POLES APART: THE HISTORY OF THE LONDON ROACH POLE. By Michael Nadell. The "Author's Edition."

2013 1st edition. Large 4to (225 x 282mm). Ppxiv,178. Colour and b/w photographs, patterned end-papers, folding plate inserted. Charcoal cloth, spine titled in gilt, gilt vignette to upper board.

"Michael Nadell's excellent book on poles and their history evokes all the memories with none of the downside. He recreates that golden age when trains from London stopped to disgorge a mass of anglers every Sunday at stations like Shiplake and Datchet, Pangbourne and Goring, travelling at special rates for fishermen. Later on, the same process would take place bycoach, and many of those alive today will recall the Sunday coach expeditions. Nobody knew what boilies were, river matches attracted hundreds and football was a minority sport compared to fishing. At the heart of this was the pole. We will never see the like again, of course. But if you want to taste those great days of the men and the London rivers and the times when the pole reigned supreme, Poles Apart tells it all." Keith Elliott in Classic Angling magazine. This is the "Author's Edition," limited to only 220 copies of which only 200 are for sale. It has green patterned end-papers carrying a beautiful bookplate which has been signed and numbered by the author, and has a folding plate loosely inserted at the front.