| Review |
This is a truly wonderful
book; the best writing of one of our very best angling writers.
Several of the chapters draw upon articles from Creel, Angling
Times, and Waterlog from the 1940s to 1999; several others have been
written especially for this book; all are the writings of an amazing
man, now aged 93 but still with the enthusiasm of youth and the
poetic reflection of real maturity.
Poetry is a word I rarely use to describe angling writing,
ancient or modern, but Bernard Venables, creator of Mr Crabtree and
tutor of at least three million anglers, justly deserves the title
of Angling Bard.
The illustrations are also by the author. Many of the pen-and-ink
drawings are in the dynamic style that made 'Crabtree' such a
magnetic attraction to Daily Mirror readers half a century ago.
Buy this book and you will learn a lot... not from Bernard
Venables, but with him. For that is his style: not didactic, but an
inspirational journey through sixty years of flyfishing in which he
has made great use of his powers of observation. It is this
eagerness to look, listen, think and learn that, for me, comes over
as the soul of this evocative book.
This is a first edition to read and re-read... and a book you
will not want to part with. It will, without doubt, become a
treasured classic.
Pat O'Reilly |
