HERRING: A HISTORY OF THE SILVER DARLINGS. By Mike Smylie.

# (2004) 2011 new edition. 8vo hardback (127 x 204mm). Pp256. B/w photographs and illustrations, maps, bibliography. Laminated boards, issued without dust-wrapper.

# This is an interesting history of the British commercial herring fishery, its fleet, the associated industries and the communities which depended on it. A detailed and interesting look at a part of British life which has all but vanished. Includes recipes for herring cookery. Chapters include: Part I - The Common Atlantic Pool: Herring for Health 6 1/2d; Henry Sutton's finest; A hundred herring baked in a pie; A refreshing change to salmon; Our goldmine in the North Sea; The rudiments of the British Empire; The influence of the Norwegians; Herring for sardines - the New England herring fishery in the nineteenth century. Part II - Catchin' Herrin'; The fish weirs; The drift-nets; West-Coast toilers; The Scottish east-coast fishers and the zulu wars; The fishermen and their pipe stalkies; Herring fishery after the depression; Fishing - a deeply bred way of life. Part III - Curin' Herrin'; 'Guarented fine Westcoast Herrings'. The fisher lassies - an unheard-of phenomenon; Smoking the herring (and fresh, canned and iced herring); Herring and its legislators and administrators; The legacy of herring. Appendices include: Irish herring - a family perspective; Carbon-zero herring?