THE LITERATURE OP PISHING. 41 



Not long ago, at a public sale, these five editions, the 

 copies being perfect, in good preservation and hand- 

 somely bound, realized 1001. I may here remark that the 

 word " Compleat," which appears thus spelt on the illus- 

 trated title-page of the first edition, is spelt " Complete " 

 on all the pages of the book itself, the " Compleat" 

 being probably a little bit of pedantry on the part of the 

 engraver of the " Dolphins." 



The sixth edition, which did not appear till 1750, was 

 edited by the Rev. Moses Browne, as was also the eighth 

 in 1 759, and the tenth in 1 772. From these may be said to 

 date something like a revival of Angling. In 1760 was 

 published the well-known edition by Sir John Hawkins. 

 The seventeenth edition is the next of any note. Sir 

 Henry Ellis being the editor, in 1815. Other editions 

 followed in quick succession, and in 1835 we have the 

 notable edition by Sir Harris Nicolas, with the lives of 

 Walton and Cotton, and illustrations by Stothard and 

 Inskip. This has been since reprinted in more than one 

 form, and in my opinion is the best of all, containing as it 

 does in the notes the variations of all the early editions 

 and much interesting matter. A special feature in this 

 edition is the division of "Walton's Dialogues into " Five 

 Days," which thus brings out the " dramatic character " 

 of the work. In Walton's first edition, though it is 

 divided by the author into thirteen chapters, the dialogue 

 evidently occupies five separate days, and " spaces " 

 show where the conversation ends for the first four 

 nights. 



Altogether there have been about sixty editions of 

 Walton, reckoning those published on the Continent and 

 in America. The books which can boast such a multitude 



