@Clive
Well-known member
If you were to ask the question of who wrote the first printed fishing book on the Family Fortunes program the likey response would be; "Our survey said Izaac Walton". But they would be wrong as would be probably the second most numerous answer of Dame Juliana Berners. There are however societies devoted to both with devotees who believe in their hero and heroine.
The Boke of Saint Albans attributed to the Prioress of the Abbey of Saint Albans in1496 was probably a compilation of various older anonymous manuscripts some of which were discovered laying in University archives by Professor Willy Brakeman. The advice about dyeing of fishing lines in the Treatyse of Fysshinge With an Angle contained in the Boke of Saint Albans is virtually word for word the same as a manuscript thought to be 50 or more years earlier. Similar coincidences occur in other advice attributed to the Dame. This compilation theory is supported in that the other chapters of the Boke dedicated to Heraldry & Falcolnry have been found to contain compilations of other manuscripts and previous works. The architect of these compilations was probably the printer Wynke de Worde. He had formerly worked with Caxton and hailed from the area around the French / German borders of the Rhine, or Rhone depending which side you were on. This book recommends minnows as bait for carp that are said to have been recently introduced to England. Minnows as carp bait cannot be found in any of the later books that are not mostly copies of it. They were and still are however used in Saxony in the farming of carp. Printers collected manuscripts about many subjects and wove them into their books. There were book fairs held in Germany and elsewhere as Guttenberg's invention spread. At such fairs manuscripts could be traded.
After The Boke of Saint Albans and before Izaac Walton are at least four other books. The first was printed in 1577 by Reverand William Samuel who lived near the Ouse in Godmanchester. There is only one copy of A Little Book on Fishing known to be in existance. That turned up in a house clearance in Birmingham, passed through the hands of a book dealer, was authenticatedby the British Library and now resides in the archives of an American University. The book describes the recent introduction of carp in the river and the making of fishing tackle. Samuel had temporarily fled to Switzerland during the Bloody Mary reign and was on the board of Godmanchester School. His time in Switzerland would have exposed him to the Germanic commercial and sporting fishing methods and species that were practised on the Bodensee, or Lake Constance as we know it. His writing style was that of master and pupil as found in the early works of Walton who plagerised his work. Samuel's time in Switzerland coincided with many other Protestants from all over Europe fleeing Catholic persecution. He met some of the people who shaped literature and natural science including Conrad Gesner who's books influenced many other scientists.
In 1590 Leonard Mascall is said to have published A Booke of Fishing With Hooke and Line. However, he is thought to have died 2 years before then and if you examine the contents of the book and his claims to have introduced carp to England he would have to have lived for over a hundred years to achieve what is attributed to him. Mascall plagerised many works of sport and horticulture and was linked to a corrupt publisher. It is likely that the book attributed to him was actually published by the printer after Mascall's death in the hope that his well known name would ensure sales. The contents of the book are virtually identical to the Boke of Saint Albans except for mistakes or revisions to some fly patterns that are also found in Walton's book. Nothing about Mascall can be proven and nothing that he wrote cannot be found elsewhere other than the changes to some fly patterns that could be attributed to the printer mis-reading some of the words Tandy / Tawny & Maure / Mauve.
The next angling writer was John Dennys who's work The Secrets of Angling was published in 1613 incorrectly under the initials "I. D." after his death. Dennys describes in rhyme how to make a rod and other items and gives a list of tackle most of which is used. His description of fishing for various species and baits used is also relevant today. His experience included estuary fishing and bought the needles and hooks from Milan. Dennys too can be found within the Complete Angler.
A year or so before Walton went into print a man known to him had published his own book that like Dennys and Samuel was not copied from previous works. Thomas Barker, a cook to the Royal household wrote The Arte of Angling, a book written for the catching of fish by angling using any means and not just for sport. Walton quoted Barker and unusually for him gave Barker a mention. This must have riled Barker as he re-printed his book the following year with a thinly veiled dig at Walton who he intimated did not know as much about the sport as he claimed. That second edition contains a passing mention to a winch or reel.
The Complete Angler has been said to be the second best selling book after the Bible. Possibly the Koran might challenge that. Walton's first edition contains much that can be found in earlier author's works. What is unique are his comical comments about him finding hibernating swallows in hollow trees (they were probably bats), swallows being used by armies to carry messages between locations and the insistance that pike were born from weed. A later author, Richard Franck wrote of Walton along the lines of "Much of what he writes he has copied and the rest are lies". His later editions were successively better.
These until recent times were thought to be the path through our fishing ancestory. It had often been alleged that the Treatyse had been translated from French, but no such works can be found. And there are examples of it going the other way with English texts having been translated and plagerised in France. In the area around Lake Constance there are Benedictine monasteries in Germany, Austria and Switzerland that specialised in translating manuscripts and distributing the copies throughout Europe. These monasteries have some of the largest libraries known to be in existance. The monasteries also had a big part in the catching and sale of fish to the Catholic population who were required to eat fish at least a third of the days in a year. They ran fishing beats for pleasure fishing too. Around 1464, thirty years before the Boke of Saint Albans a monk by the name of Leonard Haslinger who lived on the shores of Lake Constance used his breviary to record fly patterns and other fishing comments. That so far is the earliest known European written record of fishing as we know it that can be attributed to a person.
