London, Adam and Charles Black, 1914. Large 12mo. In publisher's original full blue cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Extremities with light wear, primarily affecting head and foot of spine. With previous owner name, ""Elisha F. Lee"" to front free end-paper. Internally fine and clean. XIII, 248 pp. + 12 plates (of which 8 are coloured) of flies with descriptive tissue guards.
First edition of perhaps the most influential 20th century book on how to dress salmon flies. The legendary fly tyer Megan Boyd considered the present work her ‘bible’. Written by an amateur, this is ""the most notable book to date on the subject since Kelson. Indispensable to the learner"" his flies are distinguished by their beauty and finish and his descriptions are lucid."" (Robb, Notable Angling Literature, 1947). The present copy has belonged to Elisha Flagg Lee, one of the most prominent fly-fishers and general advocate for preservation of the Atlantic Salmon. Lee was a Trustee of the New England Aquarium, a Director of the Massachusetts Audubon Society and the Atlantic Salmon Federation, and a member of the Miramichi Salmon Association. He also served as President and on the Board of Directors of Hale Reservation in Westwood, MA. His greatest passion in life was fly fishing for Atlantic Salmon. He was an early advocate of salt water fly fishing, and was greatly interested in efforts to restore Atlantic Salmon to the rivers of Maine. He was a longtime member of both The Fly Casters Club of Boston and the Tihonet Club of Wareham, MA.