Walton, Izaak

8vo (138 x 85mm.), FIRST EDITION, engraved title within piscatorial cartouche, six engraved vignettes of fish (trout, pike, carp, tench, perch, and barbel), two pages of printed music by Henry Lawes, with R3r in first state (with the misreading "contention" for "contentment") and F4r with the trout engraving at the centre of the page, brown levant morocco by Riviere with lozenge gilt centrepiece, board edges gilt with double fillet roll, gilt edges, title page remargined, paper repair at F4 with about two letters in facsimile, some staining--The Compleat Angler or the Contemplative Man's Recreation. Being a Discourse of Rivers, and Fish-Ponds, and Fish, and Fishing...The second edition much enlarged. London: T. M[axley] for Rich[ard] Marriot, 1655, 12mo (144 x 81mm.), engraved title, commendatory verses, ten vignettes of fish (the additions being bream, eel, loach, and bullhead), brown morocco by Riviere, gilt and blind border and floral cornerpieces, edges gilt, title page and about 15 other pages remargined, minor restoration to many other pages, worm-holes--The Complet Angler... To which is added The Laws of Angling: with a new Table of the Particulars in this book. The third Edition much enlarged. London: J.G. for Rich[ard] Marriot, 1661, 8vo (148 x 90mm.), third edition, first issue, with "The Lawes of Angling" in black-letter, green morocco by Matthews elaborately gilt incorporating fishing motifs, inside dentelles, spine and edges gilt--The Compleat Angler...The third edition much enlarged. London: R. Marriot for Simon Gape, 1664, 8vo (146 x 92mm.), third edition, second issue, contemporary calf, covers worn, title page trimmed and chipped affecting last line of imprint which is partially supplied in facsimile--The Compleat Angler...The fourth Edition, much corrected and enlarged. London: R. Marriot for Charles Harper, 1668, 8vo (143 x 88mm.), full maroon morocco gilt with piscatorial tools, edges gilt--The Universal Angler, Made so, by Three Books of Fishing. The First Written by Mr. Izaak Walton; the Second by Charles Cotton Esq; The Third By Col: Robert Venables. All which may be bound together, or sold each of them severally. London: Richard Marriott, 1676, 8vo (149 x 89mm.), fifth edition of Walton, first of Cotton, and fourth of Venables, three engraved divisional titles, with fish vignettes in Walton re-engraved in reverse, brown morocco gilt, part I lacking V4 (final blank), first divisional title misbound before general title and remargined, [pi]1 and A1 extended, portion of O1 repaired with text supplied in pen facsimile, part III lacking A8 (commendatory verses) and H4 (blank), A5 remargined with some text in facsimile, various minor paper repairs throughout--all six volumes with olive morocco protective covers with gilt lettering, in collector's custom made hinged box by the Booklovers' Shop with door panels decorated in gilt incorporating piscatorial motifs

1653, 1655, 1661, 1664 and 1668: Henry Alden Sherwin, book-labels in 1653, 1655, and 1661; his sale, 'Bibliotheca Piscatoria', Parke-Bernet, 4-5 March 1946, lot 509
1664: "John Lloyd 1870",  ownership inscription
1668: Frederic Perkins of Chipstead Place, Kent, bookplate
1676: Robert Stayner Holford by descent to Sir George Holford; A.S.W. Rosenbach; Marie Curtis Bok; Harry Levinson, catalogue 60, Pt IV, no. 1432; Abel E. Berland, bookplate; his sale, Christie's New York, 9 October 2001, lot 360

Pforzheimer 1048-1052; Oliver 1-6; Westwood and Satchell 217-220; Wing W661-666; Horne 1-6

AN EXCEPTIONAL SET OF ALL FIVE EDITIONS PUBLISHED IN WALTON'S LIFETIME, INCLUDING BOTH ISSUES OF THE THIRD EDITION. The development of the text can be traced through Walton's extensive revisions and expansions in the editions of 1655, 1661, and 1676, which reflect both changed political circumstances and Walton's growing ambition in his work. This much-loved work is a fishing manual, literary classic, and a celebration of contemplation and the traditional natural order first written in quiet opposition to Cromwell's regime.

"...Sir, There are many men that are by others taken to be serious grave men, which we contemn and pitie; men of sowre complexiouns; mony-getting-men, that spend all their time first in getting, and next in anxious care to keep it: men that are condemn'd to be rich, and alwayes discontented, or busie. For these poor-rich-men, wee Anglers pitie them ... For (trust me, Sir) we enjoy a contentednesse above the reach of such dispositions..."