Izaak Walton, The Compleat Angler, The Lives of Donne Wotton Hooker Herbert & Sanderson with Love and truth & miscellaneous writings by Walton, Izaak; Poulton, Thomas and Sigrist, Charles (Illustrations) - 1929

Bloomsbury: The Nonesuch Press, 1929. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. No. 801 of 1100 copies, octavo size, 642 pp. Izaak Walton's (ca. 1593-1683) "The Compleat Angler", first published in 1653, was a milestone publication on the subject of fishing; often a celebration of fishing - and philosophy - rather than an instruction manual, Walton includes both prose and poetry expressing the joys of fishing, interspersed with details of various fish and how to catch them. Walton continued to add to "The Compleat Angler" throughout the rest of his life, and in addition to fishing, he wrote numerous biographies, collected in "Walton's Lives".

This Nonesuch Press edition contains Walton's biographical writings as well as "The Compleat Angler"; the goal of the Press was to present Walton's diverse writings in a single volume, to convey Walton's talents as a writer unbound by subject matter.

___DESCRIPTION: Full brown leather, initials inside an oval decorative border, all in gilt, on the front board, the spine with five raised bands and gilt lettering, top edge gilt, fore- and bottom edges rough cut, leather turn-ins with gilt ruled borders, marbled endpapers, frontispiece a black-and-white illustration of Izaak Walton, the nine illustrations of various fish by T.L. Poulton all tinted, some with one colour and some with two, black-and-white illustrations of the subjects of the biographies with tissue guards, several signatures unopened; monotype Poliphilus, octavo size (8.5" by 5.25"), pagination: [i-iv] v-x 1-631 [632], one of 1100 copies (plus 500 copies printed by Random House), this number 801.

___CONDITION: Very good overall, with straight corners, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior is clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; some soiling to the front board and a shallow tear to the leather running horizontally about 1.5" from the top edge (please see pictures and request more if needed), spine and top edges are darkened, very light rubbing to the front joints near the head of the spine, light spots of soiling to the half-title page. Internally near fine to fine, we are grading as very good due to the few issues with the leather binding; still a lovely, sturdy copy by The Nonesuch Press of this classic work.

___CITATION: Nonesuch Press Bibliography, no. 61.

___POSTAGE:  International customers, please note that additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs; please inquire for details.

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