The Compleat Angler by Walton, Izaac and Cotton, Charles - 1996

London: Thornton Butterworth Limited, 1927. Hardcover. Very Good. Quarter cloth printed in black with paper-covered boards, thick 4to., 367 pages, 16 mounted wood engravings of fish and birds on India paper, captioned tissue guards. A good, solid example of the trade edition, showing moderate soiling and wear, in archival mylar.

London: Thornton Butterworth Limited, 1927. Hardcover. Very Good. Quarter vellum printed in black, batik paper-covered boards, thick 4to., 367 pages, 16 mounted wood engravings of fish and birds on India paper, captioned tissue guards. One of 100 numbered copies printed in a larger format than the trade edition on handmade paper and bound thus. This copy formerly belonged to Elmer Adler, with his attractive small signature and the date at the top of the pastedown, with a faint small "withdrawn" stamp and "dupl" annotation in pencil. It is lacking the additional signed engraving, which we like to think went with Adler to serve as a specimen in his legendary seminars at Princeton. The spine is moderately but not offensively spotted, the board edges and tips show wear, overall a very good copy with the plates and pages clean and fresh, in archival mylar.

Bedford Park, Chiswick: The Caradoc Press, 1905. Limited edition. Hardcover. g+ to vg. 1/350. Large octavo. [14], 155, [1]pp. Striking contemporary gilt-ruled full calf, with gold decoration and lettering to spine. Raised bands. Top edge gilt. Dentelles. Marbled endpapers. Engraved frontispiece portrait of Izaac Walton. Title page in red and black lettering. Decorative initials and tailpieces. This splendid limited edition of Walton's masterpiece "The Compleat Angler" is the exact reprint of the first edition published in 1653. It is a celebration of the art and spirit of fishing in prose and verse. Walton's frontispiece portrait, as well as the decorative initials and ornaments were designed and engraved by Harry George Webb, a recognized artist of the time. One of 350 unnumbered copies on paper (out of a total edition of 364). Binding rubbed along joints, with head of spine slightly chipped. Binding in overall good+, interior in very good condition.