S[MITH], J[ohn] (fl.1684-1704). The true art of angling: or, The best and speediest way of taking all sorts of fresh-water fish. London : printed for George Conyers at the Golden Ring, and John Sprint at the Bell in Little Britain, 1696.

Extremely rare. 'This minute work by an anonymous writer forms one of the marked features of most angling book collections, partly from its merits as a manual, but far more from its rarity, only a few copies of the earlier issues having escaped the wear and tear of time' (Westwood & Satchwell). ESTC records only 2 copies in the UK at BL and Bodleian, and another 6 in the US, at NYPL, Yale, and apparently 4 copies at Harvard. According to ABPC/RBH, only one complete copy, the Sir Jocelyn Steevens copy, has sold at auction (Bonham's 2006, £19,200). ESTC R32405; Westwood & Satchwell p.181.

24mo (107 x 50mm). Woodcut frontispiece and 5 woodcut illustrations, irregularly interleaved (lacking A4, tears to D1 without loss, tears and chips to D3-4 with the loss of a few letters, large chip to D6 with loss to a number of lines but not affecting the woodcut illustration on verso, D10 loose, final 4 leaves torn with large associated losses and with leaf G11 torn in two and loose, browned throughout). Contemporary calf, panelled in blind (worn, front cover detached). Provenance: William ?Scriver (contemporary ownership inscription) – annotations in an early hand on interleaves – Thomas Garstang (ownership inscription dated 1754, and with later Garstang family pencil inscriptions dated 1825).

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