This is an antique fishing book, "The British Angler's Manual, or, The Art of Angling in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland" by Thomas Christian Hofland (renowned English landscape painter and "keen angler"). 1839 1st edition; Whitehead and Company; London. Half leather binding with marbled covers, four raised bands on the spine, and marbled end papers. The book is "embellished with numerous engravings on steel and wood from original pictures and drawings by the author." There is a General Index at the back. "With Some Account of The Principal Rivers, Lakes, and Trout Streams, in the United Kingdom; With Instructions in Fly-Fishing, Trolling, and Angling at the Bottom, and More Particularly for the Trout."
From the Author's Preface: "...I became acquainted with our principal rivers, lakes, and trout-streams, and have tried my skill in most of them, at all times and seasons, but principally in the art of angling for a trout. The kind of knowledge thus gained will, I trust, in connexion with my professional observations, render me a useful guide alike to the amateur painter and the lover of angling."
The chapters are as follows: On the Materials Used in Angling; Baits; The Salmon; The Common Trout; The Pike, Pickerrell, Jack, Luce, or Gedd; The Perch; The Barbel; The Carp and Tench; The Chub; The Bream; The Roach; The Dace or Dare; The Bleak; The Gudgeon; The Eel; The Pope, or Ruffe; Artificial Flies; Thames Fishing; The Rivers and Lakes of England.