The Compleat Angler

"salmobytes" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Jan 30, 4:57 pm, egildone wrote:
Has anyone here read Isaac Walton's book? If so, what is your opinion
of it? I found it online at
http://www.netlibrary.com

I would appreciate any comments you have.

Ed

I have a 1912 Little Brown edition I'm proud of....almost mint
condition. Found
it at the annual publisher's book sale in Chicago a few years back.
Walton used an ongoing dialog between Piscator and Viator illustrating
not so much how to fish, but why you might want to do so.
Pretty good stuff for 16 what ever it was.

Even more interesting, perhaps, is the plagiarism issue. The Art of
Angling,
published approximately 100 years earlier, also had a piscator viator
dialog that almost reads the same way. In the contemporary context
Walton
would be pilloried for academic theft. But in 1577 (the Art of Angling
date)
it's not clear that plagiarism had even existed as a concept.

Piscator, Venator and Auceps......names deliberately selected to represent
the avocations of their owners; an angler, a hunter and a falconer.

Wolfgang

On Feb 1, 6:50 am, "Wolfgang" wrote:

Piscator, Venator and Auceps......

Yes Venator, not Viator. My only latin is of the porcine variety,
so it's not surprising I remembered it the nefas way.

On Thu, 1 Feb 2007 at 06:26:42 in rec.outdoors.fishing.fly salmobytes
wrote:
On Feb 1, 6:50 am, "Wolfgang" wrote:

Piscator, Venator and Auceps......

Yes Venator, not Viator. My only latin is of the porcine variety,
so it's not surprising I remembered it the nefas way.

Viator (traveller) in the first edition.

--
Nogood Boyo

On Feb 7, 11:36 am, Nogood Boyo wrote:
On Thu, 1 Feb 2007 at 06:26:42 in rec.outdoors.fishing.fly salmobytes
wrote:On Feb 1, 6:50 am, "Wolfgang" wrote:

Piscator, Venator and Auceps......

Yes Venator, not Viator. My only latin is of the porcine variety,
so it's not surprising I remembered it the nefas way.

Viator (traveller) in the first edition.

That say you learn something new every day. It's not true except in
the most trivial sense.

This, however, is VERY interesting! Never before came across a
reference to name changes in later editions. So, was it just the
name? Or was the dialogue changed to suit?

Wolfgang
who has never doubted for a moment that there are good reasons to hang
out here.

On Wed, 7 Feb 2007 at 19:03:24 in rec.outdoors.fishing.fly Wolfgang
wrote:
On Feb 7, 11:36 am, Nogood Boyo wrote:
On Thu, 1 Feb 2007 at 06:26:42 in rec.outdoors.fishing.fly salmobytes
wrote:On Feb 1, 6:50 am, "Wolfgang" wrote:

Piscator, Venator and Auceps......

Yes Venator, not Viator. My only latin is of the porcine variety,
so it's not surprising I remembered it the nefas way.

Viator (traveller) in the first edition.

That say you learn something new every day. It's not true except in
the most trivial sense.

This, however, is VERY interesting! Never before came across a
reference to name changes in later editions. So, was it just the
name? Or was the dialogue changed to suit?

In the first edition there are just the two characters - Piscator and
Viator. AIUI there are additional characters in the later editions and
the text is obviously adjusted accordingly. Indeed, later editions are
shown as having additional authors - Charles Cotton, John Buxton, and
John Buchan.

I've made a start on some of the later editions but never finished them
- they are padded out quite a bit more than the first edition.

I'll post a few of the opening pages of the first edition at
www.abertawe.co.uk/compleat/compleat.htm
(each pic about 60KB) and as a .PDF (2MB) in
alt.binaries.pictures.fishing
so that you can get a flavour. Reading the original version, squiggles
and all, is so much more fun..!

BTW, there's only one instance of the spelling "Compleat" in the first
edition - it's "Complete" everywhere but on the title page.

