FIRST ISSUE OF THIS EDITION REPRINTED 1906 1906, 1908, 1911, 1913, 1916, 1920, 1925 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN Introduction, To write on Walton is, indeed, to hold a candle to the sun. The editor has been content to give a summary of the chief, or rather the only known, events in Walton's long life, adding a notice of his character as displayed in his Biographies and in The Compleat Angler, with comments on the ancient and modern practice of fishing, illustrated by passages from Walton's foregoers and contemporaries. Like all editors of Walton, he owes much to his predecessors, Sir John Hawkins, Oldys, Major, and, above all, to the learned Sir Harris Nicolas, The text here reprinted is, in the main, that of Sir Harris Nicolas, which was printed from Walton's Fifth Edition, 1676, the last that was revised by the author. |