Richard Bowlker, c. 1746

he Art of Angling was the standard textbook of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and ran to at least a dozen editions. We aren't quite sure of the date of publication of the first edition, hence the circa, but it is a slim volume written in the didactic style that is typical of early fishing manuals. Continuing the grand tradition of early fishing texts, The Art ranges widely for such a compact volume and deals with almost every type of fishing - where fly fishing is concerned, there is a great deal on choice of tackle, but relatively little on tactics. Much of Bowlker's advice has its roots in the seventeenth century and some of his patterns are derived from the Treatyse on Fishing with an Angle, and the book can't be said to be a rivetting read, but it is an important milestone in the literature.