Books by Richard Walker

Walker and books, why he wrote so few

“Stillwater Angling and No Need to Lie are classics but I sometimes feel disappointed that most of his other books are either collections of articles or fall far short of these two. The unwritten one that always springs to mind is River Angling.”

The thread then goes on to speculate why Walker wrote so few books in spite of the fact that he was a writer with a prolific output.

Richard Walker

In Walker’s own words in a letter to me giving me advice about writing my own book he reveals exactly why:

First Letter, Page 1

First Letter, Page 2

That was in October 1975, almost 32 years ago and he makes it quite clear that he didn’t write books because there was more money to be made writing articles. My original intention was to write a book about bream and you’ve read what he thought about the idea of writing any single species book. I think he would have a different view today now that fishing has become so much more divided into narrower interests.

It is interesting that he states the total readership of Angling Times and Anglers Mail was about 300,000, considering it is less than half that figure today.

I’ll continue with the story behind my own book just in case there are a few who are interested. I wrote to Walker again for more advice on writing my book. Unfortunately I didn’t keep copies of my own letters. This was Walker’s reply, dated November 1975:

Second Letter

I took a few years to do it, writing a chapter and then leaving it for a while. I was in no particular hurry and I wanted it to be the best I could do. Even so, as you’ll read in Walker’s AT copy, there were a few mistakes which had to be rectified in a later edition.

My book, ‘Advanced Coarse Fishing’ was published in 1980 as a hardback (and later as a softback). The publishers sent a copy to Walker and in June 1980 I received this letter:

Third Letter

Walker’s AT Column copy sent with third letter, page 1

Walker’s AT Column copy sent with third letter, page 2

Walker’s AT Column copy sent with third letter, page 3

So you can see the kind of influence Walker had with budding and improving angling writers like myself. You can also see how helpful he was; not just to writers but to all anglers who wrote to him for advice. Nothing was ever too much trouble and all his replies to people seeking advice were well considered and in some depth.