THE ART OF THE ATLANTIC SALMON FLY. By J.D. Bates. Line drawings and frontispiece by Henry McDaniel.

(1987) 1990 1st UK edition. Large 4to (220 x 285mm). Pp232. 25 colour plates, 23 of them of flies and 2 of them after paintings by Henry McDaniel, photographs, illustrations, bibliography. Blue boards, spine titled in gilt.

"Starting with the earliest examples described by the apocryphal Dame Juliana Berners in 1496, the author proceeds to describe salmon flies through all their major incarnations including the colourful and ornate Victorian patterns of the last century, and closes with the sparser designs of modern times. In preparing this complete history, the author has assembled a vast amount of information, systematically clarifying obscure references in books and journals and interviewing experts from around the globe to record methods and patterns that could well become forgotten. Colonel Bates even provides detailed dressing instructions for more than 75 patterns of historical importance... Supporting the author's classic text are some three hundred detailed and often specially tied patterns assembled from the author's renowned personal collection. These historic flies, arranged chronologically, have been reproduced in meticulously printed colour on twenty-three full-page plates... There are also numerous illustrations depicting title pages and textual details from rare books contributing to the history of the salmon fly."