Fly Fisher OFFICERS

The American Fly Fisher OFFICERS President Museum Slide Program Leon Martuch Vice President Steve Raymond Now Available Vice President Austin S. Hogan The Museum is pleased to announce the completion of its Treasurer traveling slide program. The program is designed to introduce the work of the Museum to organizations of anglers throughout Leigh H. Perkins the country by giving them a brief tour through the collections Secretary and Ass't Treasurer and an introduction to the history of angling in America. It fea- tures many of the Museum's most prized possessions, in excel- Mrs. Laura Towslee lent color slides taken by Lefty Kreh, Sid Latham and others. Executive Director Through a combination of photographs of Museum holdings and early angling art, the history of angling is briefly traced, from Paul Schullery the solid wood rods of the young republic to the graphite wonders of today. The 16%-minute program iq accompanied by a casette-tape sound track, so that the program requires no reading or nar- ration by the borrower. The slides are shipped right in their carousel unit, ready for viewing. The Museum of American Fly Fishing is a national instit- ution, with objects on display from all parts of the country. TRUSTEES Since the Museum can only be located in one part of the country, it is necessary to find ways to share our collection with those anglers who are too far away to visit. The slide program Robert Barrett David B. Ledlle will help in that. Not only will it encourage more people to join Richard Bauer Alvan Macauley, Jr. us in our work, but also it will take the Museum to them. Joseph Spear Beck Leon L. Martuch To arrange for a loan simply write to the Executive Dir- Stanley Bogdan Dudley Mills ector, The Museum of American Fly Fishing, Manchester, Kay Brodney Carl Navarre Vermont, 05254. Charlie Brooks Ed Oliver Dan Callaghan Leigh H. Perkins Roy Chapin Mrs. Romi Perkins Charles Eichel Steve Raymond G. Dick Finlay Kick Robbins William Glassford Willard Rockwell Gardner L. Grant Ben Schley George Griffith Ernest Schwiebert, Jr. Alvin R. Grove Col. Henry Siege1 Austin S. Hogan Prescott A. Tolman Susie Isaksen Ben Upson Sam Johnson Ralph Wahl Martin J. Keane Roger G. White Capt. R. A. Kotrla Dickson Whitney Peter Kriendler Donald D. Zahner --- Dana S. Lamb Ed Zern Tllc American Fly Fisher Published by The Museum of American Fly Fishing for the pleasure of the membership. SPRING 1978 Vo1. 5 No. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS The Arte of Angling, 1577, Walton and Topsell by Professor Thomas Harrison P. 2 Daniel Webster as an Angler by Charles Lanman (1888) P. 5 Annual Meeting News P- 8 Sara McBrider Pioneer Angling Entomologist by Ken Cameron p. 10 Entomology For Flyfishers by Sara McBride (1876) edited by Ken Cameron p. 11 The Lye Brook Pool p. 13 Adirondaek Museum Historical Exhibit Collection Highlights: Historic Pacific Salmon and Steelhead Flies p. 15 Editor A Fight With A Trout Paul Schullery by Charles Dudley Warner (1878) p. 19 Collection Highlights: Our Oldest Fly Rod p. 21 Assistant Editor David B. Ledlie Fly Casting by H. P. Wells (1885) and James Henshall (1881) p. 22 Art Directors Fly Fishing for Shad (1882) p. 26 Anne K. Secor Tommy Brayshaw: The Ardent Angler-Artist Ann Pendleton Article and Book Review by Steve Raymond p. 28 Museum Membership Information p. 32 Books and Museum Publications IBC THE AMERICAN FLY FISHEK, the maga~ineof THE MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FLY FISHING, is published quarterly by the MUSEUM at Manchester, Vermont 05254. Subscription is free with payment of membership dues. All correspondcnce, letters, manuscripts, photographs and materials should be forwarded care of the Editor. The MUSEUM and MAGAZINE are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, drawings, photographs, materials or memorabilia. The Museum cannot accept responsibility for statements and interpretations which are wholly the author's. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot be returned unless postage is provided. Contri- butions to THE AMEKICAN FLY FISHER are to be considered gratuitou5 and become the property of the Museum unless otherwise requested by the contributor. Publication dates are January, April, July and Oeto- ber. Entered as Second Class matter at the U. S. Post Office, Manchester, Vermont 05254. @ Copyright 1978, THE MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FLY FISHING, Manchester, Vermont 05254. Original material appearing may not be reprinted without prior permission. Credits: The ornate capital letters used in this issue are from ANGLER'S EVENINGS (1880), by the Manchest- er Angler's Association, RECOLLECTIONS OF FLY FISHING by Edward Hamilton, and HALCYON, by Henry Wade. Museum photos by David B. Ledlie. Printing