This is a selection of the best essays from the celebrated classic fishing anthology, first compiled in 1945 by 'BB', one of Britain's best-loved naturalists.



There are tales of salmon and trout with sections on coarse fishing: carp, tench, barbel, perch, roach, bream, pike and chub. The 'Bishop Browne' story of the giant salmon that was hooked in 1896 where the Earn flows into the Tay and fought for ten hours before the line went slack, cannot fail to arouse a thrill in all fishermen, and there are other classics and less famous fishing incidents in Britain and abroad.



The fine and distinctive scraperboard illustrations by Denys Watkins-Pitchford ('BB') all appeared in the original edition of The Fisherman's Bedside Book.



Ian Niall in his introduction describes how BB's artistic vision and naturalist's observation enabled him to look at the reeds and rushes, the ancient pollarded willow by the pool and the duck shedding water droplets from frantically beating wings as it springs into the air, and to capture them in illustration and word.



The Fisherman's Bedside Book brings together this rare combination of Denys Watkins-Pitchford's skills with some of the best writing from fishing people for fishing people.

Illustrated by: Denys Watkins-Pitchford