round fisherman, though with a particular fondness for trout, bass, carp and pike. In a mood of delighted reminiscence he writes of the great sea-trout of the Sussex Ouse; the leisurely capture of carp in a provincial lake; the splendid bass of the Gower peninsula. He takes the reader angling for grey mullet in a Pembroke mill-pool, and shares encounters with giant eels in a marsh lake, the catching of brown trout in Welsh brooks and rivers, the fever of pier fishing for whiting at Swansea, and introduces him to a surprising pond on Hampstead Heath. William Nathan writes in a direct, personal, eager way, without rigidly technical exposition and with considerable humour and narrative ability. He makes fishing come alive, even for those who may never see a fish except on fishmongers' slabs. It is refreshingly clear that he is a real angler, one who goes fishing whenever he can (and often when he should not) simply because his instinct to do so is irresistible. Chapters include: A dream of fair trout; The provincial carp fisher; Salmon and sentiment - a Cardiganshire episode; Oakflies and black magic; Talking shop; The West Pier, Swansea; The Mullet Man; Contemplation and the Gentle Art; Gower holidays; Purists; Fishing in the Metropolis; Esox lucius, villain; Obsession, a story (old style); The pond on Hampstead Heath; The marsh; Women and fishing; Bass; Nostalgia in London; Aspirations; Brief encounters; Gentle passions, a story (modern style); On being watched by children; The road to the Sussex Ouse; The tench and I; Night lines on Swansea Beach. This edition has a new foreword by Paul Morgan of Coch-y-Bonddu Books, and is limited to 280 copies, numbered and signed by the publisher, Tom O'Reilly.