Victorian For - American Museum of Fly Fishing · Fly tyers Gary Borkowski and Bill Chandler demon- strate their skill during the open house. Victorian For A Day w E T H o u GH you'd

Fly tyers Gary Borkowski and Bill Chandler demon- strate their skill during the open house. Victorian For A Day

w E T H o u G H T you'd like to see some images from the 5th An- nual Museum Festival Week-

end, held June 3 to 5, 1994, a series of events to which this year we added Vic- torian Angler's Day at historic Equinox Pond. Museum members and visitors were shuttled the two miles up Mt. Equinox to the old site, popular since the nineteenth century for picnicking, boating, and fishing.

The pond has been lovingly restored and the crumbling old boathouse reno- vated into a fabulous open-air pavilion by the Equinox Hotel. On this fine Sat- urday we experimented with 12-foot greenheart vintage Victorian rods from the Museum's collection ("Sort of like casting a noodle," exclaimed one

a costumed host in the Museum's Adirondack guideboat (the rods and boat both permanently categorized for educational purposes). A sumptuous lunch was then served in the uavilion.

This unique and relaxing event was preceded by the successful opening of an art exhibit by Luther Kelly Hall and David Carroll. and followed bv Man- chester's popular annual dinnerlauction and open house.

In this Summer 1994 issue, Ray Smith looks at the old ways of dying materials for salmon flies using natural ingredients. We also learn something about the artists S. F. Denton, courtesy of Charles Steinhacker, and Thomas Bewick, by Museum member Jeffrey Norton.

We are delighted with our readers' Barbara Foster pulled together the various amaze2 guest) and caught a number of continuing interest and research! components of the River Runs Through It the willing trout rising in front of us. MARGOT PAGE exhibit. Visitors were rowed serenely around by EDITOR

Preserving a Rich Heritage for Future Generations

T R U S T E E S E. M. Bakwin Robert F. Kahn

Michael Bakwin Woods King 111 Foster Bam Martin D. Kline

William M. Barrett Me1 Kreiger Bruce H. Begin Ian D. Mackay

Paul Bofinger Malcolm MacKenzie Lewis M. Borden 111 Robert E. Mathews I1 Donn H. Byrne, Sr. Bob Mitchell Roy D. Chapin, Jr. Wallace J. Murray I11

Michael D. Copeland Wayne Nordberg Peter Corbin Leigh H. Perkins

Thomas N. Davidson Romi Perkins Charles R. Eichel 0. Miles Pollard

G. Dick Finlay Susan A. Popkin Audun Fredrikson Stephen Sloan

Arthur T. Frey Arthur Stern Reed Freyermuth John Swan

Larry Gilsdorf James Taylor Gardner L. Grant Richard G. Tisch Terry Heffernan James W. Van Loan

Curtis Hill San Van Ness James Hunter Richard J. Warren

Dr. Arthur Kaemmer Dickson L. Whitney Earl S. Worsham

T R U S T E E S E M E R I T U S W. Michael Fitzgerald Leon Martuch

Robert N. Johnson Keith C. Russell David B. Ledlie Paul Schullery

O F F I C E R S Chairman of the Board Foster Bam

President Wallace J. Murray 111 Vice Presidents William M . Barrett

Arthur Stern Treasurer Wayne Nordberg Secretary Charles R. Eichel

S T A F F

Executive Director Donald S. Johnson Executive Assistant Virginia Hulett

Curator Alanna D. Fisher Registrar Jon C. Mathewson

Research/Publicity Joe A. Pisarro

Editor Margot Page Art Director Randall R. Perkins Copy Editor Sarah May Clarkson

Publications Coordinator Alanna D. Fisher Offset Printing The Lane Press, Inc.,

Burlington, Vermont

F~TY Fisher Journal of d ~ h e American Museum of Fly Fishing S U M M E R 1 9 9 4 V O L U M E 2 0 N U M B E R 3

. . . . . . . . . . . Antique Colors for Atlantic Salmon Flies 2 Ray R. Smith

The Fish Prints of S. F. Denton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lo Charles Steinhacker

The Evolution of the Salmon Fly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 ?: E. Pryce- Tannatt

. . . . . . . . . . . . . Gallery: Omar Needham Collection. 19 Notes & Comment:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Bewick, Wood Engraver. 20 Jeffrey Norton

Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

In Memoriam: Ed Zern 1910-1974 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Joe Pisarro Museum News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Contributors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

O N T H E COVER: In this Summer 1994 issue, Ray Smith reveals nineteenth-century techniques for dyingfly-tying materials with such natural ingredients as walnut skins, ground-up insects, and brazilwood. The cover illustration is a page from William Blacker's Art of Flymaking (1855), one of the Museum library's finest antique volumes.

The American Fly Fziher 1s published four times a year by the Museum at PO. Box 42, Manchester, Vermont 05254.

Publication dates are winter, spring, summer, and fall. Membership dues include the cost of a one-year subscr~ption ($20) and are tax deductible as provided for hv law. lvlembersh~p rates arc listcd in the hack of each issue. All letters, manuscripts, photographs, and materials intended for pubhiat~on In thc journal should he sent to the Museum. The Museum and journal are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, drawings, photographic material, or memorab~lia. The Museum cannot accept respon~~bdlty far statements and interpretations that are wholly the author's. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot be returned unless postage is provided. Contributions to The American Fly Flsher are to he considered gratuitous and the property of the Museum unless otherwise requested by the contributor Articles appeanng m thls journal arc abstracted and indexed in Hiitoncal Abstracts and America: History and Life. Copyright 0 1994, the American Museum of Fly Fishing, Maiiihester, Vermont 05254. Origiilal material appeanng may not he reprinted without prior permission. Second Class Permit postage paid at Manchester

Vermont 05254 and additional offices (USPS og741o). The Amencan Fly Fzsher (ISSN 0884.3562) P o s T M A s T E R : Send address changes to The American Fly Fisher, PO. Box 42,

Manchester, Vermont 05254.

S U M M E R 1994 1

William Blacker and other early Victorianfly dressers developed these brilliant colors with natural dyestuffs. In the lower right corner, a palette of antique dyes contains (clockwise, from left) indigo from the Far East, Mexican cochineal beetles, South American logwood, tumeric powder, ground madder root, crushed cochineal, and (center) brazilwood chips. The hackles and dubbing furs illustrate a full spectrum of authentic antique colors available to Atlantic salmon fly tyers. Photograph by Cook Neilson.

2 T H E A M E R I C A N FLY F I S H E R

Antique Colors For Atlantic Salmon Flies

by Ray R. Smith

C O L O R A D O F L Y T Y E R and Museum member Ray Smith has spent years carefully researching the natural methods used by Victorian fly tyers to dye feathers. Materials such as walnut skins, ground- uo insects. brazilwood. and other natural ingredients gave Victorian anglers the precise colors they required and could not easily obtain otherwise. This article will be o f much interest to the small but dedicated group of his torianf i tyers who have revitalized an obscure type of salmon fly that, apart from the magnificence of its construction, would have disappeared along with the Archduke Ferdinand in the opening shots of the First World War.

Todav. full-dress flies tied far more / ' i

precisely than even Kelson would have at- t e m ~ t e d are constructed with modern tools and thread, but attempts to tie the DUtternS with original materials, true to " Victorian excess, strain the limited legal supply of exotic bird feathers. Smith's fascinating article gives featherwing salmon fly tyers a new, and just as exciting, scav- enger hunt, and one that is far more po- litically correct than chasing down the last legal piece of speckled bustard. W h a t a great thrill it must be to see your piece of goose quill emerge from a pot of ground-up cochineal insects from Mexico, the same stuff used by the Aztecs and the British Redcoats (to dye their coats)!

The historical dying materials listed here are obtainable-although not too easily, which would spoil the fun of most salmon fly tyers. W e can only hope for an encore article from the author that deals with the correct dves used for nineteenth- and early twentieth-century trout flies like the Houghton Ruby, and, of course, Tup i Indispensable.

TOM ROSENBAUER

The great advantage the fly fisher must derive from a knowledge of dyeing his colours and hackles is obvious. . . . Every hackle and colour that is used for making a salmon fly must be of the richest dye imaginable, that they may show brilliant and good to thefish's eye a t the bottom of the water, and en- tice them to rise and take it at the top.

-William Blacker, 1855

I N T H E F I R S T P A R T of the nineteenth century, the Industrial Revo- lution had reached its peak in Great

Britain, bringing with it better roads, railroads. and an increase in travel. Sport fishers had the opportunity to visit manv different rivers and the resultant exchange of patterns and fly-tying materials spurred the development of salmon flies, especially those brilliantly adorned jewels known as gaudy flies. Foreign trade brought many exquisite feathers to fly dressers in Great Britain. To complement these exotic plumes, fly dressers needed hackles and furs dyed in rich and lasting hues.

An early work by W. H. Maxwell, The Field Book, or Sports and Pastimes of the British Isles (1833)~ gave numerous formulas for the dyeing of fishing materials. Maxwell credits a Major Patrickson, an angling expert, for the "simple and antiquated recipes" which he gives, but the formulas showed a lack of solid understanding of the dyeing process. Once a secret skill protected by medieval guilds, the science of dyeing had been studied by French chemists in the late eighteenth century. As early as 1778,

books such as James Haigh's The Dier's Assistant in the Art of Dying Wool and Woolen Goods explained the use of the only dyestuffs available to nineteenth- century dyers. All the dye pigments were extracted from natural sources -roots, barks, berries, insects, and a few minerals from places all around the world. Indigo and turmeric were im- ported from the Near East, cochineal beetles from Mexico. brazilwood and logwood from South America, and madder roots from Holland and France. In 1823 William Partridge, an English emigrant to America, published A Prac- tical Treatise on Dyeing, a manual which he hoped would promote industry in his adopted nation. Fly dressers had these two reference works available for dyeing their tying materials.

