170-year-old angling book set to raise thousands

A Victorian fishing book is expected to sell for tens of thousands of pounds when it goes under the hammer.

William Blacker’s ‘Art of Angling, and Complete System of Fly Making, and Dying of Colours’ will be displayed for inspection in Cirencester this Friday and has already attracted the interest of collectors.

The author was a Soho tackle dealer known for his revolutionary approach to fly fishing. Early copies of his 48-page book are unique, containing actual flies and fly-tying specimens attached to the pages with silk thread and silver seals. This example was published by Howlett & Son in Soho, around the corner from Blacker’s shop.
Auctioneer Philip Allwood said: “First editions of Blacker's Art of Angling were printed in London and Edinburgh, but we can find reference to no other example of this work being printed by Howlett & Son.

“Add to this the fact that this volume has been self-published, and what we could have on our hands is a first impression of the first edition of this definitive guide to angling and fly making, a book so invaluable to anglers that it is still in print 171 years after it was first published.”

The auction will take place in October. For more information visit www.mooreallen.co.uk or call 01285 646050.