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First edition, deluxe issue, number 44 of 75 copies signed by the author, of this illustrated guide on artificial fly-tying. Halford remains renowned for the "enormous authority he commanded on his chosen subject. he occupied a position that few angling writers have ever held either before or since" (Herd, p. 17). This is an updated and improved version of Halford's previous classic works Floating Flies and How to Dress Them (1886) and Dry Fly Entomology (1897), presenting a new set of dry fly patterns based on natural insect specimens collected by the author during the fishing season of 1902. The first volume includes photographic colour reproductions of the dry fly patterns featured in the second volume, as well as their detailed descriptions, and gives instructions on how to make them with the appropriate tools. The colour charts were made on the basis of "a monumental compendium issued by the Royal Horticultural Society. Eighteen colours are thus reproduced, for shades (degrees of light and dark) being given of each. These colours and shades, according to Mr Halford, are the true tints of the natural flies with which he deals, and constitute a permanent, standard record which may safely be used by all future fly-tiers" (Dunne). Among Halford's readers was the American angler Theodore Gordon (1854-1915) who introduced the author's fly fishing techniques to the streams and rivers of New England. Halford therefore "put dry-fly fishing on such a firm footing that its future was assured" (Herd, p. 17). A further 50 copies of this edition were produced for the American market. J. W. Dunne, Sunshine and the Dry Fly, 2011; Andrew Herd, "Frederick M. Halford: The Myth and the Man", The American Fly Fisher, vol. 28, no. 1, 2002. 2 vols, quarto (275 x 219 mm). vol. I with photogravure portrait frontispiece of Edgar Williamson, 9 similar colour plates of flies, 18 colour charts, 16 mounted plates with tissue guards, black and white illustrations in text; vol. II comprising "The Halford Dry Fly Patterns": 33 specimens of dry flies in 9 sunken mounts; title pages printed in red and black. Contemporary red half calf, spines with raised bands, gilt lettering and floral ornaments in compartments, red cloth sides, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt. Old bookseller's ticket of William Brown, Edinburgh, in vol. II. Ownership inscription of J. E. R. Oldfield, dated 1911, on front pastedown; Captain John Elphinstone Ryrie Oldfield (1873-1946) angler and amateur ornithologist, served as an officer in the Northumberland Artillery, Royal Garrison Artillery, and with the Lovat Scouts; he is mentioned in the Fishing Gazette in February 1905 as salmon fishing on the River Oich. Leather on spine a little marked and scuffed, a few spots of stripping sometime retouched, corners worn, foxing to endpapers and sporadically to mounts, minor offsetting from flies, with the all the dry fly specimens intact and well-preserved. A very good set.
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