The Origins of Angling

An Inquiry into the Early History of
Fly Fishing with a New Printing of
The Treatise of Fishing with an Angle

John McDonald

From the introduction: The primary justification for this book is that The Treatyse of Fishing with an Angle, the first writing on modern sport fishing, has long been out of print. As it is the first, and as no better essay on fishing has been written, it should always be in print. For most of two centuries, the fifteenth and sixteenth, it was alone the standard work on the sport and put its stamp on all subsequent history. In the ages before the treatise almost nothing is known about the sport. Since the treatise is a dramatic historical event, seemingly coming from the blue, we have looked into a number of questions surrounding it: the origins and history of fishing and to some extent of hunting; the mystery of Dame Juliana Berners, the legendary nun and sportswoman to whom the treatise is attributed; the deciphering of the dressings for the first known modern trout flies; and other matters. Thus the treatise became the starting point for a wider review of the sport.

Lyons & Burford, Publishers, New York 1963
Hardbound. 273 pages
11 1/8 x 8 1/2 in.

Near new condition - minimal sign of wear, price sticker on front cover.

Contents

Introduction

PART ONE

Chapter 1.   The Treatyse of Fishing with an Angle in History
Chapter 2.   Modernized Text of the Earliest Surviving Version of the
                  Treatyse (From the Manuscript: 1450)
Chapter 3.   Modernized Text of the First Printed Version of the
                  Treatyse (From the Second Book of St. Albans: 1496
Chapter 4.   The Legend of Dame Juliana
Chapter 5.   The First Modern Trout Flies

PART TWO

Chapter 6.    Facsimile, with Transcript, of the Yale Wagstaff
                   Manuscript of the Treatyse
Chapter 7.    Description and History of the Manuscript
Chapter 8.    Facsimile, with Transcript, of the First Printed Text
                   of the Treatyse
Chapter 9.    Comparison of Manuscript with First Printed Version
                   of the Treatyse

APPENDIXES

Appendix A.  Prologue to Master of the Game (c. 1406), Modernized
Appendix B.  Prologue to The Art of Falconry (c. 1245), Translated
                   from the Latin
Appendix C.  Text of William Burton in which Dame Juliana was First
                    Identified as a Nun and Noblewoman 

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