Opinions of the Press on the Angler-Naturalist. 
Field.—‘¢ An admirable book . . . it is in fact the most complete history of 
British fresh-water fish of the present day.” 
John Bull.—“ A work of national importance. Characterised by a careful and 
systematic knoWledge of the special branches of zoology which come within its 
scope ; and.thoroughly worthy to place its author’s name by the side of that Cory- 
pheus of this class of literature—Gilbert White of Selborne.” 
Saturday Review.—‘ It admirably carries out its selected programme. It claims 
for every sportsman that he should be a bit of a naturalist, and does its part to 
make the angler a complete one, as far as fish are concerned, That its author is 
both one and the other we have abundant evidence. The lucidus ordo ‘bespeaks the 
naturalist, the practical information a true disciple of the gentle craft.” 
Reader.—** An admirable work. It is storéd throughout with anecdotes, which 
Mr. Pennell relates in language that is always'terse and graceful. ‘On the subject 
of fishing he is well known as an authority. . . . ..Dhe Angler-Nuturalist is a 
clever book, and a useful book, and a book sui generis. We have no doubt that it 
will become a standard work of reference. Let us add, what Mr. Pennell has mo- 
destly omitted, that it is the most complete history of British fresh-water tish of 
the present day; and that the illustrations are equal to the text—which is the 
greatest compliment we can pay them.” 
Opinions of the Press on the Book of the Pike. 
Field.—‘ Since the days of Nobbes, the father of trollers, no work has issued 
‘ from the press likely to carry such consternation into the homes and haunts of the 
tyrant of the waters as the book before us. . . . . Mr. Pennell has certainly 
taken in the pike and done for him, and there is nothing left for succeeding writers 
on pike-fishing to tell their readers. He has exhausted the subject, and has done 
it so well and so deftly, that one ‘wanders on, and on, and’on through ‘his pleasant 
pages, wondering where he has gathered all this pike-lore from, and how it is that 
in a somewhat restricted subject like the history of, and means‘of capture employed 
upon, one particular fish, he has contrived to beguile one of any sense of tedium. 
And yet the book is essentially what it assumes to be—The Book of the Pike, neither 
more nor less. Here we have all about him—how, when, and where he is raised, 
reared, educated, fattened, slaughtered, and cooked—nothing is wanting. On the 
practical department of his book we need enlarge but little. Mr. Pennell is so 
well known to be‘a senior angler in the art he professes, that it is far better to let 
him speak for himself, and to recommend our readers to cull his directions from 
the fountainhead, than to attempt to condense them in simply mangled fragments. 
As for criticising them, there is no need of it.” 
Sporting Gazette.—‘‘ That there is an actual necessity for and value attached to 
such an addition to the fisherman’s library, apart from the consideration of the liter- 
ary and piscatory talents of the author, will readily be conceded by those who are 
_ aware that no English work has ever before been devoted exclusively to pike-fish- 
ing. We may therefore congratulate ourselves that such an addition has come to 
us, and from such asource. . . . Part II. exhausts, we may say, completely and 
satisfactorily, all the various details of each method of pike-fishing. 
Land and Water.—“ ‘Has this book a sufficient excuse for existence?’ Mr. 
Pennell asks in his preface, The best of excuses we reply. Since Nobbes, of the 
dark ages, no substantial treatise on pike-fishing has been given to the world, if we 
except those of Salter and “‘ Otter”—the one a Cockney, the other a catchpenny 
production. The Book of the Pike, on the contrary, is the work of a scholar and a 
gentleman, and of a senior angler to boot, and it treats its subject exhaustively.” 
Bell's Life.—“‘ This is in every sense of the word a clever book, and'is, moreover, 
as useful as it is unpretending. . . . We can with every satisfaction endorse 
the prophetic suggestion of Mr. Westwood, whose Bibliographical .A gl ia is 
known and admired by all anglers of note, when he says, that ‘ Posterity will agree 
to designate Mr. Pennell the ‘ Father of Pike-fishers.’’” a naturalist and a@ most 
genial writer, Mr. Pennell is also a student in history, and the charm of his teach- 
ing is heightened by its graceful and gentle utterance,” 