Irish flydressers, in particular, had developed a reputation for tying fishing flies using brightly colored furs, feathers, silks, and tinsels. One Irishman, William Blacker, moved to London to set up a tackle shop and introduce the Irish style of tying to London gentle- men. His book, Art of Angling and Com- plete System of Flymaking and Dying of

S U M M E R 1994 3

Title page, Blacker's Art of Flyntaking (1855)

Colours (1842), demonstrated fly patterns, tying techniques, and formulas for the dveing of materials. , u

Over the next decade contemporary angling authors spoke highly of Black- er's skill as a fly dresser and dyer. Among them were author and editor William Fitzgibbon (pseud. Ephemera) and Scottish writer Thomas Tod Stod- dart. With such acknowledgement, Mr. Blacker published an enlarged edition of his work in 1855, including patterns and hand-colored engravings of beautiful salmon flies dressed in gaudv colors. In " , combination with the engravings in Frederick Tolfrey's Jones's Guide to Nor- way . . . (1848) and in Ephemera's Book of the Salmon (1850), Blacker's illustrations provided fly-fishing readers with pictures of intricately tied and colorful salmon flies, all tied using only naturally dyed materials. In this edition of The Art of Flymaking, &c . . . (1855), he expanded the section on dyeing, giving about seventv-five formulas using twenty-five differint natural dyestuff;to dye pig's wool, mohair, seal's fur, and hackles. He refers his readers to the manual by James Haigh for more detailed information.

Blacker's formulas, though written in a disorganized fashion, used the princi- ples published by professional cloth dyers. He did not, however, have the same economic constraints. Since he was dealing with very small quantities of materials, he enjoyed the luxury of being able to use an overabundance of dyestuffs to achieve the richest imaginable colors. The colors he obtained were brilliant and beautiful, rivaling the in- tense and showy hues of natural feathers, such as macaw, cock of the rock, and golden pheasant crests.

Concurrent with the development of I

salmon flies, color chemists were bringing synthetically based dyestuffs to the textile industry to replace expensive and rare natural dyes and to introduce new colors. A little more than ten years after William Henry Perkin extracted the first synthetic aniline dye, mauve, from coal tar in 1856, angling author Francis Fran-

cis referred numerous times to the use of mauve-colored materials in salmon flies. In A Book on Angling (1867) Fran- cis recognized that a magnificent "natural" color spectrum was already available to fly dressers. Having received salmon flies from throughout the British Isles, he had great difficulty de- scribing all the colors they contained. Although the new synthetic dyes added to the range of available shades, this complicated the choices presented to the angler or fly dresser.

By 1883 George M. Kelson-sportsman, author, editor, and noted fly dresser-had proposed a way to try to relieve some of the confusion. He ar- gued that the colors that had made certain fly patterns famous were being in- accurate$ replaced by "modern" colors.

Water of the need for "standard colours." He based his color choices on samples of material and flies collected by his father -colors which predated the inven- tion of synthetic pigments. In 1883 Kel- son said, "I propose to have sample books or cards containing five shades in every colour, as well as Fiery Brown, Dirty Oranges, Golden Yellows, and Crimson Magenta with each one named; and for these colours to be adovted in all other materials."

By the end of the century, angling authors who gave advice on dyeing generally suggested the use of prepackaged dyes. In How to Tie Salmon Flies (1892), Captain J. H. Hale listed four brands of dyes available, including an aniline variety. He noted, however, that dyes of different manufacturers would yield differ-

He hoped to eliminate great variation ent shades and hues for the same color. between flies tied by different fly-making firms, so that fisherman could get M O D E R ~ SyNTHET1c DyEs vS.

commercially tied flies as they expected NATURAL DYES them to look. Kelson wrote -frequently The evolution of synthetic aniline in The Fishing Gazette and in Land and dyeing technology generally simplified

4 T H E A M E R I C A N F L Y F I S H E R

A P I I I I IU. 18111. LAND MI) WATER. - . --

SALMON FLIES. THE STANDARD PATTERNS.

Dressed to Accord with the Standard ~olours, MR. GEO. M. ICELSON,

Undei- Author i ty of the Jurors of the Fisheries Exhibit ion; a Copy of which is given below.

These Beautiful Flies will be Il lustrated a n d De- scril>ecl W e e k l y in " L A N D A N D W A T E R , " in C h ~ = o ~ i ~ o - L i t h o g r a p l ~ . T h e first F l y will a p p e a r o n t h e 2 4 t h April.

Tile Standal -d Colours themselves will shor t ly be issuecl 1'1-om " L A N D A N D W A T E R " Office.

T H E GREAT INTERNATIONAL F I S H E R I E S EXHIBITION, LONDON. 1883.

EOSAIA RORTIOULTURAL OARDENB, I ~ Y L L D ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ now 8 0 . ~ ~ ti.^^,^^^^^

hodon, 6 . w . . ond J~I;, laas.

the dyeing process. Most dyes readily available today are prepackaged and require few additions other than water. These dyes contain all the chemicals necessary for permanent and attractive colors, and the synthetic pigments in them are often chemically identical to the major dye component of a naturally occurring dyestuff. Modern dyestuffs, however, typically operate best at one concentration. Diluting to get a lighter shade generally gives poor results, and concentrating the dye beyond package recommendations may harm the materials, so to get another shade it is necessary to purchase another package of dye. Usually synthetic dyes will not mix to give nice compound colors (for example, yellow and blue to give green). Overdyeing may be possible, but the un- expected mixing of chemicals can produce unsatisfactory results.

The natural dyeing methods, however, were not totally replaced by the introduction of synthetic dyes. Craftsmen, especially weavers, have not relin-

quished antique dyes because aniinal fibers (wools, furs, feathers, etc.) absorb natural pigments easily and because the colors blend well with each other. There are, in fact, distinct advantages to using natural dyes. The colors are lasting, vivid (as desired by early and modern fly dressers), and beautiful, being more complex in appearance than the puri- fied synthetic dyes. Many natural dyestuffs contain a whole range of pigments. which are released de~ending " upon the level of acidity, the cheinicals used, the temperature applied, and the length of time the materials are left in the dyebath.

Blacker's formulas of 150 years ago can be duplicated today using natural dyestuffs to achieve the colors he used for his patterns. Some of the early for- inulas given here will take the dyeing process back to its component parts, al- lowing the dyer to make a variety of ad- justments for different colors required. This "kitchen chemistry" can produce rewarding and authentic colors.

NATURAL DYEING METHODS A number of factors influence the

process of dyeing with antique dyestuffs. These include the quantity and quality of the dyestuff, water quality, mordants, chemical modifiers, cleanliness of materials, and temperature control.

The dye pigment must be extracted from the dyestuff in a bath, usually before the addition of materials. In Par- tridge's day, because of the many steps required in extracting the pigment from a natural dyestuff, economic considera- tioiis made the grading of dyestuff quality an important issue. The quality of natural dyes available today appears to be very high.

Because early dyers knew water quality could affect dye results, they reconl- mended soft water. Even with modern dyes, results may vary because of minerals dissolved in tap water, so distilled water gives the most reliable results.

Metallic salts, called mordants, bind to the materials and help the pigment to strike upon the fibers, making the dye colorfast or permanent on the material, and also influencing the hue or shade of the color. The same dyestuff can yield a range of colors depending upon which mordant is used. Aluminum, tin, and chrome tend to brighten or "bloom" colors; iron or copper tend to darken or "sadden" colors. "Substantive" dyestuffs need no mordant to produce fast colors, but the use of mordants may produce different hues. The application of mordants can occur before, during, or after the introduction of the material or dye pigment to the dyepot.

Other chemical modifiers bring out specific elements of the pigments or ad- just certain characteristics of the dyebath. The level of acidity can affect color and also can help to increase color per- manence. Adding ammonia, or rinsing materials in it after dyeing, can brighten or change hues and conditioils the material to give it a lustrous appearance.

Natural fibers require some cleaning with alkali soaps or ammonia to remove the waterproofing oils and greases they contain. Modern readers find some

S U M M E R 1994 5

NII.? ~ r [ x l n n s . The I\ alnut tree.

amusement in the idea that a common ingredient in the old dyeing process was urine. Used for scouring or cleaning the oils from wool or other fibers, it was a plentiful, free, and safe source of ammonia. In his 1823 Practical Treatise William Partridge said:

Urine is the only material that ought to be used for the scouring of wool: it is the cheapest of any and can be obtained in sufficient quantity in almost any situation in which a factory may be placed. . . . Urine that is fresh voided, will not scour well. That from persons living on plain diet, is stronger and better than from lux- urious livers. The cider and gin drinkers are considered to give the worst, and the beer drinker the best. . . . Many English manufacturers keep it in large vats with close covers, and I have seen six of these at one factory, holding nearly two thou- sand gallons each, all full: they keep working the oldest and filling up as they are emptied.

Careful temperature control ensures the extraction of only certain pigments from the dyestuff. Also, furs or wool may shrink when subjected to sudden temperature changes, so careful mainte- nance of proper temperatures protects materials as well as controlling the pigment.

A selection of dyes and chemicals can be obtained for around $50. Turmeric is available at a grocery store and other dyestuffs may be found at weaving or craft supply firms. One highly recom- mended source is the Earth Guild. a mail-order supply house which sells natural dyes and many of the chemicals needed, as well as several of the reference books listed above. A few materials will be more difficult to obtain, such as black walnut hulls, available only in the fall where such trees grow. To obtain some chemicals (sulfuric and nitric acids) inquire at a college or university chemical stockroom. Skyloom Fibres will send Liquid Blue, a form of chemic, which has the indigo already dissolved in acid.

The following books will provide further information on dyeing with nat-

ural dyestuffs: Natural Dyes and Home Dyeing by Rita Adrosko, Ancient Dyes for Modern Weavers by Palmy Weigle, Vegetable Dyeing by Alma Lesch, Easy Dyeing by Frances Mustard, A Dyer's Manual by Jill Goodwin, and The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing by J. N . Liles. Additional reading can provide a better understanding of the dyeing process.

How TO DYE WITH

Equipment needed for dyeing with natural dyestuffs includes measuring spoons, rubber gloves, wooden dowels or stainless steel utensils for stirring, a thermometer, and a kitchen or postal scale for weighing ounces. To prepare the dyebaths use either stainless steel or Pyrex glass pots.

Clean all materials thoroughly in tap water with mild dishwashing detergents, so that their fibers will accept the dyestuff properly. If necessary, for very light colors, whiten materials with a nonchlorine bleach or color remover such as thio-urea dioxide to keep a yellow or brown tint from influencing the final color. Thoroughly rinse any soap, detergent, or whitening agent from the material with warm tap water and follow with a rinse in warm distilled water.

