PROSE IDYLLS: NEW AND OLD. By Rev. Charles Kingsley, Canon of Westminster. The Works Of Charles Kingsley Series Volume XV.

(1873) 1880 new edition. Small 8vo (130 x 195mm). Ppxii,317,ii pp ads. Illustrated with a frontispiece and title-page vignette. Dark blue cloth, spine titled in gilt. .

A collection of six essays: 'A Charm of Birds,' Chalk-Stream Studies, The Fens, My Winter-Garden, From Ocean to Sea, and North Devon. "Chalk-Stream Studies" first appeared in Fraser's Magazine in 1858. "Chalk-Stream Studies" is not concerned solely with chalkstream fishing, for Kingsley fished the Thames and the sluggish green Loddon and Wey, as well as the Test. His technique was to fish (on bended knee) big hairy flies close to the bank, and he considered a large repertoire of flies superfluous. Delightfully written and consistently entertaining, it provides a joyous description of flyfishing near London 150 years ago.