The Compleat Angler
OR THE Contemplative Man's Recreation BEING A DISCOURSE OF RIVERS, FISH-PONDS, FISH AND FISHING WRITTEN BY IZAAK WALTON LONDON: HENRY FROWDE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE AMEN CORNER, E.C.
64mo. 2,1/16" x 1,3/4".(48 x 55mm) 1fep. Half title. Frontispiece of Walton. Decorative Title Page with the words "The Complete Angler or the Contemplative Men's Recreation" Title Page. [1] vii-xii Epistle Dedicatory. xiii-xix+(1)1-588. (Strangely the pagination has the page numbering starting in the middle of the dedication to the Reader). Has little engravings of fish in the text. Bound in the publishers original clean full limp dark fawn crushed morocco with gilt lettering on spine and front cover. All housed in a full brown calf clam-shell box with gilt lines on the boards. Spine has raised bands with gilt lines and green and red labels with gilt lettering. Inside the clam-shell box is lined with red felt. Internally the book is very clean. A handsome little item. Extremely scarce.
- An Oxford University Press, Miniature Edition. There is no date, but on the verso of the decorative title, it states: from "the fifth edition, much corrected and enlarged". The fifth edition, published in 1676, was the last which Walton himself corrected. This little volume was probably published - circa 1900. Walton’s famous treatise on fishing was printed five times in the seventeenth century. It was first published in May of 1653 with an engraved title-page and engravings of six fishes in the text. The second edition of 1655 contains many alterations and additions to the text, the number of pages being increased from 246 to 355, and the number of chapters from 13 to 21. Seven commendatory poems were prefixed. Four engravings of fishes were added. The third edition was printed in 1661 and re-issued in 1664, with a new title-page. A commendatory poem by Brome previously printed is omitted, and there are a few alterations in the text. The most significant additions are the "Postscript touching the Lawes of Angling" and the Index. The fourth edition was printed in 1668 and closely followed the third in content. The fifth edition, printed in 1676, introduced further changes. The text was revised and considerable additions were made, the length of the text being increased by 20 pages. The copper-plates were re-engraved. Altogether, 'The Compleat Angler' was reprinted 10 times in the eighteenth century, about 117 times in the nineteenth century, and between 30 and 40 times in the twentieth century. Of a single edition published by Cassell & Co. in 1886, 80,000 copies had been sold by 1914. The text of the fifth edition, 1676, has usually been followed in the subsequent printings. A hugely successful book over the centuries that has few rivals.
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Antiquarian category
ref number:
10953