Prepare all dye and mordant baths and modifying solutions using distilled

water because the minerals dissolved in tap water can affect dye results. Enclose loose materials in clean nylon net bags to keep them from mixing with the dyestuffs. Tie hackles by their stems into small bundles. If necessary, soak materials in distilled water until they are thoroughly wet before putting them into the dyebath or mordant bath. Keep furs or wools at nearly the same temperature as the dyebath they are going into, to pre- vent matting or shrinking. Add materials to the dyebath and stir using a wooden dowel. When the desired color is reached, remove materials and rinse them thoroughly in warm tap water, matching dyebath temperature for furs and wools, and gradually reducing the temperature of the rinse water. Blot the material dry with paper towels and then lay them out to dry in the air. Clipped furs should be picked apart and fluffed to assist drying.

Many natural dyestuffs are harmless, being actual foods or food colorings ap- proved by the FDA. Others chemicals, including some of the mordants, are poisonous or caustic, and should be handled carefully and disposed of properly. Dyeing is a chemical process and should be practiced with proper precau- tions at each step, keeping harmful materials away from children and pets. Ob- tain Material Safety Data Sheets for chemicals from most supply sources.

Do not use cooking utensils intended for food preparation. Be extremely careful with concentrated acids and always add acid to water (the stronger liquid to the weaker). Keep the dyeing area well ventilated and do not inhale fumes produced by heating liquids. A final pre- caution: dyes are intended to be colorfast and can. therefore. seriouslv stain clothing, skin, and countertops.

The rest of this article contains formulas that, with a little practice and good quality dyestuffs, can give surpris- ingly consistent results. They are Black- er's methods, tested by the author, and with quantities given in modern mea-


surements for dyebaths suitable for small batches of materials. Each formula can produce a dyebath for dyeing about l/s of an ounce of wool, seal's fur, or hackle feathers.

DYE FORMULAS In his Art of Flymaking Blacker ap-

proached the formulas this way: "The five principle colors to work upon are blue, red, yellow, brown and black. From the combination of two or more of these may be produced every shade required, from the lightest to the darkest, so that it only requires some practice, to know the different ingredients to use, to become a Dyer of Fishing Col- ors." Proper recipes appear below.

Alum Pre-mordant Blacker used alum as his principal

mordant. He often applied it to his materials prior to the actual dyeing.

Up to 1 ounce of fur and hackle may be pre-mordanted at once and then di- vided for use in different color dyebaths. Dissolve I teaspoon alum and 1 teaspoon cream of tartar in I quart of distilled water. Add the materials and slowly heat the bath up to 170° F. Let this simmer for 45 minutes. Cool the bath to , , hand-hot, then remove the materials and rinse them in warm distilled water.

For Yellow This method is easy, inexpensive, and

completely nonhazardous. The spice turmeric ( Curcuma longa) is the ground root of the Indian saffron plant, the yellow coloring agent and an important flavor in curry powder. Many dyers considered it to produce the finest yellows of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Pre-mordant materials in alum and cream of tartar. The dvestuff is turmeric powder (I teaspoon), stirred into 1 quart of distilled water. Put in the wet, pre- mordanted materials. Bring dyebath to 170°F. Remove a bright yellow in about 8 minutes. Leave materials up to an hour to obtain a rich golden yellow. Re- move the materials, wash in dishwash-

ing detergent, and rinse in tap water. Dry by air drying or blow drying.

For Red Madder (Rubia tinctorum), a plant

transplanted to Europe from Asia Mi- nor, has roots containing dyestuffs ranging from red to orange. The dye pigment alizarin is found within the plant root, so pulverizing the root will release the most dve substance.

Pre-mordant materials in alum and cream of tartar. The dye is 4 tablespoons of madder root, finely ground. Add the powder to 1 quart of distilled water, add the materials, and heat only to 150°F (higher temperature will bring out a brown dye element). Let them dye for at least 2 hours for a rich "lacquer" red. Wash, rinse, and dry the materials as before.

For Crimson Spanish explorers found the Aztecs

dyeing splendid reds using cochineal (Dactylopius coccus), a scale insect which grows on cacti. The dye pigment, carminic acid. com~rises a common ingredient in women's cosmetics. Euro- pean dyers prized cochineal highly and used it to dye expensive fabrics. The British Redcoats wore coats dyed with cochineal at the time of the American Revolution.

Pre-mordant materials in alum and cream of tartar. Stir 1 tablespoon of powdered cochineal into I quart distilled water, add the materials, and heat to i70°F. Let simmer for 2 hours or more for rich crimson. Wash, rinse, and dry as before.

Letting the materials sit overnight in the dyebath will enhance the blue factor of the dyestuff to produce a plum-claret color.

For Blue Indigo (Indigofera tinctoria), the ex-

tract of a leguminous plant which origi- nally grew in India and Egypt, was the commercial source of most blue dye. It was first synthesized in 1870, but the synthetic form did not become commercially available until 1890. The dye Blacker used for blue was chemic. or indigo powder dissolved in sulfuric acid (also known as Liquid Blue). It is possible to obtain Liquid Blue from Skyloom Fibres or make it using the following formula.

Use great care when producing this blue liquid dye. Wear rubber gloves and goggles and ventilate the workspace for this process. Slowly stir in 1 ounce of the natural indigo (powdered) to 4 ounces (by weight) of concentrated sulfuric acid. Set the mixture aside for a day and then store in a tightly capped bottle.

For pure blues in lighter shades, use materials that are as white as vossible. Any yellow in the base material can give a greenish tint to the hue.

Pre-mordant materials in alum and cream of tartar. Dissolve the desired amount of dye in 1 quart of warm water (150°F) before adding warm presoaked materials. Six to twelve drops of dye per quart of warm distilled water yields a light Silver Doctor blue. Twentv-five " drops or more of the dye will produce a rich deep blue, known to early dyers as Saxon Blue. Leave the materials in the bath for 15 to 30 minutes. For deeper blues, allow the materials to remain in the dyebath for up to 8 hours at room temperature. Wash, rinse, and dry as before.

S U M M E R 1994 7

For Brown From Blacker's Art of Flyrnnking (1855)

Black walnut (Juglans nigra) has brown dyestuff in its leaves, bark, and roots, but mostly concentrated in the hulls of the nut. This substantive dye needs no mordant, although an alum and cream of tartar pre-mordant can deepen the color. Use natural brown hackles for this color.

Wear rubber gloves-this dye can stain your hands for up to two weeks. Cut off the rinds of sixteen black wal- nuts. Place the walnut hulls in 2 quarts

little ciysi Ils of cochi

)r an hour ust boiled j iye-pot, a n (

* or two; t n the tarta I simmer

,ake the ha s, and put them slow1

ckles I

some tim! "spirits 0

tea-spoonf

e, say half un hour ; f grain,"* nnd put in d or a little more ;

then take to the dye- take then

Ln+".nns

of water and simmer at least 1 hour. Strain out the rinds and make 1 quart of dyebath.

Add the wet materials to the dyebath and simmer at 170°F for up to 8 hours for the darkest brown. Wash and rinse as before.

vr,baaluuaJy, and look at theru v r u w r c u

eyes and the light, is obtained, rinse the

If you are in a hurry tor scarlet, y pbxticles of block-tin ve dissolved, and ad : ; the other is best, a

orillinnc shade ;-boil slow. If the extract of bismuth is added tc

red liquor of the cochineal in a small qua it will change it to a purple or violet colo~

* Spirits c :arlet,-5 qut of nitre, a I ounce of 5

drop into it

and when ,rn and dry

the right c

drop the till they t

scarlet dye 3 .??. . .

into aqua- d a little t s it gives a

For Black William Blacker recommends start-

ing with natural black hackles for this process. The heartwood of the South American tree, logwood (Haematoxylon campechianum), contains dyestuffs, yielding pigments ranging from violet to blue to black. lrter pint of ,

mmoniac, ad half an om

spirits d hnif

~f grain for 81 quarter of cw bottle, and -..*:..- a:,, ,I:,

1 oz. logwood 1 tbsp. tannic acid l/s tsp. iron sulfate (copperas) ?4 tsp. cream of tartar lh tsp. sodium carbonate

ice of $ A! block-tin in g L u ~ r . UIL ~ ~ s o l v t f c l .

-

Put the logwood and tannic acid into 1 quart of distilled water and boil them for 1 hour. Add the remaining ingredients to the quart of water and heat to 170°F. Add the materials and maintain heat at 1700F for 2 or more hours for a rich deep black.

Liquid Blue (chemic) a drop at a time to obtain shades of green.

For Purple Like the green formulas, this color

requires overdyeing. First, dye the materials a pure blue (various shades). Rinse and then put them into an alum and cream of tartar mordant bath. Then dye them red using cochineal (see formula for Crimson).

For a redder wine color, rinse them again and dip them into a bath of ?h teaspoon of potassium carbonate dissolved in 1 quart of water to bring out the red element.

For Orange, Hot Orange, and Bright Scarlet This fascinating compound dye pro-

cess will produce three brilliant colors from one dyebath. Use unmordanted materials.

tsp. tin chloride 8 drops concentrated nitric acid 1/4 tsp. turmeric powder 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar 1/2 tsp. cochineal (powdered) To be followed by: 1/4 tsp. turmeric powder 1 '/2 tsp. cochineal (powdered)

Compound Colors Make dyes for compound colors

from a mixture of natural dyestuffs either by putting them in at the beginning or by adding an additional color to the same dyebath after the first color has struck onto the materials. For top-dyeing, take the materials from one bath, rinse them in warm distilled water, and put them into another bath of another color.

For Greens Two methods will produce many

shades of greens. Overdye materials by first dyeing them various shades of blue and then, after rinsing, by transferring them to a yellow dyebath.

An all-in-one method involves placing alum pre-mordanted materials first in the yellow bath, then stirring in the

For Simple Oranges Dye the materials yellow using the

turmeric dye formula. Rinse materials in warm distilled water and transfer them to either a madder red bath or a cochineal crimson bath. After obtaining the desired shades of orange, remove the materials and wash, rinse, and dry as before.

In 1 quart of distilled water mix the first group of chemicals and dyestuffs. Add the materials and heat the bath to 170°F. During the first 30 minutes remove fine orange materials from the bath. Rinse and dry. After 30 minutes, remove the materials temporarily and stir in the remaining dyestuff amounts. Return the materials to the bath. Con- tinue simmering, removing reddish-or-


ange materials in about ij more minutes. After another zo to 60 minutes. the result will be a rich scarlet known to professional dyers as "flame-colored."

