THE ART OF FLY MAKING. By William Blacker. Flyfisher's Classic Library Standard Edition.

(1842) 1994 reprint of 1855 edition. 8vo (160 x 240mm). Ppxxxviii,259. Colour plates of flies, plain plates. Quarter bound in black bonded leather over black cloth, silk marker ribbon, gilt FFCL logo to upper board, spine titled in gilt. Black slipcase.

Blacker set up as a fly-dresser and tackle-dealer in Soho in the 1820's. His exciting salmon-fly patterns were among the first to use exotic materials, creating the salmon fly as an art form, seducing the fishermen as much as the fish. His book was first published in 1842, then re-issued in 1855 with wonderful new colour plates. Beyond the importance of the instruction (he was the first to describe the detached body), materials, dressings and flies, this book contains some of the most gorgeous colour plates ever produced for an angling book. The Flyfisher's Classic Library edition is the first reprint of this extremely rare and valuable 1855 edition. This edition has a new introduction by Kevin McKenna and was limited to 750 copies.