THE COMPLETE ANGLER & THE LIVES OF DONNE, WOTTON, HOOKER, HERBERT & SANDERSON

First Issue of the Edition. Thick Royal 8vo, handsomely bound in Bath, England in three-quarter green calf over green cloth covered boards, the spine with raised bands tooled in gilt, the compartments of the spine fully gilt with rich panel decorations and central ornamental tooling gilt, two red morocco lettering pieces gilt, marbled endleaves, top edge gilt. xi, [1], 497 pp. A fine copy internally, in a good but handsome binding with wear to the leather at the outside of the hinges and some rubbing to the spine labels, some general overall rubbing externally, the inner hinges still remain strong.

Edizione: first printing of this edition of walton's most famous writings and an iconic work in english literature. walton's angler has been described as "full of wisdom, kindly humour, and charity; it is one of the most delightful and care-dispelling books in the language." "more than most authors he lives in his writings, which are the pure expression of a kind, humorous and pious soul in love with nature, while the expression itself is unique for apparent simplicity which is really elaborately studied art" (dnb). not only is the complete angler a great sporting book, but as well, one of the most treasured works in the english language. <br> this copy also includes walton’s last published major work and the last of his series of “lives” which along with sanderson included dunne, hooker, herbert and wotton. walton’s notoriety as author of the compleat angler, (one the most famous books in the language and one of the best sporting and best “how to” books of all time) often overshadows the memory of these biographies, the last three of which were written when walton was quite elderly. in these works walton expresses a unique view of time as a perceptual framework and a transient state of normal life. he stresses that these important figures must be viewed within their own and personal relationship to time, and to the times in which they lived. in doing so he evolved the art of writing “lives” to something more closely relative to modern biographical scholarship then can be seen in the writings of his contemporaries.