THE COMPLETE ANGLER: OR THE CONTEMPLATIVE MAN'S RECREATION. By Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton. Edited by John Major. The Quatercentenary Edition.

(1653) 1993 new edition. 8vo (160 x 240mm). Pp367. 16 wood engravings by Eric Fitch Daglish. Quarter-bound in maroon bonded leather over maroon cloth, silk marker ribbon, gilt FFCL logo to upper board, spine titled in gilt. Maroon slipcase.

The Flyfisher's Classic Library Quartercentenary edition. The Compleat Angler was first published in 1653 as a modest volume small enough to fit into an angler's pocket. This venerable book had lived through centuries and 460 editions to entertain today's anglers. Charles Cotton joined the history of fly-fishing and the world of literature in 1676 when Walton published the fifth edition, which included Cotton's Being Instructions How to Angle for a Trout or Grayling in a Clear Stream. His fine text and fly patterns have enshrined Cotton as the father of modern fly-fishing. The Quatercentenery edition from the Flyfisher's Classic Library was published to commemorate the four hundredth anniversary of the birth of Izaak Walton, and combines the text of the 1823 John Major edition with the handsome Eric Fitch Daglish wood engravings of 1927. Sound advice from that great Irish writer and angler, O'Gorman: I again recommend all my brother anglers to possess themselves of Walton and Cotton... Although not stated, this edition was limited to 900 copies.