For Fiery Brown Another Irishman, Michael Rogan,

was famous for his Fiery Brown color and legend has it that urine, from various amusing sources, was a "secret ingredient" in his dyeing process. It seems probable that he used natural dyestuffs to obtain his much admired colors or at least he continued some of the best of the techniques used by professional fab- ric dyers.

First dye materials yellow; then put them into the walnut dyebath for at least 1 hour to achieve a vellow brown and up to 8 hours for a dark fiery brown.

For Claret Use natural brown hackles for this

color. Brazilwood (Caesalpina echinata) gave its name to the South American country where the trees are found.

1 oz. brazilwood, chopped fine ?h OZ. logwood (sawdust) 1j drops concentrated sulfuric acid I/q tsp. potassium carbonate

tsp. (a tiny pinch) iron sulfate (copperas)

Simmer the brazilwood and logwood together in 1 quart of distilled water for 30 minutes. Cool the liquid. Carefully add the sulfuric acid to the dyebath. Add the materials and simmer (170°F) for 2 hours. Remove the materials and put them into water for a moment. Add the uotassium carbonate and iron sulfate ;o the dyebath and mix. Return the materials and simmer for 2 or more hours. Wash and rinse the materials as before, but finish with a dip into mild household ammonia for a brilliant sheen. Rinse again in water and dry.

Other Mordants Blacker does not mention every tech-

nique used by professional dyers in the nineteenth century. Many dyestuffs can be brightened with tin to produce brilliant colors. Later in the century the use of chrome with natural dyestuffs increased the range of colors available. " These mordants give satisfactory colors and work more effectively than some of Blacker's methods.

To get two or more shades from some of the dye formulas given above, follow the formulas for Yellow, Crim- son, or (madder) Red, and remove a portion of the materials. For each dyebath, dissolve l/s teaspoon tin chloride

in ?h CUP warm distilled water. Add the tin solution to each dyebath to give richer brighter shades, respectively, of Golden Yellow, Bright Red, or Orange Red.

Blacker never used chrome, but it produces yet another series of colors. The addition of chrome allows faster development of jet blacks in a log- woodltannic acid bath, especially on seal's fur and mohair.

Mr. Blacker has been a celebrated trout and salmon angler from early boyhood, and he is known to be the best maker of trout and salmon flies alive. We have never seen such flies as his, for naturalness of shape, appropriateness of colour, and for beauty and solidity of finish. . . .

-Bell's Life in London, April 8,1855

William Blacker was widely recognized by British salmon anglers as one of the finest fly dressers of his day. His dedication to the craft of fly dressing spurred him to learn about, and to publish, the secrets of dyeing furs and feathers using the best formulas available. With reasonable care and a small number of dyestuffs, the interested amateur today can authentically reproduce a rainbow of brilliant colors to dress truly classic Atlantic salmon flies. e

The following list of dyestuffs and chemicals would provide a full range of colors:

Dyes turmeric powder brazilwood indigo powder logwood madder root cochineal walnut rinds

Mordants and Mod$ers alum (potassium aluminum sulfate) sulfuric acid (conc.) cream of tartar nitric acid (conc.) tin chloride household ammonia iron sulfate tannic acid powder potassium carbonate sodium carbonate thio-urea dioxide

The Earth Guild 33 Hayward Street Asheville, NC 28801 800-327-8448

Skyloom Fibres 1705 South Pearl Street Denver, CO 80210 303-777-2331

B I B L I O G R A P H Y

Adrosko, Rita. Natural Dyes and Home Dye- ing. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1971.

Blacker, William. Art of Angling and Com- plete System of Flymaking and Dying of Colours. London: published by the author, 1842.

-. Art of Flymaking, &c., Comprising Angling and Dyeing of Colors. London: published by the author, 1855.

Ephemera (William Fitzgibbon). Book of the Salmon. London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1850.

-. The Handbook of Angling. London: Long- man, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1847.

Francis, Francis. A Book on Angling. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1867.

Goodwin, Jill. A Dyer's Manual. London: Pelham, 1982.

Haigh, James. The Dier's Assistant in the Art of Dying Wool and Woolen Goods. Lon- don: 1778; Philadelphia: 1810, first Ameri- can edition; Poughkeepsie, N.Y.: Para- clete Potter, 1813, second American edition.

Hale, Captain, J. H. How to Tie Salmon Flies. London: Sampson Low, Marston, and Co., 1892.

Kelson, George M. "On the Description of Salmon Flies," in The Fishing Gazette. London: a weekly series, May 31, 1884, to November 7,1886.

-. "Standard Salmon Flies. Dressed to Ac- cord with the Standard Colours," in Land and Water. London: a weekly series beginning April 24,1886.

Lesch, Alma. Vegetable Dyeing. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1974

Liles, J. N. The Art and Craft of Natural Dye- ing. Knoxville, Tenn.: The University of Tennessee Press, 1990.

Maxwell, William H. The Field Book, or Sports and Pastimes of the British Isles. London: W. Tweedie, 1833.

Mustard, Frances. Easy Dyeing. Plainfield, N.J.: Textile Book Service, 1976.

Partridge, William. A Practical Treatise on Dyeing Woolen, Cotton, and Silk. . . . New York: William Partridge, 1823.

Stoddart, Thomas Tod. The Angler's Com- panion to the Rivers and Lochs of Scotland. Edinburgh and London: William Black- wood and Sons, 1847.

Tolfrey, Frederick. Jones's Guide to Norway, and Salmon-fisher's Pocket Companion. London: Longman, Brown, l re en and Longmans, 1848.

Weigle, Palmy. Ancient Dyes for Modern Weavers. New York: Watson-Guptill Pub- lications, 1974.

S U M M E R 1994 9

The Fish Prints of S. F. Denton S. F. D E N T o N . the artist whose extraordinary chromolithographs documenting various species of North American fish and wildlife would illustrate the State of New York Fisheries, Game, and Forest Commission's Annual Reports from 1895 to 1909, is here profiled by noted photographer Charles Steinhacker.

w I L L T H E R E A L S. F. Denton please stand up? Naturalist, artist. adventurer. entrevre-

neur, collector, inventor, and author - it was difficult to pin the man down. His diversity of interest was the by-product of a passionate and tenacious curiosity about the natural world. To do such a full life justice would require a far-ranging dissertation on such topics as moths and butterflies (for which he received the most immediate fame). birds. in- , , sects, fossils, freshwater pearls, and gems. all of which he and his brothers Y '

collected throughout the world and sold to museums and private buyers. Then we would need to review his published

books and other professional and private writings. And we would be remiss if we failed to shed some light on Denton the businessman who had a commercial streak that bordered on showmanship. Only then would we be in a position to even consider his fish mounting and coloring methodology as well as his exquisite watercolor paintings of fresh- and saltwater fish.

Since the focus here is exclusively on Denton's fish art, the introduction above serves to provide the reader with a feel for the scope and breadth of the man, and particularly an appreciation for the rare and magical blend of the scientist and the artist that came together so persuasively in a single human being.

Born Sherman Foote Denton in 1856, the eldest son of William Denton, young Sherman taught himself how to draw while accompanying his father on his lecture tours around the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Following his father's untimely death from jungle

fever in the wilds of New Guinea, Den- ton returned home and was employed by the United States Fish Commission (the equivalent of today's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). It was during his tenure in Washington that he developed and patented a method for mounting fish that preserved their vivid original colors. Until then, all previously mounted fish svecimens were mere shadows of their naiural reality. Denton had discovered how to make them "live" again. So perfect were his fish models that orders poured in from state fish commissions and museums around the country, including the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, the Field Museum in Chicago, and the Agassiz Museum at Harvard University. Alexander Agassiz wrote, "I have seen the best that Italy, France, Germany, and England can show in the way of mounted fishes and your work is far and away ahead of them all."

As part of his fish-mounting process, Denton made watercolor paintings of all


by Charles Stein hacker

the fish that he had personally collected in America, Europe, Hawaii, and the West Indies as well as those that were sent to him packed in ice from all over the world. Many of these watercolors were used to illustrate the United States Fish Commission's reports.

It should be duly noted that the methods and schemes used by the collector to catch his fish would not be appreciated by your friendly fish and game warden todav. Denton was believed to have utilized a secret berry mixed with bread which when cast upon the water would intoxicate the fish and render them defenseless. And he was reputed to have employed certain mysterious roots that he ground up and dropped into a boat half filled with water. When the boat was capsized the fish would swarm all around it, whereupon they would become instantly asphyxiated and thus ouite collectable. In short. Denton's un- conventional fishing methods just might have given him the edge over a No. 18 Quill Gordon on a 9x tippet.

THE MALE BROOK TROUT (Salvelinusfontinalis). One of the outstanding chromolithographs included in the series of Annual Reports published by the State of New York Fisheries, Game, and Forest Commission between 1895 and 1909, about which was said "no coloredfigures offishes in existence exceed them for truthfulness or beauty of execution."

The State of New York Fisheries, Game, and Forest Commission hired Denton to paint various species of North American fish and wildlife. The original chromolithographs were reproduced from the paintings in a series of extraordinary books called Annual Re- ports that were published between 1895 and 1909. The plates included fresh- and saltwater fish, each identified by its Eng- lish and Latin names, as well as a few nonfish subjects, -lobsters, oysters, deer, and pheasant - that were signed "Den- ton" or "S. F. Denton," though some contained no signature. In all, 105 of his prints were published in this pre-emi- nent set of books, of which ninety-nine were pure fish images. The combination of Denton's unmatched skill as a fish artist and the exceptional quality of the plates (New York State spared nothing in its dedication to excellence of reproduction) quickly established these prints as the very finest fish art ever done.

As part of the Seventh Annual Report of 1901 (published in January of 1902),

and due largely to public demand, the Commission produced a supplementary portfolio containing all of the Denton prints that had been published up to that time.

The Denton fish prints can be found in three different sizes: 8 inches x 11% inches (cloth-bound volumes), 7% inches x lo % inches (leather-bound volumes), and 9 % inches x 12 inches (portfolio). In each case, however, the size of the fish is the same; only the trim size varies. A complete list of the Denton prints appears on page 13.

The remarkable quality of Denton's work is referred to in the preface of the First Annual Report:

Mr. Sherman F. Denton, the Artist of the United States Fish Commission, was en- gaged to make sixteen color drawings of fishes and game, and this he did so faithfully that they will serve to identify the originals of the drawings, for fin rays and scale formation are as faithfully represent- ed as the external colors of the subjects.

