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Ephemeral Summer Ph oto by John Price The Museum on Festival Weekend 2001. PRING . n's ALWAYS LIKE THIS at the Museum. This year In "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants;' Ken Cameron and found staff updating the galleries, planning for and trav- Andrew Herd discuss an earlier literary tradition, before the Seling to dinner/auctions, hosting a dinner for the recipi- advent of modern copyright law, in which authors would often ent of this year's Heritage Award, receiving television and print reuse parts of previously published works to build on their coverage, publishing the newsletter and journal, and gearing own authority. In particular, Cameron and Herd focus on up for our annual Festival Weekend celebration-at which we three engravings that appeared in the 1760 Hawkins edition of not only invited the public to enjoy the grounds and learn Isaac Walton's The Complete Angler that were picked up in var- about fly fishing, but also welcomed new trustees and honored ious books over the next eighty years. Their article begins on our volunteer of the year. page 12. No wonder our events and membership coordinator took The Compleat Angler inspired this issue's Notes & Comment off for Barbados immediately following. piece as well. Author Jim Repine's love of Izaak Walton and By the time this reaches yo u, though, it will be summer, Charles Cotton's book takes him on a trip to England for a Vermont's ephemeral season. As you read these words, we will look at the world they inhabited. Repine reflects on Walton be feeling the end of it creeping close behind us, and we will and Cotton's words and the thoughts of his guides in England, wear a guise of healthy denial. and offers his own as well. "Walton and Cotton: Compleat and Charles B. Wood III is an expert in ephemera. In addition to Current" begins on page 20. [Editor's Note and Comment: The being a collector of books on Atlantic salmon angling, he is spelling of Isaac/Izaak and Complete/Compleat depends on the also a collector of old photographs and ephemera related to edition one picks up. The authors of these two articles have that subject: manuscripts, letters, typescripts, pamphlets, been allowed their respective preferences.] advertising and travel brochures, old catalogs of salmon fish- Festival Weekend dawned bright and sunny for us. As we do ing tackle and salmon fli es, manuscript fishing record books, each year, we'd like to share some photos with you from our individual photos and photo albums, menus, and postcards. In favorite event. These begin on page 26. "Salmo salar: Notes from a Collector," Wood discusses his col- May your summer be filled with stream time. lection and shares some photographs. His article begins on KATHLEEN ACHOR page 2. EDITOR THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF FLY FISHING Preserving the Heritage of Fly Fishing T RUST EES E. M. Bakwin John Mundt SUMMER 2001 VOLUME 27 NUMBER 3 Michael Bakwin David Nichols Foster Barn Wayne Nordberg Steven Benardete Michael B. Osborne Paul Bofinger Stephen M. Peet 2 Donn Byrne Sr. Leigh H. Perkins Salmo salar: Notes from a Collector . ............. James H . Carey Allan K. Poole Charles B. Wood III Roy D. Chapin Jr. Robert D. Priest Lynn L. Claytor John Rana Standing on the Shoulders of Giants ............. 12 Peter Corbin Roger Riccardi Thomas N . Davidson Pamela B. Richards Ken Cameron and Andrew Herd Wi lliam J. Dreyer William Salladin George R. Gibson III Ernest Schwiebert Notes & Comments: Duncan Grant Robert G. Scott Walton and Cotton: Compleat and Current ... .... 20 Gardner L. Grant James A. Spendiff Irene Hunter John Swan Jim Repine Arthur Kaemmer, M.D. Richard G. Tisch Woods King Ill David H. Walsh Festival Weekend 2001 26 James E. Lutton III Richard J. Warren Walter T. Matia James C. Woods Museum News 30 TRUSTEES EMERITI Contributors 34 Charles R. Eichel David B. Ledlie G. Dick Finlay Leon L. Martuch o N THE co v ER: A guest of Glen Osler fishes the Trinity River. From the W. Michael Fitzgerald Keith C. Russell article Salmo salar: Notes from a Collector by Charles B. Wood III. William Herrick Paul Sch ullery Robert N. Johnson Stephen Sloan OFFICERS Chairman of the Board Robert G. Scott President David H. Walsh Vice Presidents Michael B. Osborne Pamela B. Richards The American Fly Fisher (ISSN 0884-3562) is published James A. Spendiff four times a year by the Museum at P.O. Box 42, Manchester, Ve rmont 05254. Publication dates are winter, spring, summer, and fall. Membership dues include the cost of the Treasurer James H. Carey journal (s15) and are tax deductible as provided for by law. Membership rates are \isled in the back of each issue. Secretary James C. Woods All letters, manuscripts, photographs, and materials intended for publi cation in the journal should be sent lo the Museum. The Museum and journal are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, drawings, photographic STAFF malerial, o r memorabilia. The Museum ca nnot accept responsibility for statements and interpretations thal are Executive Director Gary Tanner wholly the author's. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot be returned unless postage is provided. Contributions to The Events & Membership Diana Siebold American Fly Fisher are to be considered gratuilous and th e property of the Museum unless otherwise requested Art Director John Price by the contributor. Articles appearing in this journal are abstracted and indexed in Historiwl Abstmcts and America: History and Life. Copyright © 2001, the American Museum of Fly Fishing, Manchester, Vermont 05254 . Original Special Projects Sara Wilcox material appearing may not be reprinted without prior permission. Periodical postage paid at Admin.!Advertising Toney Pozek Manchester, Vermont 05254 and additional offices (USPS 057410). The Anrericnn Fly Fisher (ISSN 0884-3562 ) Collection Manager Yoshi Akiyama u.1A1L: [email protected] WEBSITE: www.a mff.com POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Americnn Fly P.O. Box 42, Manchester, Vermont 05254. THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER Editor Kathleen Ac hor Design & Production John Price We welcome editorial contributions to The American Fly Fisher. Copy Editor Sarah May Clarkson For a copy of our contributor guidelines, write to us, or visit our website at www.amff.com and go to the journal section. SUMMER 2001 Salmo salar: Notes froin a Collector Printed Ephemera and Old Photograph Albums by Charles B. Wood III John Cook 1 RIStlGOUCHE SALMON CLUB 1880 100 1980 .YEARS HA v E BEEN passionately Center, Inc.), but I believe it involved with two things does exist, as Wetzel was I all of my adult life: old pretty reliable. Bruns lists books and fly fishing. An anti- rather more items of ephem- quarian bookseller for thirty- era, especially fishing travel four years, I have been a keen brochures, although again, fisherman and fly fisherman most of them are not pri- most of my life.1 Some of my marily devoted to salmon earliest memories are of fish- angling. ing or of wanting my parents A careful reading of other to take me fishing. I also col- bibliographies and auction lect books on the subject but JUNE 14-22 1980. catalogs yields a thin harvest restrict myself to the subject of attractive nuggets. For Figure 1. Souvenir Program of the Ristigouche Salmon Club. of Atlantic salmon angling. 2 example, the standard bibli- The collection at present con- ography of English angling sists of about four hundred titles, the hand, have been collected for at least the books, Westwood and Satchell, pub- major focus being salmon fishing in past two centuries, and that field has lished as long ago as 1883, describes a pri- Canada. A particular strength is in the been relatively well cataloged. There are vately printed broadside, Grand Casca- area of privately printed books on the certain rare fishing books that are very pedia Fishing Score (1879 ).7 To quote the subject; I have about one hundred of difficult to obtain in today's market, but descriptive note: "The wonderful scores these.3 I also collect ephemera, old pho- at least their existence is known as a of the Hon. Charles Ellis, Mr. L. Iveson tographs, and photograph albums, result of the work of previous genera- and Capt. G. A. Percy, made on this river which are the subject of this essay. tions of collectors and bibliographers. in 1879." I have never seen another refer- Ephemera of all sorts, both printed Much of the salmon ephemera that ence to this broadside; it is possible that and manuscript, have in recent years interests me is simply not recorded. But no copy survives today. The sale catalog been increasingly recognized by collec- not all of it. Some years ago, I made the of the library of John Gerard Hecks- tors and historians as important prima- effort to plow through the two major cher, s sold in New York City in i906, ry-source materials.4 My own collection American fishing bibliographies, Wetzel5 · describes an item that is exactly my kind includes manuscripts, letters, type- and Bruns,6 and I made a want list of a of ephemera: a small brochure, in print- scripts, pamphlets, advertising and trav- dozen or so items that interested me, ed salmon-colored paper covers, and el brochures, old catalogs of salmon fish- primarily pamphlets. I have since found published in Montreal in 1901 by the St. ing tackle and salmon flies, manuscript some of these; others still elude me. For Lawrence Steamship Company titled fishing record books, individual photos example, Wetzel lists a small pamphlet Three Excursions to the Celebrated and photo albums, menus, and post- by Albert M. Bigelow called Recollections Salmon Streams of the Labrador Coast.