ROD AND LINE. By Arthur Ransome. 1993 First Flyfisher's Classic Library issue.

(1929) 1993 1st FFCL edition. 8vo (160 x 240mm). Pp240. Frontispiece photograph. Quarter bound in dark brown bonded leather over brown cloth, gilt FFCL motif to upper board, spine titled in gilt, silk marker ribbon, top edge gilt. Brown cloth-bound slipcase. Edition limited to 600 copies.

This, the first Flyfisher's Classic Library edition, includes a new biographical introduction by Jeremy Swift. This edition, limited to 600 copies, quickly sold out and was re-issued by the Flyfisher's Classic Library, in a full leather binding, in 1998. "In addition to his brilliant success as foreign correspondent in Russia and as author of the Swallows and Amazons series of books for children, Arthur Ransome (1884-1967) produced two irresistible fishing books. The first of these, Rod and Line (1929), a collection of pieces originally written for The Guardian newspaper, is probably the most delightful fisherman's bedside book ever produced. Arthur Ransome shared with Harry Plunket Greene a most appealing sense of humour, as well as a passion for fishing and fishing history. But unlike the author of Where the Bright Waters Meet, Ransome was no chalkstream man; he was from the North, lived for years in the Lake District, and did most of his fishing on local rivers and tarns. He confessed to being no more than an average performer with the rod, content to creel pike or perch and the odd eel when nothing finer was available. His skill as a writer, however, was of the first rank. No one has bettered Ransome's wonderful descriptions of fishing days, nor evoked with such art the characters of old anglers, fly-tyers and companions. For sheer enjoyment, Rod and Line takes the prize."