Preface. vii 



known Play of the Spanish Gipsee, never till now 

 published : Both printed for Richard Mar riot, to 

 be sold at his shop iu Saint Dunstarfs Churchyard, 

 Fleet street" 



And it was thus calmly, unexcitedly noticed in the 

 Mercurius Politicus : from Thursday, May 12, 

 to Thursday, May 19, 1653 : " There is newly 

 extant, a Book of i8d. price, called the Compleat 

 Angler, or the Contemplative Marfs Recreation, 

 being a discourse of Fish and Fishing, not unworthy 

 the perusal of most Anglers. Printed for Richard 

 Mar riot, to be sold at his shop in Sf. Dun Stan's 

 Churchyard, Fleet street" 



Thus for it, as for most great births, the bare 

 announcement sufficed. One of the most beautiful of 

 the world's books had been born into the world, and 

 was still to be bought in its birthday form for 

 eighteen-pence. 



In 1816, Mr. Mars ton calculates, the market 

 value was about 4 41. In 1847 Dr. Bethune 

 estimated it at 12 12s. In 1883 Westwood 

 reckoned it "from jo to j8o or even more" and 

 since then copies have fetched 235 and 310, though 

 in 1894 we have a sudden drop at Sotheby s to ^150 

 which, however, was more likely due to the state of 

 the copy than to any diminution in the zeal of Walt onian 

 collectors, a zeal, indeed, which burns more ardently 

 from year to year. 



Sufficiently out of reach of the poor collector as it 

 if at present, it is probable that it will mount still 

 higher, and consent only to belong to richer and richer 

 men. And thus, in course of time, this facsimile 

 will, in clerical language, find an increasing sphere of 



