A History of Fly Fishing for Trout

Infobox Book
name = A History of Fly Fishing for Trout
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Title page
author = John Waller Hills
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = England
language = English
series =
subject = Fly fishing
genre =
publisher = Phillip Allan & Co, London
pub_date = 1921
english_pub_date =
media_type =
pages = 244
isbn =
oclc =
preceded_by =
followed_by = A Summer on the Test (1925)

"A History of Fly Fishing for Trout" is a fly fishing book written by John Waller Hills published in London in 1921.

ynopsis

"A History of Fly Fishing for Trout" is the first book to trace the history of fly fishing from its very beginning, with chapters on Early Sporting Literature, Early Fly Fishing in France, and identifying all the artificial flies mentioned by early writers. With a useful bibliography.

Reviews

* In "Notable Angling Literature" (1945) James Robb devotes an entire chapter to Hills and says the following about "A History":

It covers the period from the close of the firteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth, from the Treatyse to Andrew Lang. The story is very well told and must have involved considerable research. Generous in his appreciations, he can always be relied upon to give an unbiased judgement. The book sets a high standard and one can refer to him with confidence on moot points in angling literature on trout fly-fishing [cite book |last=Robb |first=James |title=Notable Angling Literature |publisher=Herbert Jenkins Ltd |location=London |year=1945 |pages=130 ] .

* In "The Well Tempered Angler" (1965) Arnold Gingrich listed Hill's "A History of Fly Fishing for Trout" as one of three books to refer to when seeking guidance on angling literature.

All three of these writers--Robb, Hills and Marston--get at the real meaning of the old writers, quote them and characterize them, point our the significance of their contributions, and show both where they are still valid and where later developments have improved them [cite book |last=Gingrich |first=Arnold |authorlink=Arnold Gingrich |title=The Well Tempered Angler |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York |year=1965 |pages=237 ]

.

* Andrew Herd credits Hill with the first attempt to codify the history of fly fishing, albeit Hill's work shows a distinctly British bias and disregard for other European influences.cite book |last=Herd |first=Andrew Dr |title=The Fly |publisher=Medlar Press |location=Ellesmere, Shropshire |year=2001 |isbn=1899600191 ]

* Hills and "A History" is extensively quoted and referenced in the following works [cite book |last=McDonald |first=John |title=Quill Gordon |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York |year=1972 |isbn=0394469895 ] , [cite book |last=Gingrich |first=Arnold |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=The Fishing In Print-A Guided Tour Through Five Centuries of Angling Literature |year=1974 |publisher=Winchester Press |location=New York |isbn= ] , [cite book |last=Schullery |first=Paul |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=American Fly Fishing-A History |year=1996 |publisher=The Easton Press |location=Norwalk, CT |isbn= ] , :
** "Quill Gordon", John McDonald (1972)
** "The Fishing in Print, Arnold Gingrich (1974)
** "American Fly Fishing-A History", Paul Schullery (1996)
** "The Fly", Andrew Herd (2003)

Contents

* Chapter I - Sporting Literature in France and England - 1
* Chapter II - The Treatise of Fishing with an Angle - 16
* Chapter III - From The Treatise to The Compleat Angler - 36
* Chapter IV - Early Fly Fishing in France - 49
* Chapter V - Charles Cotton and His Contemporaries - 56
* Chapter VI - From Cotton to Stewart - 82
* Chapter VII - Stewart and the Upstream School – 99
* Chapter VIII - The Dry Fly - 114
* Chapter IX - The Evolution of the Trout Fly - 141
* Chapter X - The Evolution of the Trout Fly (Contd.) - 170
* Chapter XI - The Literature of Fly Fishing - 191
* Bibliography - 222
* Index - 231

Other Editions

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Additional Reading

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ee also

Annotated bibliography of fly fishing

External Links

[http://www.archive.org/details/historyofflyfish00hillrich Online Version Internet Archive]

Notes