S U M M E R 1994 11

Depicted, apparently, is a 13-pound specimen fi-om Canada (where the

fish is called "Ouananiche") and perhaps caught or otherwise

provided by A. N. Cheney, State of New Yorkfish culturist. Denton has pasted on to the bottom of the print

a rather primitive watercolor of a young Maine landlocked salmon for purposes of comparison. Some ofhis

notes read: "More D U ~ V ~ in Cana- 1 I

dian fish" and "a general tone of apple green on body and fins of

female Salmon. A little red on edges of some of the black spots. In male

sometimes spots on lower part of body red."

These color-drawings have been reproduced so exactly, that no colored figures of fishes in existence exceed them for truthfulness or beauty of execution. They are absolutely faithful reproductions, which can be said of no other work of this kind.

The same can still be said today. The original chromolithographs first appeared almost loo years ago and remain the standard by which all other fish art, past and present, is judged.

Until recently it had been a relatively simple matter to obtain the Denton print of your choice. The New York State books were seemingly everywhere. Used book shops had them in generous quantities and one could find them for as little as a dollar or two at tag sales and flea markets. But when print dealers be- gan to sense the popularity of these images, they bought up all the books they could get their hands on and stripped them of their Denton plates. Today it has become extrelllely difficult, if not impossible, to find the most popular of the Denton fish prints. And prices have skyrocketed accordingly. Striped Bass, Bluefish, Brook Trout, and Brown Trout are currently the prints in greatest demand and their prices are all in excess of $100. The same is true of most of the other trout prints (Denton painted fifteen different trout images) as well as the salmons and the large- and small-

Thefirst Annual Report of the Commissioners of

Fisheries, Game and Forests of the State of

New York (1895). Some of Denton's most popular

fish prints were published in this first book.


The Complete List of Denton Prints FISH P R I N T S Adirondack Frost FishIRound

White Fish AlewifeIBranch Herring Bass, Calico Bass, Channel Bass, Large-Mouthed, Black Bass, Large- and Small-Mouthed, Black Bass, Rock Bass, Sea Bass, Small-Mouthed, Black Bass, Striped Bass, White BergalllCunner Bluefish Bonito Brook Sucker Bullhead Burbot Butter-Fish Carp Catfish, Spotted Channel Cat Cisco Cod Cod, TomIFrost Fish Crappie Dog FishIMud FishIGrindle (male

and female) Drum, Freshwater Eel, Common Fall Fish/Silver Chub Flat Fish Flounder Gold Fish Golden ShinerIBream Group: Mummichog, Fall Fish,

Black-Nosed Dace, Common White Sucker

Group: Red-Sided Minnow, Common Silverside (male), Creek Chub, Red- Nosed Minnow

Group: Roach, River Chub, Common Silverside (female), Blunt-Nosed Minnow

Haddock Hake Halibut Herring, Sea Kingfish Mackerel, Common Mackerel, Spanish Mackerel, Yellow Mascalonge Mascalonge (from Chautauqua Lake) Maskalonge (shown on fly) Menhaden Moon-Eye Perch, White Perch, Yellow or Barred Pickerel (from pond in Massachusetts)

Pickerel (from upper Hudson River) Pickerel, Banded Pike Pike Perch or Wall-Eyed Pike (Denton

signature near edge of print) Pike Perch or Wall-Eyed Pike (signature

properly placed) Pollack Pompano Pompano, Short Red Horse Red Snapper Rose Fish Salmon, Atlantic Salmon, Landlocked (female) Salmon, Landlocked (male) ScupIPorgy Shad Shad, Hickory Sheepshead Shiner, Golden or Bream Smelt Spade Fish-Triple Tail Steelhead or Salmon Trout Sunfish Sunfish, Blue Gill Sunfish, Long Eared Tautog Trout, Albino Brook Trout, Brook Trout, Brook (female) Trout, Brook (male) Trout, Brown Trout, Brown (Von Behr Trout) Trout, Canadian Red (female) Trout, Canadian Red (male) Trout, Canadian Red (young) Trout, Lake Trout, Rainbow Trout, Redthroa, Black Spotted, or Rocky

Mountain Trout, Sunapee Trout, Sunapee or American Saibling

(female) Trout, Sunapee or American Saibling

(male) Trout, Tahoe Weak-FishISqueteague Whitefish Whitefish, Common (female) Whitefish, Common (male) Whiting

A D D I T I O N A L PRINTS Deer, Virginia Lobster, American (female) Lobster, American (male) Oysters (natural size) Oysters, Enemies of the Pheasant,

Mongolian or Ring-Necked

S. E Denton as a young man.

mouthed bass. Adding to the increased market pressure is the fact that fish as art is presently quite the "rage" for home and office decor.

For the discriminating collector, a few closing observations. The chro- " molithographic prints that appeared in the New York State books are of superi- or quality to those that comprised the portfolio. Indeed, it is almost certain that the folio prints were made from the book plates. However, it should be noted that the difference is a very fine point. And for many Denton collectors it is the folio prints, though of coarser dot structure than the original book prints, that are preferred for their aes- thetically pleasing quality. In any case, the marketplace discerns no difference in price between the two types of litho- graphs.

Surely it was the mix of science, art, and romance so miraculously coalesced into one human spirit that enabled Denton to produce these superlative fish images. To look at the Male Brook Trout " or the Atlantic Salmon on a cold and snowy January night is to admire the beauty of the fish we fish for. . . and will soon again. For if the truth be known, it may well have been the fish prints of Sherman Foote Denton that provided the comfort to see many an angler through the long and fishless winter.

r3.'

S U M M E R 1994 13

Salmon flies dressed by Dr. ?: E. Pryce-Tannatt to exemplify the three principal groups in use today. Colorplatefi-om "The Evolution of the Salmon Fly" in The Field (1952).


The Evolution of the Salmon Fly

by T. E. Pryce-Tannatt

M O S T A N G L E R S are familiar with Dr. Thomas Edwin Pryce-Tannatt through his masterful little book How to Dress Salmon Flies, first published in 1914. Of the pre- World War I titles devoted to the subject, it is considered the model for its clarity and practical instruction, and, de- spite the passage of eighty years and fashion changes in salmon flies, retains its usefulness.

Born in the East Indies in 1881, Pryce-Tannatt followed the cust&nary practice of re- turning to England for his edu- cation, eventually earning a de~ree in medicine. At the ape

printings, Pryce-Tannatt was mostly silent on salmon flies, in print at least. Yet praise, encouragement, even urgings for a new work on the subject were heard from time to time. Charles Phair declared in 1937 that How To Dress Salmon Flies "is the best thing on the subject I have seen";

Thurso Canary Delfur Fancy

White Wing Beaulieu Peacock

1965 that a new edition, expanded by John Veniard, was produced.

But Pryce-Tannatt did have something to say. One day, as I was rummaging to no constructive purpose in the Museum's Preston Jennings's collection, I stumbled upon the enclosed article and immediate-

ly realized that it deserved wider circulation. I shall let Pryce-Tannatt speak for himself: He does it so well.

WALLY MURRAY

T H O U G H SUBSTAN- tially the same in es- sentials as when oriai-

of" thirty-one, however, ze nally devised, the salmon %y abandoned medical ~ractice to Joe Brady Lady Caroline Iris Gled Wing of the present day reflects assume editorship ofsalmon & some of ;he changes brought Trout Magazine, the journal of Jock Scott Silver Doctor William Black about by the modified out- London's Salmon & Trout As- Rufus Silk look and practice of salmon sociation, a position he left in the autumn of 1912 to accept appointment in the civil service as Inspector of Salmon Fish- eries, Board of Agriculture and Fisheries.

How to Dress Salmon Flies appeared in 1914, but it was not until 1946, two years after Pryce-Tannatt's retirement from the civil service, that another "edition" of the book appeared. This edition was actually a

fly fishermen during the in- tervening vears. There are many wuho 'think that it has

Blue improved in looks and is a Invicta March Haslam Black Red Silver more practically serviceable

Brown Teak Gauntlet Peacock production, but it would not be easy to prove that the

Green modern article is, in fact, Per1 Watson's Silver and Jeannie Sally more deadly than either the Max Fancy Blue Gold comparatively primitive busk-

ings used by Scrope in the 1830s or the more elaborate creations sponsored by Kelson

reprint of the original: happily, K E the remarkably fine photography was retained but, regret- tably, the text was not updated, although much had changed in the manner of dressing salmon flies. A. H. Chay- tor had advocated very simple flies as early as 1910, and A. H. E. Wood had simplified salmon flies to the practice of merely painting the hook shank.

During the period between the two

Y T O T H E C O L O U R E D P L A T E O F F L I E S sixty years later. Owing mainly to the advent of the metal- eyed hook, salmon flies nowa- days are more dependable and

Eric Traverner pleaded about the same more durable. On that score it can be time, and again in 1947, ': . . there is an claimed that they are more effective. But urgent need for a revised edition or for whether salmon really like them better another book from the same facile pen." is not so certain. The hoped-for author was sixty-six at the To Kelson, more than to any other, is time. No book appeared and it was a to be ascribed the conventionalisation dozen years after the author's death in of the salmon fly. It is the fashion now

S U M M E R 1994 15

to decry Kelson as a humbug; but what he had to say was not all of it nonsense. In any case his patterns accounted for many fish; and it cannot be denied that the flies he and his associates produced were, in their way, works of art, though the dispassionate utilitarian of later years might consider them more appropriate as adornments to headgear than as instruments of capture attached to the end of a cast. Overloaded they tend- ed to be, and being initially under the disability of having to figure on hooks furnished with twisted gut loops, they could not be made as slim in the body or fine in the head as subsequently became possible with the metal-eyed hooks.

A fat body and a thick head in a salmon fly- as in other objects-are contemplated with disapproval by the cognoscenti, though there is little evidence that the salmon is as esthetically sensitive. The salmon fly is, after all, a very artificial thing. What it might represent to the salmon is largely conjec- tural. In the circumstances it would be unwise to be didactic about it; or to go so far as to assert that a spare and slim build, per se, is more in accordance with the salmon's tastes than something of more substantial proportions. Corpore- al obesity and hydrocephaly may not be as repellent to Salmo salar as to Homo sapiens. Incidentally, plug baits and boiled prawns are not sylph-like, yet they are taken (and at times eagerly) by salmon.