by Thompson, Ine., Manchester Center, Vermont. The Arte of Angling, 1577 Walton and Topsell by Thomas P. Harrison The following paper has been submitted to us by Thomas P. Harrison, Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Texas, Austin. Professor Harrison's keen interest in the history of science, specifically in ornithology, led him to a perusal of Edward Topsell's "The History of Serpents" (London, 1608). In this lengthy tome, he found mention of William Samuel, Vicar of Godmanchester, and identified him as the prob- able author of the heretofore anonymous "The Arte of Angling," 1577 (see "Notes & Queries," October 1960, p. 373). For a full discussion of Professor Harrison's discovery md its relation to Walton's "The Complete Angler" (1653) please see "The American Fly Fisher," Vol. 2, No. 2, 1975. It has been our opinion for some time now that Professor Harrison has never received due credit for his remarkable detective work. In an effort to partially rectify this situation, we publish below Professor Harrison's recent paper which suggests that Samuel may have authored perhaps another (as yet undiscov- ered) volume dealing with fly fishing. Thomas P. Harrison was born on May 9, 1897 in Davidson, North Carolina. He received a B.A. degree in 1918 from the University of North Carolina. After a short stint in the infantry (World War I), he matriculated at Cornell University from which he received his PhD. degree in English in 1924. His teaching career spanned forty-eight years: two years at Cornell and the remaining years at the University of Texas. His areas of interest include Shakespeare, Milton, Spencer, and the history of science. He is the author of scores of literary articles for a number of learned journals and has published several books. Professor Harrison tells us that "As a boy, I did some fly fishing for trout in the mountain streams of North Carolina. Bait fishing was common only among disreputable persons." HE relationship of the Arte to Walton's Masterpiece has been explored with considerable thoroughness by Professor Bentley, who thus sums up his conclusion: Clearly Walton took the general plan and struct- ure of The Arte of Angling for his famous book; he took from it the names of the two principal characters in his first edition; and he also took, almost verbatim, his instructions for the cultivation of gentles and the preparation of malt bait.1 Professor Savage's notes in this edition include sixteen parallels from Walton, some of which are cited below as of possible signi- ficance. So completely traditional had the lore of angling become that Samuel's own modest admission of his authorities is stated by Piscator in his promise to Viator: "But what I do know by report, by reading, or by experience, by myself at home or abroad, I will, God willing, not hide it from you, . ." (p. 32). He cites Gesner once (on the pike), and likely he knew also the Hoke of St. Albans, his only known English predecessor on the art of angling--- in print. From this he seems to have drawn nothing. In addition to the two long passages referred to by Bentley, others from Walton which appear to trace to the Arte have to do with ruff, perch, pike, carp, and roach. To save space, only The Arte of Angling, 1577, ed. Gerald E. Bentley, Introduction by Carl 0. V. Kienbusch, Explanatory Notes by Henry L. Savage, Prince- ton University Press, 1958; see also Marcus S. Goldman, "Isaac Walt- on and The Arte of Angling, 1577," (Studies in Honor of T. W. Bald- win, University of Illinois Press, 1958, pp. 185-204). Subsequent quotations herein are from Walton's first edition, 1653, and from the Professor Thomas P. Harrison modernized text of the Arte, ed. Bentley. Walton is now quoted with page reference to the Arte. Identical words and similar phrases are italicized. Perch: Walton, p. 181: But bite the perch will, and that very boldly, and, as one has wittily observed, if there be twenty or forty in a hole, they may be at one standing all catch'd one after another; they being like the wicked of the world, not afraid, though their fellows . perish in their sight.2 [Of the ruff, Arte, p. 39, and of the perch. pp. 40-411 Pike or pickerel: Walton, pp. 143-144, called the freshwater-wolf. " [Pp. 148-149,??His feeding is . sometime a weed of his own, called pikrel-weed3 . you may fish . either with a ledger or a walking bait." [Arte, pp. 41, 43.1 [Walton, p 143,] Gesner mentions a pike taken in Swedeland in the year 1449 with a ring about his neck, declaring he was put into the pond by Frederick the Second more than two hundred years before he was last taken, as the inscription of that ring, being Greek, was interpreted by the then Bishop of Worms. " [Arte pp. 46-47] .4 Carp: Walton, pp.

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