(ANGLING). MASCALL, LEONARD.

A BOOKE OF FISHING WITH HOOKE AND LINE . . . REPRINTED FROM THE EDITION OF 1590.

(London: W. Satchell, 1884). 222 x 178 mm (8 3/4 x 7"). 6 p.l., 52 pp. ONE OF 200 COPIES.

Original brown quarter morocco over cloth boards, flat spine with titling in gilt, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt. With 12 illustrations, from woodcuts, in the text. Front pastedown with the bookplate of R. A. G. Festing. Westwood & Satchell, p. 137 (citing the 1590 edition); Albee, p. 107; Heckscher Sale Catalogue, lot #1344. Extremities slightly rubbed, spine with minor marks, endpapers a bit foxed, otherwise an excellent copy, the binding completely sound and without major flaw, and the text clean and pleasing.

This is an attractive reprint, done on high quality paper, of a now very rare compilation published in 1590 by Leonard Mascall. The text is based upon two earlier works, the "Treatyse of Fishynge wyth an Angle," by the devoted sportswoman Juliana Berners, and "L'Agriculture et Maison Rustique" of Charles Estienne, the noted French publisher and author of books on natural history. Mascall's advice is quaint and picturesque, recommending, for example, the use of onions and shoe buckles to attract fish. Our author (who died in 1589, just before this work came out) was clerk of the kitchen for the archbishop of Canterbury, and also compiled works on trees, horses, and poultry, as well as a book of instructions for removing stains from clothing. (ST8549)