[ANGLING] Rod and Line - Essays, together with Aksakov on Fishing

London: Cape, 1929. First Edition. Hard Cover. Dust Jacket. First UK Edition. Publisher's orange boards with gilt spine lettering; publisher's device in blind to the middle of the back board. 8vo. (140mm x 210mm). 286 pages + ii pages of adverts at the rear. Engraved frontispiece plate (with tissue guard) of "North Country Fishing As It Used To Be". Spine tips a little softened otherwise a near fine (or slightly better) copy with none of the usual foxing so often encountered with this title with just a hint of offsetting to the front free end-paper. In the RARE dust wrapper priced 7s 6d net to the inside flap (as called for). The VG+ D/W is a much nicer example than usually encountered with just minor fraying at the head and tail of the spine (which is toned as usual). 'Rod and Line' is a collection of pieces originally written for The Guardian newspaper between 1924-1928 and is one of the most significant contributions to English fishing literature. Indeed Mortimer and Whitehouse (2019) regard it as providing "some of the best writing on fishing" and Coopey (2010) comments that the Ransome in 'Rod and Line' produced one of the most evocative and rich texts in the English language. 'Rod and Line' includes extracts from the works of Russian writer Sergei Aksakov, whose Notes on Fishing (1847) was Russia's first angling treatise, comparable to Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler. A very nice copy indeed. Uncommon in this Collector's Condition. Photographs/scans available upon request.