SIDE-LINES, SIDE-LIGHTS AND REFLECTIONS: FUGITIVE PAPERS OF A CHALK-STREAM ANGLER. By G.E.M. Skues. (Seaforth and Soforth). 1938 reprint.

(1932) ND [1938] reprint. Large 8vo (160 x 255mm). Pp473 + 2 pp ads. B/w photograph plates and a very few drawings. Dark olive-brown cloth, spine titled in gilt.

"Twelve years have passed since Mr. G.E.M. Skues last gave us the fruits of his experience- twelve years of theories tried and accepted or discarded. And here is the result, written in his irresistible style with that dry sense of humour which destroys false theories like a cleansing flame." A collection of articles reprinted from The Journal of the Flyfishers' Club, The Field, Fishing Gazette, Salmon and Trout Magazine, the Bulletin of the Anglers' Club of New York, etc. Skues's earlier books were published at his instigation, by A and C Black. Side-lines, by contrast, was put together at the request of another publisher, Seeley Service and Co. Ltd., producers of the Lonsdale Library series. Skues was sceptical of the need for a miscellany of his writings, and this book was always regarded by him as a poor relation to its predecessors. Nonetheless, Sidelines contains some brilliant material, including the famous spoof "Carrot Fly" controversy, and his most celebrated story about Mr Theodore Castwell in Hell, curiously titled "Some Letter." Skues was a prodigious writer for angling journals for more than fifty years, His articles collected here make a fascinating monument to his genius. The true first edition was dated 1932 on the title-page. The book was reissued in 1938 but without a date on the title-page.