--
Nogood Boyo

On Thu, 8 Feb 2007 at 09:42:43 in rec.outdoors.fishing.fly Nogood Boyo
wrote:
I'll post a few of the opening pages of the first edition at
www.abertawe.co.uk/compleat/compleat.htm
(each pic about 60KB) and as a .PDF (2MB) in
alt.binaries.pictures.fishing

The .PDF for alt.binaries.pictures.fishing failed, I'm afraid. Over my
ISP's limit for newsgroups. I'll try again with .JPGs.

--
Nogood Boyo

On Feb 8, 3:42 am, Nogood Boyo wrote:
On Wed, 7 Feb 2007 at 19:03:24 in rec.outdoors.fishing.fly Wolfgang
wrote:



On Feb 7, 11:36 am, Nogood Boyo wrote:
On Thu, 1 Feb 2007 at 06:26:42 in rec.outdoors.fishing.fly salmobytes
wrote:On Feb 1, 6:50 am, "Wolfgang" wrote:

Piscator, Venator and Auceps......

Yes Venator, not Viator. My only latin is of the porcine variety,
so it's not surprising I remembered it the nefas way.

Viator (traveller) in the first edition.

That say you learn something new every day. It's not true except in
the most trivial sense.

This, however, is VERY interesting! Never before came across a
reference to name changes in later editions. So, was it just the
name? Or was the dialogue changed to suit?

In the first edition there are just the two characters - Piscator and
Viator. AIUI there are additional characters in the later editions and
the text is obviously adjusted accordingly. Indeed, later editions are
shown as having additional authors - Charles Cotton, John Buxton, and
John Buchan.

I've made a start on some of the later editions but never finished them
- they are padded out quite a bit more than the first edition.

I'll post a few of the opening pages of the first edition at
www.abertawe.co.uk/compleat/compleat.htm
(each pic about 60KB) and as a .PDF (2MB) in
alt.binaries.pictures.fishing
so that you can get a flavour. Reading the original version, squiggles
and all, is so much more fun..!

BTW, there's only one instance of the spelling "Compleat" in the first
edition - it's "Complete" everywhere but on the title page.

Fascinating stuff.....at least to those of us with a thing for books.
Also surprising. Although I've long been aware that books evolve, I'd
never heard anything about changes in this one despite having been an
English major......at a university with a College of Natural Resources
(where Walton, among others, was worshipped as something of a demi-
god).....continuing to be an avid angler, the fact that "The Compleat
Angler" is regarded as a classic of English literature even outside of
angling circles, and having read both the book and about it for a long
time.

Looking forward to seeing the pages.....assuming that I can figure out
how to get to abpi on Google groups.

Thanks, N.B.

Wolfgang

On Thu, 8 Feb 2007 at 15:00:31 in rec.outdoors.fishing.fly Wolfgang
wrote:
On Feb 8, 3:42 am, Nogood Boyo wrote:
[...]

I'll post a few of the opening pages of the first edition at
www.abertawe.co.uk/compleat/compleat.htm
(each pic about 60KB) and as a .PDF (2MB) in
alt.binaries.pictures.fishing
so that you can get a flavour. Reading the original version, squiggles
and all, is so much more fun..!

BTW, there's only one instance of the spelling "Compleat" in the first
edition - it's "Complete" everywhere but on the title page.

Fascinating stuff.....at least to those of us with a thing for books.
Also surprising. Although I've long been aware that books evolve, I'd
never heard anything about changes in this one despite having been an
English major......at a university with a College of Natural Resources
(where Walton, among others, was worshipped as something of a demi-
god).....continuing to be an avid angler, the fact that "The Compleat
Angler" is regarded as a classic of English literature even outside of
angling circles, and having read both the book and about it for a long
time.

Looking forward to seeing the pages.....assuming that I can figure out
how to get to abpi on Google groups.

Sorry, I've been unable to post them to a.b.p.f but the pages should be
viewable at the web address I gave. Or I could email you, if you're
happy about that. Or I could try to find a further copy of the
facsimile for you, if you like. I didn't pay much for mine - no more
than 15GBP.

--
Nogood Boyo