TARGETS SET AND ACHIEVED. By Phil Smith. De luxe leather-bound edition.

2011 1st edition. 8vo (175 x 246mm). Ppviii,174. Colour photographs throughout, silk marker ribbon. Fully bound in burgundy goatskin, top edge gilt, hand-marbled end-papers, blind-ruled border to upper board, upper board and spine titled in gilt. Burgundy cloth-bound slipcase. De luxe leather-bound edition limited to 40 copies.

A continuation of Phil Smith's two previous books, Rainbow's End and Magic Moments. Many of the stories within this book have previously appeared in the author's diary column that he has been contributing to Coarse Angling Today magazine for many years. "Common to most schoolboys Phil dabbled in local ponds after sticklebacks and the like, but it was not until he reached the age of 21 that he began to take fishing seriously. He has from that time always tried to catch so-called specimen fishing, initially 3lb chub, but as time passed bigger and bigger fish became the target. Much of his early development came about as a member of the very successful Coventry Specimen Group, along with anglers such as Mervyn Wilkinson, Tony Miles and Trefor West." Chapters on barbel, bream, catfish, chub, crucian carp, carp, grayling, sturgeon, roach, perch, tench and zander. The foreword is by Pete Reading. This is a copy of the de luxe leather-bound edition that was limited to only 40 signed and numbered copies.