Books

Finely bound example of Walton's classic work. Octavo, bound in full crushed levant green morocco by Bayntun Riviere in an elaborate Cosway-style binding with a hand-painted miniature ivory portrait of Walton (likely rendered by Stanley Hardy, who was painting for Bayntun at this time) under a thin pane of glass to the front panel within an elaborate gilt vignette, gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, double gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt-ruled turn-ins and wide gilt stamp-signed inner dentelles, all edges gilt, watered silk end leaves, illustrated, tissue-guarded engraved frontispiece. Cosway bindings (named for renowned 19th-century English miniaturist Richard Cosway) were popularized, if not invented, in the early 1900s by the renowned London bookselling firm of Henry Sotheran. The earliest Cosway bindings were created by Miss C.B. Currie who faithfully imitated Cosway's detailed watercolor style of portraiture from designs by J.H. Stonehouse, Sotheran’s manager. These delicate miniature paintings, often on ivory, were set into the covers or doublures of richly-tooled bindings and protected by a thin pane of glass. In fine condition. "Breathes the very spirit of innocence, purity, and simplicity of heart . . . it would sweeten a man's temper at any time to read it." – Charles Lamb First published in 1653, this literary and nature classic was created by a Londoner with a passion for rustic life. As satisfying a primer on fishing as any angler could wish, it celebrates the art and spirit of fishing with verse, song and folklore, moral reflections, and timeless wisdom. Cast in the form of a dialogue between the veteran angler Piscator and his pupil Viator, it both informs and delights with an ingenious exploration of fishing's subtle intricacies and the pleasures of the natural world.