The Complete Angler

333 Pages·2016·23.01 MB·English

by  Walton Izaak

THE
COMPLETE ANGLER
BT
IZAAK WALTON " CHARLES 'COTTON.
IZAAK WAL'iON.
EDITED BY ."'EPHi^.MEB^^,
,
OF "bell's life in LONDON."
LONDON:
EOUTLEDGE, WAENES, AND EOUTLEDGE,
FAERINGDON STREET.
NEW YOKK: 56, WALKER STREET.
1859.
^9^^?"?
1
ADVERTISEMENT.
PoE some years past I have been taming over in my mind tlie
possibilithya,ving been long clearlyconvinced of the necessityo,f
publishing, cheap, pleasantlyand profuselyand profitably
a new, a a
illustrated edition of the " Complete Anglee," with what I will
call "modernizing" notes and additions. I have found all
ever
thingsreasonable in desire,possibleof execution and happily,the
:
thoroughfulfilment of this last aspirationof mine has proved
no
exceptionto experience.
my
Having been not altogether silent observer of the successful
a
through the readingworld of the cheap series of books,old
progress
and publishedby Messrs. Ingram, Cooke, " Co., under the
new,
generaland appropriatetitleof " The Illustrated National Library,"
I resolved to tryand add one more to the number. To the above
firm,full of publicspiritand intelligent I communicated
energy,
intentions and projects.They approvedof and the offer
my were j
on my part to carry them into effectu,nder certain conditions and
with aid specified, freelyacceptedand ratified by the gmeenntle-
was as
named, it conscientiouslyand hopefullyproposed.
as was
Hence Walton and Cotton in modern dress,ornamental and
a
useful.
Reader, fear not. I have touched with profaning the
no pen
sacred text of those venerable writers. You have it here in its
primitivepurity word after word, it printedin the fifthand
" as was
last edition,publishedin the 1676, under the and hands
year eyes
of the authors. What more have I done ? A greatdeal which I
"
will brieflytell
you.
The firstedition of the " Complete Anglee" appearedin 1653,
exactlytwo hundred and though during Walton's ltiifmee-
years ago,
four subsequenteditions published,with additions and
were
improvements,original in the natural historyof quadrupeds,
errors
birds,fishes,and insects,not onlyremained, but augmented.
were
Those errors must be imputed to the generalignoranceof the time
in which Walton wrote, in matters of natural history,and not to his
specificallTyhe. most glaringand dangerousof those errors I have
cleared away by means of foot-notes.
a2
iv ADVERTISEMENT.
If an}^ candid reader of apprehensivmeind will peruse the " Cpolme-te
Anglee" he must agree with me that it lacks the itnisvteruc-
element " itamuses far more than it teaches " ittalks more of
fish and of catchingthem than it shows hy detailed practicadtliiroencs-
how to catch them. Occasionalldyirections are given; but
theyare not alwayscorrect,and, exceptin a few instances,theyare
antiquatedand not unfrequentlyerroneous. At least I think so;
and have endeavoured to apply remedy. Wherever I have found
a
the piscatoridailrections of Walton and Cotton rightI have said so,
and not interfered. Where I have found them contrariwiseI,have
pointedit out and written new instructionsf,requentlayt great
length lengthenedthan the originalchaptersto which they
" more
stand appended.
I will not encroach upon the reader's time by statingminutely
allthat I have done. In a word, I will at once and fearlesslpdyriec-ate
that I have written,by mean's of foot-notes and ctoamrpylemen-
essays to chapters,a completemodern treatise on the different
branches of angling bottom-fishinsgp,inning,and trolling,
" on on
fly-fishinwigth the artificialfly,and daping dibbingwith the
on or
natural I have written succinctltyhe natural historyof each of
one.
river-fish that of the salmon rather lengthiltyhan succinctl}'
our " "
I have shown their habits,pointedout their haunts,named the best
baits for them, and shown how they to be used. I have taught
are
how the rod and line are to be handled, and how the artificialflyis
to be thrown and worked in the water, far long-practised
as as a
pen can teach it. I have described the best sorts of anglinggear ;
and to Cotton's instructions for making artificialfliesI have added
my own, elucidated with drawings of the natural flyand of the
artificialone in its finished state and in the incipienatnd psriovgeres-
stagesof itsfabrication.
Of what I have done,enough. The book will tell its tale
own
" one I trust that will not dim, by even a passingshade,the rpeu-tation
of him who, for more than fifteenyears, has been the pciast-ory
preacherof BelVs Life,who has written A Hand-hook of
Angling,and The Boole of the Salmon, and more besides in fine,
"
reader,of tutor,brother and friend,
your
London, MarcJi, 1853. Ephemeea.
N.B. " The notes signed"H." are from Sir John Hawkins's etdiio-n
of Walton ; those with " Ed." attached are orio^inal.