However, a spare slim build seems to be the planned feature of the modern salmon fly, producing a sort of stream- lined effect, noticeable as a popular characteristic in a number of different compositions at the present time, domi- nated as it is by the rage for speed. There may be something to be said for it in relation to the salmon fly, which, as has previously been remarked, is a very artificial thing, so that any expedient which can be applied to mask its artifi- ciality is probably a help to the angler. Economy of material in dressing checks a too flagrant visibility, and the stream- lining which is at the same time achieved facilitates smooth and unob- trusive passage through the water, producing a transient impression of something alive and in motion, merely glimpsed and affording scant opportunity for close scrutiny. The salmon has to make up its mind quickly about it. That is a theory which is perhaps no less plausible than other theories, being based on the assumption that the salmon, fool though it may be, is not a

complete idiot and, impelled by the predatory instinct rather than by hunger, has sense enough to be warned by a too obvious subterfuge if it is al- lowed to see overmuch. Nor is there anything inconsistent in this with the fact that the more slowly moving surface fly, at the end of a greased line, is at times taken readily enough.

This affair of visibility is clearly of importance. It probably accounts for the proliferation of patterns, these being the expression of succeeding generations of anglers as to what is considered u

suitable under particular conditions in particular circumstances. Associated with it is the question of size, which at the outset had relation essentially to visibility, but it is now acknowledged is also influenced by the temperature of the water (and air). Speculation on both subjects is endless, discussion sometimes engendering a certain amount of heat, with the honours of debate frequently being carried off by the cynical- ly inclined who aver that guessing plays the predominating role - one guess being as good as another.

Nevertheless, ideas have continued to smoulder and from the embers there can perhaps be recovered something not wholly without significance; at all events as regards the form and structure of the salmon fly as at present found accept- able by anglers- leaving the fish out of the account for the time being.

The fairly well-marked stages in the process of evolution, so to speak, of the salmon fly in recent years are illustrated in the black-and-white photographs.

The Jock Scott in Figure 1 is typical of the Kelson convention. It was dressed by a professional and was the accepted concept at the beginning of the present century. It is modelled on expansive lines, aldermanic in proportions, and resplendent in raiment, being generous- ly furnished with the exotic plumes, deemed essential at that period, and procurable now with difficulty, if at all. The built wing, the outer covering being of married strips from five different feathers, plus strands of peacock her1 and an overall strip of brown mallard, is embellished with jungle cock sides and blue chatterer cheeks: blue macaw horns and a couple of golden pheasant top- pings completing an imposing structure calculated to catch the eye-of the angler at all events. The jointed body is designed on the same generous lines, the tag being carried down so as to occupy an appreciable portion of the hook bend, with the object perhaps of fore- stalling the possibility of any cavilling at

stinting of material. The head is large - inevitably so having regard to all the stuff that had to be tied in-with the thick twisted gut loop and all to add to the general plethora. It is, in fact, rather remarkable that the head is not larger, and redounds to the credit of the tyer, as indeed does the whole fly, which, as an example of fly dressing, leaves little to criticise.

Somewhat different in appearance is the fly in Figure 2, which was dressed by Ernest Crosfield, facile princeps in the art of fly making, the salient features being the slim, sloping wing, the small neat head, the designedly abbreviated body and the manifest restraint exer- cised in the quantity of hackle applied. Though the wing is of small bulk it is composed of six different feathers, viz. golden pheasant tippet strands, fibres of golden pheasant breast feather, golden bird of paradise crests (two of them), strips of Amherst and golden pheasant tail, and brown mallard scapular feather over all. The slope of the wing is almost horizontal. This is achieved partly by the natural set of the feathers selected and partly by tying in all but the brown mallard covering strip behind the throat of blue barred jay, in the small space between the throat and the yellow ribbing hackle, an expedient characteristic of Crosfield's patterns and which, moreover, made it possible to achieve the small neat head, for which they were likewise noted. Wing and tail tips coin- cide at a point not far behind the posterior edge of the hook bend, and the hin- der end of the tag is in front of the barb on the vertical from the shank. Crosfield considered it important to refrain from encroaching on the bend of the hook with any part of the dressing so as thus to leave the bend clear and without in- volving any of the dressing, more particularly the tag, in the risk of being chewed and damaged by the teeth of the fish after the hook had got hold. The whole fly is thus not only esthetically pleasing but it is very definitely designed with practical considerations in view. Although dressed on a substantial hook with a wide gape (Crosfield liked a hook which could take a "good bite of meat"), it is free from grossness, and its stream- lined build would ensure a smooth and steady swim in the water.

Economy of material, carried a stage further in the process of slimming, is very marked in the fly shown in Figure 3. This is one of the Kilroy series of patterns (produced by the late Surgeon Captain L. Kilroy, R.N.) inspired by the exiguous fashion set by A. H. E. Wood

in the patterns favoured by him for use fact, came to use, apparently with suc- with the greased line. The wing consists cess, a bare hook the shank of which of strips of the symmetrically disposed had been painted red or blue. Simplifi- feathers from the breast, neck, upper cation could hardly be carried further coverts, flanks, and back of certain than that. birds, left adhering to the stalk or cen- The experience and knowledge ac- tral quill, the latter being tied in on top of the hook shank, in such fashion as to cause the strips, each of the same length, to lie horizon- tally on either side, in much the same style as is to be seen in the Dee strip-winged patterns. The fly in Figure 3 carries four strips, +- paired, from two such feathers (one from a teal flank and one from a cock pheasant upper covert feather). An Amherst pheasant topping, tied beneath the central stems of the strips, lies horizontal- ly over the hook shank. The body Figure I . Jock Scott (Old style) consists of the bare hook, ribbed with ribbon tinsel and oval gimp. There quired during the last thirty years or so is no ribbing hackle. Two turns of a gin- have cleared up some of the things that ger cock hackle and one turn of dyed heretofore were regarded as mysteries. guinea fowl breast feather comprise the As a consequence the present generation throat. The posterior end of the tag, on is apt to be somewhat contemptuous of which some emphasis is laid, lies in front of the hook point on the vertical from the shank. The tips of tail and topping, coinciding at a point, do not extend as far back as the outer edge of the hook bend. It will be ob- served that abbreviation, as well as attenuation, is a feature here.

Kilroy used celluloid varnish freely to provide a film over the tinsel, the object - and the effect - being to secure a firmer cohesion of the tinsel turns and at the same time protection Figure 2. Dirty Yellow (Crosfield) from the tarnishing commonly re- sulting from exposure to the atmos- phere. An excellent notion, which, the older school of empiricists for fail- moreover, can be extended to embrace ing to see what now seems obvious. floss silk, in bodies and tags, a similar Those old stalwarts, it is true, did not protective covering providing an imper- include a thermometer in their equip- meability proof against the discol- ment, nor were they very inquisitive oration which is liable otherwise to occur after immersion in peat-stained or dirty water.

The attenuation of the Kilroy style might be considered by many as ex- cessive for normal requirements. A compromise between it and the Cros- field style would perhaps be deemed to be more in accordance with practical, everyday needs. The professors of the greased line cult, however, will Figure 3. Kilroy Pattern doubtless particularise as to the patterns considered appropriate for that about the chemical reactions of the wa- speciality, an exiguous abbreviation of a ter in which they fished. They were not somewhat emphatic brand being the scientifically minded. They contemplat- recognised article. Wood himself ed angling as an art rather than as a sci- favoured a fly which had been shorn of ence. But they were not by any means most of its feathery adjuncts. He, in mentally deficient. They could and did

teach quite a lot. And they did catch fish. Without being able to give con- vincing reasons they knew that a large fly, fished slowly and deep, was the most likely to be effective in the early part of the season when the water was cold; and

that a small fly kept playing on the surface was the better alternative later in the year when weather and water had warmed up. At other times they used flies in varying sizes, fished in what was considered the orthodox manner, more or less submerged below the water surface.

Except possibly in a more con- scious application, the position at the present time does not appear to be so very different. Large fiies, well sunk, are still used early in the season when the water is low in temuerature. Small flies fished

close to the surface are the acknowledged prescription later on when the water temperature has risen. And there still remains - unexpurgated - the fly of medium size fished in what can be

termed midwater, used regularly and with success by a conservative major- ity, notwithstanding the dicta of the greased line enthusiasts who believe that these medium sizes are of no practical significance and can be ig- nored.

There would thus appear to be at the present day, as was the case for- merly, a practicable trio grouping applicable to salmon flies; the flies themselves, though substantially the same as they were fifty or even loo years ago, "modernised" in accordance with what. in deferential terms,

might be described as the sophisticated refinement of the midtwentieth century salmon fly fisherman. The components of this trio grouping could appositely, if irreverently, be labelled as (i) bottom

grubbers, (ii) midwater swimmers, (iii) surface riders. The flies reproduced in the accompanying colour plate purport to exemplify these three groups.

The four uatterns in the two tor, rows [of the color plate] represent the sort of thing intended for presentation at a depth below the surface. Larger sizes are used (up to 3% inch) but the available space hardly admits room for the inclusion of anything

larger than the 2 % inch hook which carries the Delfur Fancy. As a matter of fact it will be found that this is auite a considerable implement to heave out at the end of a long line on a day of buffet- ing winds. One of the desirable features

S U M M E R 1994 17

of the patterns comprising this group is long way after Reynolds." The twelve Per1 Max (which is short for Perla maxi- simplicity of design; a freedom from ex- patterns in the fifth and sixth rows [in ma, the big stone fly, much in evidence traneous embellishments with which it the color plate] indicate, some of them, on most salmon rivers during April and would go ill when subjected to the hard what the professors of the greased line May), March Brown (which might be slogging involved, not to mention the might perhaps consider appropriate. Rithrogena haarupi, commonly seen be- formidable dentition of the well-mend- The long-shanked, lightly ironed hooks ing taken by salmon during a hatch), ed kelts likely to be in evidence at that which have become the accepted form Sally (which might be mistaken for the time of the year. Thurso Canary and for such patterns are commended be- subimago of Ephemera danica), Invicta Beaulieu Peacock are appropriate Sam- cause "they swim well, and, in a stream, (possibly suggesting a caddis fly). ples of this simplicity. do not hold the water" (A. H. E. Wood). The fact that the sizes used are sub-

