Walton, Izaak

Obligation and bond by Walter Fowler, Robert Pickin and Brian Lane, to John Gough of Oldfalling in Bushbury, Staffordshire for £1000, following the sale to Gough of the Priory Grounds in Bradley, Staffordshire, signed by Fowler, Pirkin and Lane, with red wax seal impressions, and signed by Walton and three others at witnesses, one parchment membrane (445 x 365 mm), endorsed, 25 October 1659; browning. Mounted and housed in a green morocco-backed folding-box.

E. M. Dring (1906-1990, originally in the collection of Ted Dring's father; Sotheby's, 18 July 1991, lot 165). acquisition: Purchased at the foregoing sale through Bernard Quaritch

CELM WtI 26

An exceptional rarity: we have no record of any other Izaak Walton signed document or manuscript having been sold at auction since the nineteenth century. The only obtainable examples of his signature are inscribed copies of printed books. Only five autograph letters by Walton survive and some two dozen signed documents, all but four of which (including this example) are in institutional collections.

Izaak Walton was a native of Staffordshire and retired to a cottage in the hamlet of Shallowford, near Stafford, in the aftermath of the Civil War. This document places Walton within the context of the Staffordshire gentry and provides a valuable insight into his local friends and neighbors.The property that is the subject of the current document was located just a few miles from Walton's cottage.