THE SPORT OF FISHING. By John Mackeachan (John Hectorson) with an introduction by Sir Herbert Maxwell.

1923 1st edition. 8vo (145 x 215mm). Ppxviii,302. B/w photograph plates. Green cloth, lined and titled in black on upper board and spine.

A wide-ranging discussion of salmon, trout and sea-trout fishing on Scottish rivers and lochs, as seen through the eyes of the fictional Archie M'Stalker. "A book for anglers dealing with the problems that present themselves for discussion among anglers. Narratives of incident and accident upon the Scottish lochs and streams." (Contemporary advertisement). It was formerly assumed from the title-page that John Mackeachan was a pen-name used by John Hectorson. However, the researches of Scottish angling historian Richard Hunter (also a professional archivist) have failed to turn up a John Hectorson, but Richard has found records of a John Mackeachan, a Glasgow writer who committed suicide in in 1922, aged 53. (Sir Herbert Maxwell, at the end of his Introduction, also mentions the author's sudden death shortly before publication). "Why on earth the publishers put the name John Hectorson below Mackeachan on the title page I can't guess; unless the manuscript was finished (edited) by a chap called Hectorson." (Hunter). In Hampton's Angling Bibliography (2008), this title is listed under HECTORSON.