A Book on Angling
Encyclopedia
A Book on Angling - Being a complete treatise on the art of angling in every branch is a work of angling
literature with significant fly fishing
content written by Francis Francis, angling editor to The Field
and published in London in 1867 by Longmans, Green and Company
.
In 1920, when A Book on Angling was reprinted, Sir Herbert Maxwell
, a noted Scottish angler penned this in the Editor's Introduction:
James Robb in an entire chapter devoted to Francis Francis in Notable Angling Literature (1945) said of A Book on Angling:
In 1974, noted American writer Arnold Gingrich
in his The Fishing in Print commented on Francis, Francis as a writer and his influence on notable American angler Theodore Gordon
:
In 2002, 135 years after the 1st edition of A Book of Angling, Tony Hayter in his biography of Frederic M. Halford wrote:
Angling
Angling is a method of fishing by means of an "angle" . The hook is usually attached to a fishing line and the line is often attached to a fishing rod. Fishing rods are usually fitted with a fishing reel that functions as a mechanism for storing, retrieving and paying out the line. The hook itself...
literature with significant fly fishing
Fly fishing
Fly fishing is an angling method in which an artificial 'fly' is used to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. Casting a nearly weightless fly or 'lure' requires casting techniques significantly different from other forms of casting...
content written by Francis Francis, angling editor to The Field
The Field (magazine)
The Field is the world's oldest country and field sports magazine, having been published continuously since 1853.The famous sportsman Robert Smith Surtees, the creator of Jorrocks, was the driving force behind the initial publication...
and published in London in 1867 by Longmans, Green and Company
Longman
Longman was a publishing company founded in London, England in 1724. It is now an imprint of Pearson Education.-Beginnings:The Longman company was founded by Thomas Longman , the son of Ezekiel Longman , a gentleman of Bristol. Thomas was apprenticed in 1716 to John Osborn, a London bookseller, and...
.
Synopsis
A Book on Angling is best described by the author himself in the preface to the first edition:
When first infected with the fever of Angling, more years ago than I care to count up, my ambition was to catch every species of freshwater fish, from the minnow up to the salmon, which inhabits our British waters. That satisfied, my next desire was to write a work, which should contain within one volume (as far as might be possible) the fullest and most varied information upon Angling generally, in every branch of the art, which had ever been published; and with this resolve I commenced collecting the matter for the present work nearly twenty years ago. Taken up and laid aside from time to time, little by little it has steadily progressed towards completion. In the course of that twenty years I took occasion to visit and to fish nearly every river of note in the kingdom, my connection with 'The Field' affording me peculiar facilities for obtaining permission to fish very many waters which are closely locked against the general public; and I have roamed England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland over to gather fresh knowledge, and to put it into a practical and concentrated form for the use of my readers.
In inducting the tyro into the mysteries of the art, I have endeavored to make every direction and information as clear and practicable as possible. This work is intended to be a useful and not merely a decorative one: thus, the plates are not for the sake of ornamentation, but for direction, and as an aid to the student of tackle-making and fly-tying. Each illustration of tackle is really needed, and the flies shown are not a mere selection of gorgeous and pretty subjects, or I should have chosen very differently; but each fly is a specimen of some separate class of flies, in which a special peculiarity of manufacture is evident.
I have to thank many kind friends for assistance in lending tackle and flies as subjects for the engravings, and also for description, as will be found in the body of the work.
I have given much time to this book, but I have given it willingly, for it was indeed and in truth a labour of love. Whether the Angling public, to whom I dedicate it (desiring no more potent patron), will appreciate my labours remains to be seen; and so, without further apology if an attempt to supply a long-felt and obvious want, the existence of which few persons have been in a position to know and feel so well as myself, be thought to require an apology into their hands I commit it.
FRANCIS FRANCIS. THE FIRS, TWICKENHAM : 1867
Reviews
In 1881, Osmund Lambert in Angling Literature in England wrote:In 1920, when A Book on Angling was reprinted, Sir Herbert Maxwell
Sir Herbert Maxwell, 7th Baronet
The Rt. Hon. Sir Herbert Eustace Maxwell, 7th Baronet of Monreith, KT, PC, FRS, FRGS was a Scottish novelist, essayist, horticulturalist and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1880 to 1906....
, a noted Scottish angler penned this in the Editor's Introduction:
James Robb in an entire chapter devoted to Francis Francis in Notable Angling Literature (1945) said of A Book on Angling:
In 1974, noted American writer Arnold Gingrich
Arnold Gingrich
Arnold Gingrich was the editor of, and, along with publisher David A. Smart, co-founder of Esquire magazine. He created the magazine in 1933 and remained its editor until 1961...
in his The Fishing in Print commented on Francis, Francis as a writer and his influence on notable American angler Theodore Gordon
Theodore Gordon
Theodore Gordon, a consumptive hermit, was a writer who fished the Catskill region of New York State in the late 19th century through the early 20th century. He wrote articles for the Fishing Gazette from 1890 on and published works in Forest and Stream from 1903, sometimes under the pseudonym...
:
In 2002, 135 years after the 1st edition of A Book of Angling, Tony Hayter in his biography of Frederic M. Halford wrote:
Contents
From the 4th Edition (1876)- Chapter I - Bottom-Fishing
- The Origin of Angling, Pond-Fishing, Punt-Fishing , The Norfolk Style, Bank-Fishing, The Gudgeon, The Pope, The Bleak, The Roach, The Rudd, The Dace, The Chub, The Barbel - 1
- Chapter II - Bottom-Fishing Continued.
- Nottingham Angling, Casting From the Reel, Daceing, Tight Corking, The Slider, etc. - 61
- Chapter III - Bottom-Fishing Continued
- The Bream, The Carp, The Tench, The Eel, The Perch, Paternostering, etc. - 73
- Chapter IV - Mid-Water Fishing.
- The Pike, Spinning, Trolling With the Dead Gorge, Live Baiting, etc. - 100
- Chapter V - Artificial Fly-Fishing.
- Varieties of Trout, Instructions as to Rods and Tackle, How To Use Them, Weather, How To Choose Flies, Dress, Night-fishing -138
- Chapter VI - Artificial Flies
- Contrast of Systems, Copying Nature And Copying Nothing, List of Flies For Each Month -185
- Chapter VII - On Lake-Fishing, Etc.
- Lake-Fishing, Daping, The Creeper, The Beetle, The Worm - 250
- Chapter VIII - Spinning For Trout
- Spinning for Large Trout, Spinning for Trout In Small Streams, The Par-Tail, The Grayling - 278
- Chapter IX - The Salmon
- The Rod, The Reel and Line, How To Use Them, Casting, Striking, Playing A Salmon, Sea-Trout Fishing - 303
- Chapter X - Salmon Flies.
- List of Salmon Flies, General Flies, List of Flies for Scotch Rivers - 333
- Chapter XI - Salmon Flies Continued.
- List of Flies for Irish Rivers - 392
- Chapter XII - Salmon Flies Continued
- List of Flies for Wales and England, List of Sea-Trout Flies - 426