The Compleat Angler

New Edition

Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton
Edited by Marjorie Swann

Oxford World's Classics

A new edition of the great classic of angling literature and the English countryside that celebrates its unique appeal as a fishing manual, work of pastoral literature, portrait of the natural world, and environmental champion.
The first edition to place The Compleat Angler in the context of ecocriticism and to highlight its focus on social relationships and the promotion of links between the human and natural worlds.
Based on the authoritative 1676 text, including both the final edition of Walton's Angler published during the author's lifetime, and Charles Cotton's pioneering fly-fishing treatise, first published as Part II of the 1676 edition of The Compleat Angler.
Includes the original illustrations plus four maps showing the locations visited by Walton's and Cotton's characters.
Introduction and Notes contextualize the work in the social and political context of the English Civil War, early modern literature, attitudes to the environment and conservation, natural history, and angling techniques.
Glossary of angling terms helps readers understand 17th-century angling practice.

The Compleat Angler

New Edition

Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton
Edited by Marjorie Swann

Description

'I envy no body but him, and him only, that catches more fish than I do.'

A unique celebration of the English countryside and the most famous book on angling ever published, Walton's Compleat Angler first appeared in 1653. In 1676, at Walton's invitation, his friend Charles Cotton contributed his pioneering exploration of fly-fishing. The book is both a manual of instruction and a vision of society in harmony with nature. It guides the novice fisherman on how to catch and cook a variety of fish, on how to select and prepare the best bait and make artificial flies, and on the habits of freshwater fish. It also promotes angling as a communal activity in which the bonds of friendship are forged through shared experience of the natural world.

Anecdotes, poetry, music, and song intersperse the rural descriptions, which promote conservation as well as sport. This new edition highlights the book's continuing relevance to our relationship with the environment, and explores the turbulent history from which it came.

ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

The Compleat Angler

New Edition

Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton
Edited by Marjorie Swann

Oxford World's Classics

The Compleat Angler

New Edition

Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton
Edited by Marjorie Swann

Oxford World's Classics

Author Information

Izaak Walton (1593-1683) was born in Stafford. He was a biographer of the poet John Donne, and wrote lives of other notable Anglicans, including George Herbert and Richard Hooker. He was a Royalist, and during the Civil War participated in a royalist conspiracy after the battle of Worcester. In The Compleat Angler he expressed his political and religious allegiances while exploring humanity's relationship to the natural world. He is buried in Winchester Cathedral, where he is commemorated by a stained-glass window in the Fishermen's Chapel.

Charles Cotton (1630-87) was a country gentleman, poet, and translator, who built a fishing house for himself and Walton at his birthplace, Beresford Hall in Staffordshire. In 1676, at Walton's invitation, he wrote the second part to The Compleat Angler.

Marjorie Swann, editor, grew up fishing for perch and pike on St Joseph Island, Ontario. She subsequently earned degrees at Queen's University and Oxford. She is the author of Curiosities and Texts: The Culture of Collecting in Early Modern England (2001) and is writing a book about Walton's Angler and its post-seventeenth-century afterlives.