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1864 book by Thaddeus Norris From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The American Angler's Book Embracing the Natural History of Sporting Fish and the Art of Taking Them with Instructions in Fly-Fishing, Fly-Making, and Rod-Making and Directions for Fish-Breeding, to which is appended Dies Piscatoriae Describing Noted Fishing-Places, and The Pleasure of Solitary Fly-Fishing is an early American angling book by Thaddeus Norris (1811-1877) first published in 1864. Norris was known as Uncle Thad and commonly referred to in American angling history as "The American Walton".[1]
Author | Thaddeus Norris |
---|---|
Language | English |
Subject | Angling, Fly fishing |
Publisher | E. H. Butler & Co., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Publication date | 1864 |
Publication place | United States |
Pages | 604 |
The American Angler's Book provides encyclopedic coverage of all aspects of fishing as practiced in North America in the mid-1800s. It covers tackle, techniques, target species and the best fishing locations. It has been credited with being the first significant American work to cover aspects of fly fishing.[2]
Shortly after its publication, the New York Times praised the work as encyclopedic and well illustrated on the subject of angling.
Mr. NORRIS is a true disciple of WALTON (Izaak Walton), and besides the technical and scientific information so liberally supplied, the book bears evidence of refined feeling and cultivated taste. It is an edition to the angler's Library, of which every American "Piscator" may feel proud.
— New York Times Book Review, October 8, 1864[3]
In his 1901 work My Angling Friends, pisciculturist Fred Mather wrote of Norris:
His American Angler's Book was the first good American book on angling. It treated of native fishes and fishing while books up to that time were rehashes of British publications.
— Fred Mather, My Angling Friends (1901)[1]
In a survey of the Reed Draper Angling Collection at Central Michigan University these comments were made on Norris's work in The American Angler's Book:
The importance of Norris's book derives from its comprehensive nature and its American perspective. It also recognizes the need to conserve stocks of fish and emphasizes the qualitative and reflective nature of the sport.[4]
This ambivalence was clearly evident one of the most highly regarded angling tracts of the nineteenth century, The American Angler's Book, written by Thaddeus Norris (1811–1877), affectionately referred to by later generations of anglers as "Uncle Thad" (Goodspeed 1939:219; Gingrich 1974:150). Norris set about defining the gentle American angler by using negation and denial to slip past ambiguities; the lion's share of his introduction was devoted to a homily filled with proscriptions. High on the list of things-to-be-avoided was the slavish imitation of English customs.
— Deep Trout: Angling in Popular Culture, William and Catherine Washabaugh, 2000[5]
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