THE ROD AND THE GUN: BEING TWO TREATISES ON ANGLING AND SHOOTING. By James Wilson, F.R.S.E. and by the author of "The Oakleigh Shooting Code".

(1840) 1841 2nd edition. 8vo (127 x 194mm). Ppxii,468. Engraved plates, text engravings. Half-bound in smooth green leather over pebbled green leather, five raised bands to elaborately gilt-decorated spine, red spine label, marbled edges and end-papers.

The angling section was originally published in the eighth edition of the Encylopaedia Britannica but, in the author's own words, "We think the butt-end is not much the worse for wear, - we have strengthened the mid-pieces, repaired the top, and given the whole a coat of varnish, hoping that in the hands of others, now more fit for the practice of the gentle art than we ourselves, it may prove a steady friend and true, whether in still or troubled waters". "The treatise on angling is much above the ordinary as a manual". (Westwood and Satchell). Wilson's un-named co-author, and author of "The Oakleigh shooting code". was A.K. Killmister. Killmister has contributed the shooting section of the book, which also originally appeared as the article, Shooting, in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. He states that since the article was published "...the "Oakleigh Shooting Code" has been withdrawn as a separate publication; but so much of it as was deemed worth preserving has been embodied in the treatise from the Encyclopaedia, which is now re-published, with large additions, in the following pages". Contents include: Part 1. Angling - Introductory observations on the principles of the angler and his art; On the general structure and physiology of fishes; Of the angler's fishes in particular - their aspect, habits, and modes of capture; List of works on angling. Part 2. Shooting - A retrospective view of the weapons of the chase; and of some of the sports and pastimes that preceded the use of the gun; The jungle; The park and the forest; The moor - the glen - the pine wood - and the granite cliff; The farm - the marsh - and the wood; The beach - the river - and the flood; Juvenile sports; The dog; The fowling-piece; Taking aim.