The Boke of Saint Albans attributed to the Prioress of the Abbey of Saint Albans in1496 was probably a compilation of various older anonymous manuscripts some of which were discovered laying in University archives by Professor Willy Brakeman. The advice about dyeing of fishing lines in the Treatyse of Fysshinge With an Angle contained in the Boke of Saint Albans is virtually word for word the same as a manuscript thought to be 50 or more years earlier. Similar coincidences occur in other advice attributed to the Dame. This compilation theory is supported in that the other chapters of the Boke dedicated to Heraldry & Falcolnry have been found to contain compilations of other manuscripts and previous works. The architect of these compilations was probably the printer Wynke de Worde. He had formerly worked with Caxton and hailed from the area around the French / German borders of the Rhine, or Rhone depending which side you were on. This book recommends minnows as bait for carp that are said to have been recently introduced to England. Minnows as carp bait cannot be found in any of the later books that are not mostly copies of it. They were and still are however used in Saxony in the farming of carp. Printers collected manuscripts about many subjects and wove them into their books. There were book fairs held in Germany and elsewhere as Guttenberg's invention spread. At such fairs manuscripts could be traded.
After The Boke of Saint Albans and before Izaac Walton are at least four other books. The first was printed in 1577 by Reverand William Samuel who lived near the Ouse in Godmanchester. There is only one copy of A Little Book on Fishing known to be in existance. That turned up in a house clearance in Birmingham, passed through the hands of a book dealer, was authenticatedby the British Library and now resides in the archives of an American University. The book describes the recent introduction of carp in the river and the making of fishing tackle. Samuel had temporarily fled to Switzerland during the Bloody Mary reign and was on the board of Godmanchester School. His time in Switzerland would have exposed him to the Germanic commercial and sporting fishing methods and species that were practised on the Bodensee, or Lake Constance as we know it. His writing style was that of master and pupil as found in the early works of Walton who plagerised his work. Samuel's time in Switzerland coincided with many other Protestants from all over Europe fleeing Catholic persecution. He met some of the people who shaped literature and natural science including Conrad Gesner who's books influenced many other scientists.
In 1590 Leonard Mascall is said to have published A Booke of Fishing With Hooke and Line. However, he is thought to have died 2 years before then and if you examine the contents of the book and his claims to have introduced carp to England he would have to have lived for over a hundred years to achieve what is attributed to him. Mascall plagerised many works of sport and horticulture and was linked to a corrupt publisher. It is likely that the book attributed to him was actually published by the printer after Mascall's death in the hope that his well known name would ensure sales. The contents of the book are virtually identical to the Boke of Saint Albans except for mistakes or revisions to some fly patterns that are also found in Walton's book. Nothing about Mascall can be proven and nothing that he wrote cannot be found elsewhere other than the changes to some fly patterns that could be attributed to the printer mis-reading some of the words Tandy / Tawny & Maure / Mauve.
The next angling writer was John Dennys who's work The Secrets of Angling was published in 1613 incorrectly under the initials "I. D." after his death. Dennys describes in rhyme how to make a rod and other items and gives a list of tackle most of which is used. His description of fishing for various species and baits used is also relevant today. His experience included estuary fishing and bought the needles and hooks from Milan. Dennys too can be found within the Complete Angler.
A year or so before Walton went into print a man known to him had published his own book that like Dennys and Samuel was not copied from previous works. Thomas Barker, a cook to the Royal household wrote The Arte of Angling, a book written for the catching of fish by angling using any means and not just for sport. Walton quoted Barker and unusually for him gave Barker a mention. This must have riled Barker as he re-printed his book the following year with a thinly veiled dig at Walton who he intimated did not know as much about the sport as he claimed. That second edition contains a passing mention to a winch or reel.
The Complete Angler has been said to be the second best selling book after the Bible. Possibly the Koran might challenge that. Walton's first edition contains much that can be found in earlier author's works. What is unique are his comical comments about him finding hibernating swallows in hollow trees (they were probably bats), swallows being used by armies to carry messages between locations and the insistance that pike were born from weed. A later author, Richard Franck wrote of Walton along the lines of "Much of what he writes he has copied and the rest are lies". His later editions were successively better.
These until recent times were thought to be the path through our fishing ancestory. It had often been alleged that the Treatyse had been translated from French, but no such works can be found. And there are examples of it going the other way with English texts having been translated and plagerised in France. In the area around Lake Constance there are Benedictine monasteries in Germany, Austria and Switzerland that specialised in translating manuscripts and distributing the copies throughout Europe. These monasteries have some of the largest libraries known to be in existance. The monasteries also had a big part in the catching and sale of fish to the Catholic population who were required to eat fish at least a third of the days in a year. They ran fishing beats for pleasure fishing too. Around 1464, thirty years before the Boke of Saint Albans a monk by the name of Leonard Haslinger who lived on the shores of Lake Constance used his breviary to record fly patterns and other fishing comments. That so far is the earliest known European written record of fishing as we know it that can be attributed to a person.
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