The Complete Angler

London: John Major, 1823. Leather. Very Good Indeed. 6.5" by 4". Not Stated. The first Major edition of this important work by Izaak Walton, with the contributions of Charles Cotton, complete with illustrations throughout. The first Major edition.Illustrated with a frontispiece, engraved title page, twelve plates, and in-text engravings.Collated, complete.Four pages of adverts to the rear.'The Compleat Angler' is a well known seventeenth century work celebrating the art and spirit of fishing, in both prose and verse.The work was admired by the likes of Charles Lamb, who admired it for it's innocence and simplicity of the heart. In fact it is so popular that it is the second most reprinted book in English after the King James Bible.Walton's writing is vivid and expands further than being just a fishing manual, with passages of rich description, such as describing the contents in the bag of an angler.Izaak Walton is now best known for this work, though he professed to not be an expert with a fishing fly. He also wrote a collection of short biographies called 'Walton's Lives'.With contributions by Charles Cotton, a poet, who is best known for these contributions, and for his translations of the works of Michel de Montaigne. In a half calf binding with marbled paper to the boards. Externally, smart. Light rubbing to the boards and spine. Minor bumping to the extremities. Internally, firmly bound. Pages are very lightly age-toned and generally clean with scattered spots. Plate facing page xxxii is detaching. Very Good Indeed