THE GENTLEMAN’S RECREATION: In Four Parts; Viz Hunting, Hawking, Fowling, Fishing... Fourth Edition

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Contemporary boards, sympathetically rebacked with a new spine, retaining the original endpapers. Extensively provenanced: ‘Ch: Parry 1742’ on the front pastedown looks to be the earliest owner followed by ‘Will.m Wilson’ who has inscribed the title page; ‘J. D. Wortley 1826’ on the first flyleaf and the 20th century bookplate of ‘James Fagan Scharnberg’ (author of Beagling and Bassetting) opposite. One of the early owners has hand numbered the five plates - the engraved title page, a spectacular foldout plate devoted to hunting, and three further fold-out plates, generally in very good condition and preceding the relevant section of text: these are a little browned with the fowling plate showing a closed tear along its fold and fraying along the outer edge; old paper repair to verso. The book is not annotated and has varying amounts of browning to the paper stock, not usually too extensive. Noted during collation: burn hole (4mm) to Cc3 from dropped ash. Complete: [6], pp138 [i.e. 142], pp91, pp78, pp71, [1], pp90, [10], (Manwood’s Forest Laws) pp102.

This attractive fourth edition was acquired as part of a library of books relating to archery in the old West Riding of Yorkshire. It is Wing C6707 which includes an abridgment by Cox of John Manwood's Treatise and Discourse of the Lawes of the Forrest, first published in 1598.