[Crawhall, Joseph-Extremely Rare First Printing of Crawhallís First Book, 40 Copies Only- UNIQUE COPY IN SHEETS, HAND-COLORED WITH PROOFS AND LENGTHY CRAWHALL INSCRIPTION EXPLAINING RARITY] The Compleatest Angling Booke that Ever was Writ

[Newcastle upon Tyne]: [Printed by and for the author], 1859. First Edition. First Edition. Large, thick quarto (10 x 9 inches). A UNIQUE COPY with signed inscription by the Joseph Crawhall on the paper wrapper: "Compleatest Angling Booke - unique copy in sheets - coloured - many proofs & plates in duplicate - finished & unfinished - many impressions from ancient wood cuts printed on the reverse of sheets" to original wrapper leaf inserted at the front; and below this inscription is written: "insert in binding W.W.S" in a different hand. A monumental production, excessively rare and privately produced by Crawhall, HIS FIRST BOOK, here bound in stunning full crimson morocco binding richly tooled in gilt, each cover with central angling motif, spine gilt in compartments and with five raised bands, decorative tooled turn-ins, t.e.g., others uncut, housed in a custom cloth drop-back box. Printed on rectos only (unpaginated), 42 engraved plates, an original varnish watercolor over pencil of a trout by Joseph Crawhall, mounted on a separate leaf towards the end of the book. Some duplicates in different states, 4 with hand-colouring, most on India paper and mounted, but some tipped-in or pasted on text versos, some other plates (facsimiles, music etc.), numerous vignettes in the text, many hand-colored. Some light foxing and offsetting, near fine. The author's first book, published anonymously. "A very curious and original work and one of the chief rarities of the angling bibliophile's collection...only forty copies were struck off for private circulation." W & S. Copies appear to vary as to contents. Provenance: John Wilson (bookplate). Aside from the obvious rarity of this first edition (a second edition was published much later, in 1881), the work clearly anticipates Crawhall's antiquarian interests as shown in the old spelling and occasional quaint phrasing, reproductions of material by Izaak Walton or from old manuscripts, and some black letter type specimens. Though not taking on the character of his bold woodblock images and heavy black lines which came later in his career, this book reinforces Crawhall's claim, very early on, as the "father of the of the Arts & Crafts Movement in Britain." (Inventory #: 6566)