THE BIBLIOGEAPIIY OF AI^GLH^G. 



BY CHARLES ESTCOURT, F.C.S., F.I.C. 



CANNOT, from the mere bulk of the matter, 

 treat this subject upon the h'nes of the definition 

 of the word bibliography. Bibliography is said 

 to be the science of books. In the brief space at my 

 command I can do little more than treat of the exteriors, 

 or titles, of books upon angling: to treat of the contents 

 would require many papers. What I have to say is 

 necessarily gleaned, to a large extent, from the works of 

 others ; and though, in the main, my theories and facts 

 will, I believe, be found fairly correct, yet more or less of 

 error must creep in, when, as is the case with the present 

 writer, one is compelled to accept statements made by 

 other observers. 



I find that the first-known list of angling books was 

 compiled in 1811, by Mr. Ellis. It contains 80 works. 

 This list was revised in 1836 by Mr. Pickering, and the 

 number of works was increased to 180. In 1840 Mr. 

 Wilson, in The Rod and Gnu, gave an abbreviated list of 

 100 works on fishing. In 1847 Dr. Bethune edited an 

 American issue of Walton and Cotton. In this work 

 he printed an appendix, with ballads and papers upon 

 American fishing, and more valuable still, a bibliogra- 