The eight patterns which make up They certainly seem to be suited to the stantially larger than the natural insects the third and fourth rows [of the color spare and abbreviated dress characteris- is held to be immaterial, inasmuch as plate] are of the more or less From Salmonia (1870) their relative size to the stereotyped brand modified adult salmon is approxi- in an attempt to conform to mately the same as was the the "new look." They are natural insect to the fish what the salmon angler of when it was a parr. It is an the conservative type might intriguing notion, which, see fit to use in the ordinary, however, does not explain old-fashioned mode of pre- the indisputable efficacy of sentation, that is to say the patterns which cannot somewhere near midwater, reasonably be associated or at all events well below with any insect; nor, for the surface; a pull rather that matter, with anything than a rise being expected else, alive or dead. from a taking fish. No useful purpose

Normally, in the range of would be served by bur- sizes associated with this dening a dissertation such group (from 1% inch down as this with the details of to 1% inch), a date in mid- fly making. Two hints per- April registers the transi- tinent to the subject have, tion, which is apt to be sudden, from tic of these patterns. The relatively nar- however, earlier been transmitted, midwater to surface presentation, when row bend, by restricting the weight of culled from the technique of two fin- the water temperature is approaching metal, no doubt co-operates in main- ished experts, relating respectively to the the 50 degrees mark on the Fahrenheit taining the fly close to the water surface. production of a small neat head and the scale. There are, however, many occa- Whether this advantage adequately provision of a protective and strength- sions subsequently, especially in a cold, counterbalances the risks entailed by the ening covering for tinsel and floss silk; wet summer, the air being often colder shallow hold is a question on which dif- these being considerations of practical than the water, when it is profitable to fering opinions might well be enter- importance applicable generally. Paren- revert to the midwater presentation tained. The hooking in the angle of the thetically, as regards the first of these with flies of the sizes indicated. This also jaw, which is the aim of refraining from hints, it would be as well to bear in applies to the early autumn fishing, striking and letting the fish hook itself, mind that the size and form of the metal sometimes and in some localities as ear- must quite often fail to result through a eye can exercise a dominating influence. ly as mid-August. very human inability to follow what A large, heavy eye, especially when

These patterns exemplify eight of the would seem to be a counsel of perfec- turned too much up or down, can nega- nine recognised modes of winging, the tion too exacting for a great many. tive any effort to produce a small, neat winging of a fly being the chart by However, this mode of presentation, head. which the salmon fly dresser steers his which at times might appear to be The eyes of the hooks illustrated in course when familiarising himself with rather overemphasised by the enthusi- the [color] plate may not be too aggres- the details of his craft. The eight modes asts and too apt to be advocated almost sively impossible in this respect, though in question are the simple strip wing as of universal application at all times they fall short of the near-to-perfection (Joe Brady), Spey wing (Lady Caroline), and in any circumstances, will probably style indicated in Figure 2. The metal topping wing (Iris), Dee strip wing undergo a process of adjustment in due eyes of many of the hooks on the mar- (Gled Wing), built wing (Jock Scott), course; and, among other things, the ket still leave much to be desired. The mixed wing (Silver Doctor), whole form of the hook may be changed. attention of the hook makers could use- feather wing (William Rufus), layered It has been suggested that the re- fully be directed to this important de- wing (Black Silk). The ninth mode is in- sponse of a salmon to a surface riding tail. At the same time it might be very dicated in the Beaulieu Peacock (q.v. fly-buoyed up by a greased line-is much to the point to reconsider, on the above); if a bunch of her1 tied in with- prompted by memories of the days basis of mechanics and statics, the form out any particular order can be regarded when it was a parr feeding in the river and dimensions of the hook itself. It as a wing. Incidentally, Gled Wing and on natural insects. Hence, doubtless, the may well be that the hitherto popular Black Silk were two of Crosfield's fa- attempted resemblance among these Limerick has had its day. Another type mous patterns. But the specimens fig- patterns to some of the larger and more might be better. - ured were not, of courser tied by that prevalent insects frequenting the neigh- master craftsman. They are, in fact, "a bourhood of rivers. As, for instance, (Reprinted from The Field Annual, 1952)


G A L L E R Y

A S T E L L A R C A S T of characters whose names read like the Who's W h o of Fly Fishing have contributed to the history of fly fishing, but some have also re-

mained relatively obscure. One such individual was rodmaker Omar Needham.

Born June 28,1904, in Minot, Maine, he grew up with an active interest in the outdoors and was only fourteen when an itinerant Scotsman introduced him to the fine art of split-cane rodmaking. Over the next fifteen years he experimented with designing his own tapers.

Married in 1934, he settled into a small food store business in Norwav. Maine. He designed his own tools and , , " equipment for constructing bamboo rods, and made rods and guided clients in his spare time.

On a business trip to Albany, New York, in 1936, he stopped in Manchester, Vermont, for the evening and wandered into the Charles F. Orvis showroom. Omar became intrigued with the rodmaking operation and within a week went to work for Orvis for the staggering sum of $10 per week. The company was then still operated by the Orvis family, Bert and Robbie, Charles's two sons, but had fallen on hard times.

In 1939 the Orvis Company was purchased by Bart

Arkell and D. C. "Duckie" Corcoran and its fortunes changed. Wes Jordan was brought in to manage and Needham stayed on to oversee the varnish work on the Orvis rods.

Omar Needham's rods shared a consistency in both workmanship and action - a trueness of tapers not always found in more reknowned makers' works. He built his own ferrules and reel seats. The one common feature of his reel seats was the use of flat threads that keep the screwlock from binding on the reel foot. It is estimated he produced approimately 400 rods in his career.

By 1946 Omar decided to leave Orvis; three years later he returned to Maine and bought Quimby Pond Camps in Rangeley. For the next twenty-five years he ran the camps, tied flies, built rods, and served as a fishing guide until the time of his death in 1975.

On display at the Museum is a cornucopia of objects from the Omar Needham collection: flies tied by well- known tyers of the period and displayed on driftwood; plastic boxes, fly books, wooden box envelopes filled with Needham flies; a hand-drawn fly signed "Austin Hogan"; and sundry rodmaking objects from a lifetime of devo- tion. CRAIG THOMAS

Photograph by Cook Neilson S U M M E R 1994 l9

N O T E S & C O M M E N T

O N E O F T H E F A V O R I T E graphic re- sources of this Museum's two-person publishing operation is the paperback that Art Director Randall Perkins keeps by her desktop publishing center called 1800 Woodcuts by Thomas Bewick and His School. In this well-thumbed volume re- side many of the line illustrations we've chosen to enliven numerous articles in The American Fly Fisher. We turn to Thomas Bewickj work because he adds to our pages the vision of life a century or two ago, as well as a warmth about that era's domesticity and the natural world around it that remains telling all these years later. And, not-in-the-least, because the work is copyright free!

Member Jeff Norton briefly profiles the Newcastle-upon-Tyne artist Thomas Be- wick (1753-1828) whose somewhat ideal- ized imagery of rural England reflects the country of his childhood, which he described as "altogether a paradise to me."

EDITOR

E A D E R S o F The American Fly Fisher are familiar with Thomas RB ewick's engravings for they ap-

pear frequently in these pages as spot art, usually quite small, rarely more than 3 inches wide. The illustration on the following page of the cat stealing part of the day's catch is typical.

What makes Bewick's engravings so distinctive, and so regularly reprinted almost zoo years after they were origi-

nally created, is their delicacy and shad- ing and the fact that they seem to capture a split-second frieze of action. Quite unlike the static vignettes produced by all of his predecessors and most of his successors, each of Bewick's engravings has a story to tell.

A major reason Bewick wood-block illustrations surpassed all those that had gone before him lies in the fact that he practically invented "wood engraving." Others who preceded him had produced "wood cuts," which were produced by cutting and gouging with the grain of the wood. This made it almost impossible to produce fine lines and

shaded cross-hatching. However, Be- wick discovered that if he turned the block he could produce very fine work on the end grain. Illustrations produced from these end-grain blocks are called "wood engravings."

Almost all Bewick's wood engravings were made from boxwood, the hardest and most finely grained of all wood. Fi- nal thickness of his blocks exactly equalled the height of the printing type (about an inch). Therefore, the block could be integrated with the type and the whole page printed at the same time, something not possible with the copper and steei engravings used previ-

Thomas Bewick Wood Engraver

by Jeffrey Norton

THE A S G L E R AND THE L I T T L E FISH.

A N Angler canglit a small Trout, and as lie was taking it off the hook, and going to put i t into his Inskct, it opened it3 little throat, and begged most pitcously that hc would throw it into the river again. The man demandcil what reason it had to expect this indulgence? Why, says the Fish, because I am so young and so little, that it is not worth your while taking me now, and certainly I shall be better worth your notice, if you take me a tWelvemor~th afterwards, ~rlieii I shall be grown a great deal larger. That ]nay bc, replied the Angler, but I am sure of you now; and I am not one of those who quit a certainty in expcctntion of an unccl Lninty.


From The Fables ofAesop (1818)

8 I FABLES. I APPLICATION.

THEY who neglect the present opportmlity of reap- ing a snlall advantage, in the hope that they shall obtain a greater afterwards, are far from acting upon a reasonable and well advised foundation. W e ought never thus to deceive ourselves, and suffer the favour- able moment to slip away; but secure to ourselves every fair advantage, however small, at the moment that it offers, without placing a vain reliance upon the visionary expectation of something better in time to come. Prudence advises us always to lay hold of time by the forelock, and to remember that b L a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

Above: Portrait of Thomas Bewick. Lefi: Reproduction of a leaf from the original edition of Bewick's The Fables of Aesop, 1818. As the fable reveals, apparently neither Aesop nor Bewick were believers in catch-and-release.

ously. This meant that attractive well-illustrated books could be vroduced cheaply and priced for sale to the mass- es. As a result, Mr. Bewick and his work became known and readily recognized throughout England.

Bewick's most widely known works are two books, The General History of Quadrupeds (1790) and the two-volume The History of British Birds (1797 and 1804). However, he produced countless (literally) illustrations that appear as vignettes and tail vieces in hundreds of " other books. It was from these that it is possible to select angling illustrations because Bewick never produced the

work he had planned for many years, The History of British Fishes. That project, in fact, was left to be done by William Yarrell in 1836 using the skills of two of Bewick's most skilled appren- tices.

Thomas Bewick had been an angler and fly fisher most of his life. He had much to say about his angling interests and angling philosophy in his Memoirs, first published in 1862. But no coarse fisher he: in 1818 Bewick produced an edition of The Fables of Aesop, one of which is reproduced on the preceeding page. The Bewick version begins "An angler caught a small Trout. . . ." The

same fable in the classic edition of Aesop by Samuel Croxall (1722) starts with, "A Man was angling in a River and caught a small Pearch. . . ."

