SPORT IN CLASSIC TIMES. By A.J. Butler, D.Litt. Foreword by Roderick Haig-Brown.

(1930) 1975 US edition. 8vo (140 x 215mm). Pp213. B/w photograph plates and illustrations, bibliographical references, foreword by Roderick Haig-Brown. Orange cloth, spine titled in black.

Detailed and authoritative analysis of sporting life in ancient Greece and Rome, as reported in their literature and art. Mythology of hunting, the hunter and his equipment, horse and hound, harriers and coursing, deer, wild boar, lion, bear, leopard. Four chapters deal with fishing of various sorts, one of which deals with flyfishing. The author gives his own, new, translation of Aelian's famous passage describing flies and gives an account of other mentions of flies in classical literature. He also looks at fly-tying materials, flies for sea angling, the Ticino grayling and salmon. A whole chapter is given over to game birds and wild fowl, whilst a final chapter deals with miscellaneous sports such as chariot racing and cock fighting. Although no bibliography as such is given, the author gives copious references in footnotes and a list of authors. Both would be easy enough to follow up in, say, the Loeb Classical Library, and it must be pointed out that all this book's translations are the author's own. This American edition includes a new, six-page foreword by Roderick Haig-Brown.