The Compleat Angler; or, The Contemplative Man's Recreation: Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing Not Unworthy the Perusal of Most Anglers

223 pp. Green cloth boards with gilt titles and decor, top edge gilt, decorated endpapers. Color plates and black-and-white illustrations by Arthur Rackham. "The Compleat Angler was first published in 1653, but Walton continued to add to it for a quarter of a century. It is a celebration of the art and spirit of fishing in prose and verse; 6 verses were quoted from John Dennys's 1613 work Secrets of Angling. It was dedicated to John Offley, his most honoured friend. There was a second edition in 1655, a third in 1661 (identical with that of 1664), a fourth in 1668 and a fifth in 1676. In this last edition the thirteen chapters of the original have grown to twenty-one, and a second part was added by his friend and brother angler Charles Cotton, who took up Venator where Walton had left him and completed his instruction in fly fishing and the making of flies."