Izaak Walton (1593-1683), The Compleat Angler Civil War Horse
Afield in America exhibition Productive angling is accomplished
through learning, either through first hand experiences or
through reading the knowledge of others. The Library is the home
of a priceless collection of books on fishing with a rod, and
most of the historical texts describe the sport of fly-fishing,
dating as early as Izaak Walton’s first edition of The Compleat
Angler, 1653. Most frequently represented are the legendary
streams of England and North America. Books on foxhunting are
among the most popular segments of the Library’s collection,
which is fitting in that the Library is located in one of the
cradles of the sport in North America. The Library holds a
comprehensive collection on British and North American
foxhunting and beagling, from Peter Beckford’s 1781 Thoughts on
Fox and Hare Hunting, to Ben Hardaway’s Never Outfoxed. From the
first printed book on horsemanship, Federico Grisone’s GliOrdini
di Cavalcare (1550), remarkably