Bibliography of Fly Fishing - Fly-fishing History, Bibliographies and Literature Reviews

Fly-fishing History, Bibliographies and Literature Reviews

• Blakey, Robert (1856). Historical Sketches of the Angling Literature of All Nations - To which is added A Bibliography of English Writers on Angling. London: John Russell Smith. http://www.archive.org/download/historicalsketch00blakrich/historicalsketch00blakrich.pdf.

His history is suspect, at best. Westwood and Sachell, in their milestone Bibliotheca Piscatoria (1883), give the following opinions of Historical Sketches: "A slip-shod and negligent work, devoid of all real utility. A mere farrago of matter relevant and irrelevant, of indiscriminate sweepings from miscellaneous sources, of quotations incorrectly given and of so-called original passages the vaqueness and uncertainty of which rob them of all weight and value. Names and dates are seldom given, or are inaccurately...." They go on to catalog a few of the grosser errors and conclude that the book's only value is in its excellent bibliography, which, as we will see, also has its problems.

— Paul Schullery, The American Fly Fisher, 1985.

• Smith, John Russell (1861). A Bibliographical Catalogue of English Writers on Angling and Ichthyology. London: Tucker & Company.
• Albee, Louise Rankin (1896). Justin Winsor. ed. The Bartlett Collection-A List of Books on Angling, Fishes and Fish Culture in Harvard University Library. Cambridge, MS: Harvard University Library.
• Westwood, T.; Satchell, T (1883). Bibliotheca Piscatoria-A Catalogue of Books on Angling, The Fisheries and Fish Culture with citations touching on angling and fishing from old English authors. Covent Garden, London: W. Satchell. http://www.archive.org/download/bibliothecapisca00westrich/bibliothecapisca00westrich.pdf.
• Hills, John Waller (1921). A History of Fly Fishing for Trout. London: Phillp Allan & Co. http://www.archive.org/download/historyofflyfish00hillrich/historyofflyfish00hillrich.pdf., Dr. Andrew Herd credits Hill with the first attempt to codify the history of fly fishing, albeit Hill's work shows a distinctly British bias and disregard for other European influences.
• Radcliffe, William (1921). Fishing From the Earliest Times. London: John Murray. http://www.archive.org/download/fishingfromearli00radc/fishingfromearli00radc.pdf.
• Goodspeed, Charles E. (1939). Angling in America-Its Early History and Literature. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
• Robb, James (1945). Notable Angling Literature. London: Herbert Jenkins Limited.
• Starkman, Susan B.; Read, Stanley E. (1970). The Contemplative Man's Recreation: A Bibliography of Books on Angling and Game Fish in the Library of The University of British Columbia. Vancouver, Canada: The Library of the University of British Columbia., contains a Chronological Appendix Indicating Landmarks in the Evolution of Angling Literature and Some Prefatory Matters Pertaining to the History of The Harry Hawthorn Foundation for the Inculcation and Propagation of the Principles and Ethics of Fly-Fishing. Contains illustrations.
• McDonald, John (1972). Quill Gordon. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-46989-5.
• Gingrich, Arnold (1973). The Joys of Trout. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-517-50584-3., listed as one of the modern "classics" of angling in the University of New Hampshire Library Milne Angling Collection
• Gingrich, Arnold (1974). The Fishing In Print-A Guided Tour Through Five Centuries of Angling Literature. New York: Winchester Press., Gingrich, the well known founding editor of Esquire magazine surveys the major pieces of classic and modern fly fishing literature up through the 1950s. It is an excellent read to get a better understanding of the evolution of the various styles of fly fishing—wet, nymphs, dry, etc. as originally written about by the likes of Halford, Skues, Gordon and Jennings along with many others.

Arnold Gingrich, founding editor of Esquire magazine, is a tremendous part of the literary history of fly fishing. The Fishing In Print, The Joys of Trout, and The Well-Tempered Angler are indispensable titles to the well-read fly fisherman of today.

— Glenn Law, A Concise History of Fly Fishing, 1995.

• Waterman, Charles F. (1981). A History of Angling. Tulsa, Oklahoma: Winchester Press. ISBN 0-87691-343-5.
• Sheets, K. A. (1993). American Fishing Books-A Guide to Values. Ann Arbor, MI: Anglers and Scholars., an alphabetical, by author, list of over 2000 titles of American published fishing books with values for collectable copies estimated by the author.
• Schullery, Paul (1996). American Fly Fishing-A History. Norwalk, CT: The Easton Press., sponsored by the American Museum of Fly Fishing, Manchester, CT, when Paul Schullery was the managing director, Fly Fishing-A History is probably the most contemporary and complete treatise on the evolution of fly fishing as it is known today,.
• Schwiebert, Ernest (1998). The Henryville Flyfishers-- A Chronicle of American Fly Fishing. Far Hills, NJ: Meadow Run Press. ISBN 1-886967-08-3., a fascinating account by Ernest Schwiebert and one of the seminal books on American Fly Fishing clubs.
• Schullery, Paul (1999). Royal Coachman-The Lore and Legends of Fly-Fishing. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-684-84246-7., while giving due respect to the elders of Fly-Fishing history, Schullery celebrates some lesser-known fisherman and some seldom-appreciated waters, such as the limestone streams of Pennsylvania. He muses on the pursuit of the ever-more perfectly "natural" fly and contrasts that quest with the storied success of the Royal Coachman, perhaps the gaudiest fly ever invented.
• Herd, Andrew Dr (2001). The Fly. Ellesmere, Shropshire: Medlar Press. ISBN 1-899600-19-1.
• Hayter, Tony (2002). F.M. Halford and the Dry-Fly Revolution. London: Rober Hale. ISBN 0-7090-6773-9., the first definitive biography of the father of dry fly fishing.
• Nemes, Sylvester (2004). Two centuries of soft-hackled flies-A survey of literature complete with original patterns. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN 0-8117-0048-8.
• Berryman, Jack W. (2006). Fly-Fishing Pioneers and Legends of the Northwest. Seattle, WA: Northwest Fly Fishing LLC. ISBN 978-0-9779454-0-5.
• Schullery, Paul (2008). If Fish Could Scream--An Angler's Search For The Future of Fly Fishing. Mechanicburg, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN 0-8117-0435-1.

In seven essays sometimes controversial, sometimes reflective, all fascinating, Paul Schullery ruminates on the evolution of fly fishing and delves into the big issues affecting the world of fly fishing today and tomorrow. Dams’ effect on fishing, the supposed cruelty of catch-and-release, competition among fly fishers, spinning versus fly fishing, and how transportation has changed the sport are just a few of the topics he covers.

— The Fireside Angler.

• Greenhalgh, Malcolm; Jason Smalley (2009). Fishing Flies: A World Encyclopedia of Every Type of Fly. London: Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 978-0-00-728845-8.