After years of referring to him as "Thomas Bee-Wick," I was abashed to learn from a very gentlemanly British book dealer that he really was "Mr. Buick." This was another demonstration that most Americans do rather poorly with British names (for example, the well-known nineteenth-century angling author H. Cholmondeley-Pennell is properly pronounced "Chumly-Pennell" and author John Coloquhoun is "John Colune").

The most accessible collection of Be- wick's angling illustrations appears in a lovely book by David Lank titled Once- Upon-A-Tyne. This was produced in 1977 for the Atlantic Salmon Association in a numbered and signed limited edition of 1,000 copies. -

S U M M E R 1994 21

L E T T E R S

to you for your noble efforts to keep alive the knowledge of the past masters of these crafts and to help them in their own insight of historical perspective.

Ronald Lewis, President Green Mountain Fly Tyers Club

Brandon, Vermont

From President Bush

Days On the Stream I am one of the Museum members

that is not prominent but I have been "with" the Museum from day one, first as a viewer, as a member, and as a contributor of books and fly-fishing memo- rabilia. I am a bit ashamed that till now I have never written to express my thanks and great admiration for such a great organization that also publishes such a fine magazine.

You may not yet know that as we grow older the memories of yesteryear become ever more precious and it is in that department that the magazine does so well. Hardly an issue goes by that I am not reminded of days on the stream, equipment once owned, and people that I knew well, now mostly having made a transition to another realm that I know must have trout and streams.

What impels this letter at such a late date? Well, on page 16 of the Spring 1994 issue, there is a grammatical error that I learned in a long-forgotten law class should not be tolerated. There is a reference to "signatures of notary publics." Should be notaries public!

Keep up the good work. Don Owen

Tucson, Arizona

Because we wouldn't want any notaries mad at us, our error is so noted and here- by corrected. -ED.

From Down Under I would like to express my apprecia-

tion of the great work the Museum is doing and I look forward to each issue of the journal. In Australia, we expect to have our own Fresh Water Angling Mu- seum sometime next year which will be located at the Salmon Ponds in Tasma- nia. This is a very historic site as it is where the first English trout ova were hatched in 1864.

I would also like you to accept on my behalf, for your library, a complimenta- ry copy of my own book, Angling in Australia: Its History and Writings, which may give you some of the background to how the sport has developed "down under" over the past loo years or so. A

couple of chapters deal with fly fishing, although the definitive history of Aus- tralian fly fishing still needs to be written. I am also currently working on a book on Australian fishing reels as this area of collecting, as in the U.S., is spreading very quickly. Although our Australian heritage of locally made reels only goes back to the turn of the century, it nevertheless includes some very interesting reels designed particularly for Australian conditions.

I wish you well with the Museum. Bob Dunn

Sydney, Australia

A Dog Tale Congratulations on your 25th an-

niversary issue of The American Fly Fisher. Having been a member for most of those twenty-five years, and having copies of every issue of your fine magazine, I really enjoyed reminiscing about some of these articles from years past. Now for the bad news. Before I could read everything, my dog chewed off part of the cover and corners of all pages. Why did she choose this magazine from a pile of several? Who knows?

In any event, so that my complete run of TAFF will remain intact and I can finish reading the anniversary issue, could you please send me another copy?

Ed Collins Wilton, Connecticut

Although this letter was received over a year ago and we're just publishing it now, please rest assured that we promptly replaced Mr. Collins's copy. We never heard the fate of the dog.-ED.

Past Masters Are Appreciated At this time I wish to thank you for

your continued support of our club's endeavors. We certainly have been blessed with a sterling group of individuals who deservedly have established our club among the finest in the North- east. The Museum's contributions to help maintain the rich history of fly fishing and fly-tying knowledge for future generations have always been en- lightening and noteworthy. Every member of our club is profoundly indebted

The Museum recently presented President Bush with a new Orvis fly rod and received the following self-typed letter as thanks.

That sensational fly rod is here now. I can't believe how special it is. We leave for Maine in about ten days, and, believe me, the rod will be at my side.

It is perfect in every way and I thank you from the bottom of this fisherman's heart.

George Bush Houston, Texas

More Congratulations on Accreditation 1 want to extend my personal con-

gratulations to you, your staff, and the directors of the Museum for the accreditation received from the American As- sociation of Museums and also for the Award of Excellence received from the Vermont Museum and Gallery Alliance.

These accomplishments are very meaningful to me as a member of the Museum and as a lifelong affiliate of the fly-fishing industry.

The membership can well be proud of what has been accomplished by all concerned. May your success continue.

Harold Demarest President, Charles Demurest, Inc.

Bloomingdale, New Jersey

Congratulations and best wishes to you on receiving accreditation from the American Association of Museums! May the coming year be even more eventful and exciting for a most deserving group of people.

Mary and Alan Fried Livingston Manor, New York

My congratulations to you on receiving accreditation from the American Association of Museums. A great honor for a great museum.

Peter Kriendler New York, New York

I was pleased to learn of the Muse- um's accreditation. I know how much superb effort went into your qualifymg.

Don Flint Chesterfield, Missouri


I N M E M O R I A M

Ed Zern

Photograph by Sandra TVeiner S U M M E R 1994 23

1910

F I S H E R M E N are born hon- est, but they get over it, Ed Zern wrote. No one could

ever accuse Ed of not having got- ten over it. For more than seventy years he brought an irreverent voice to the sporting world as well as the world of advertising. His sardonic eye searched for and found humor everywhere; after reading a Zern piece if you didn't exit laughing, you at least left with a chuckle. As a storyteller, on the page or on the podium, he was without peer.

"He is the ultimate court jester. He is a Mark Twain, a Ring Lard- ner, an Irwin S. Cobb - all rolled into an incredible character who

1994

ing from A to Zern, the last of seven books he wrote. His first, To Hell With Fishing, published in 1945, sold several hundred thou- sand copies.

In November 1959, his first "Exit Laughing" column appeared in Field ei. Stream magazine and continued for more than thirty years.

Though he was best known as an outdoor humorist, Ed was an exceptionally skilled hunter and fisherman. His pursuit of those sports took him to thirty-four countries on five continents. He was also a sometime landscape painter and flamenco guitarist. Along with all that, Ed was a dedicated conservationist, a dedica-

looked into every corner of outdoor States, he went to work as a copywriter tion that was reflected in affiliation with sport and found mirth in it all!" That at the N. W. Ayer advertising agency in numerous conservation-oriented organ- was written about Ed Zern some years Philadelphia. izations. Among them were the Atlantic ago and no more fitting epitaph could He carried his sense of irreverence Salmon Federation, the Boone & Crock- be found. For centuries the sporting over into his work as an advertising et Club, the Explorers Club, and the world, and particularly the insular copywriter. Ever the iconoclast, he shat- American Museum of Fly Fishing, for world of fly fishing, was cloaked in a tered the mold of advertising which which he served as a conscientious shroud of solemnity; in his world noth- held that the product and the sponsor trustee for more than ten years. He was ing was sacred and everything was good were sacrosanct. To poke fun at either active in establishing both Trout Unlim- for a laugh. bordered on blasphemy. Ed broke with ited and the Federation of Flyfishers. He

On March 25, 1994, that irreverent tradition by kidding both the product was a founder and the first president of voice was stilled forever when he died of and the sponsor, thus introducing hu- the Theodore Gordon Flyfishers in 1962 Parkinson's disease at eighty-three. mor into the world of advertising. Hu- and received its Arnold Gingrich Liter-

Edward G. Zern was born in West mor in advertising has since become ary Heritage Award. In 1954 he created a Virginia in 1910, but grew up in western more commonplace, but at that time it major conservation award for the Amer- Pennsylvania. He caught his first trout brought gasps of incredulity. ican Motors Company, a program he di- in West Virginia's Cheat River, a battling Subsequently, he made his way to rected until shortly before his death. 5-inch brook trout he intended for his New York and the B. F. Gyer agency. Ed lived in Scarsdale, New York, for supper, but unfortunately lost on his There, in 1950, he created a series of many years. His wife, Evylen, died a way home. His father, a mining engi- pun-filled advertisements for the Nash number of years ago. He is survived by a neer and a professor of engineering, was automobile. For those ads, he wrote the son, Brook, a daughter, Erica, a brother, a keen sportsman who passed that love copy, illustrated them with cartoons he Gordon, two granddaughters, and his along to his son, but it would be a good drew, and signed each one (until then cherished companion Sandra Weiner. many years before Ed would fish for also unheard of in advertising). The rea- Ed will be remembered for many trout again. son he did that, he explained, was to things, but mainly as the all-time ego-

After graduating from Penn State make it clear that the ads were created deflator, the champion of reminding the College in 1932 Ed went to Paris with the by an individual and not some faceless world not to be serious about unserious intent of writing a novel. Within four corporation. The campaign ran success- things. He put fun back into things that months, before even the first chapter fully for nine years, during which he are always supposed to be that way, but was completed, his money ran out and created more than loo of the ads. Some get mixed up when people lose their he left Paris to work as a merchant sea- of the more memorable ones were later perspective sometimes. man for a year. Back in the United collected in his book Hunting and Fish- JOE A. PISARRO

Museum

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l . \ i i ' R i ~ ~ i O S > n l ,\ lA(:tS liiiir I - iVoi,enibo 2r, r a n i

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A*.. . . * * R . 2 ....... "Evening Mist"

by Chet Reneson (27" x 21 ")

"Time On the Water" by John Swan (26" x 20")

X "An Artist's Creel"

"Water, Sky, & Time" by Peter Corbin (26" x 23") by Adriano Manocchia (25" x 22")

Please make checks payable to AMFF and send to PO. Box 42, Manchester, VT 05254 Telephone orders: 802-362-3300. Mastercard, Visa, and American Express accepted. $3 postage and handling for first item, $1 for each additional item.

S U M M E R 1994 25

The American Museum of Fly Fishing Box 42, Manchester,Vermont 05254 Tel: 802-362-3300

J O I N ! Membership Dues (per annum*)

Associate* $25 Sustaining* $50 Benefactor $100 Patron* $250 Sponsor* $500 Corporate* $1,000 Life $1,500

Membership dues include the cost of a subscription ($20) to The American Fly Fisher. Please send your application to the membership secretary and include your mailing address. The Museum is a member of the American Association of Museums, the American Association of State and Local History, the New England Association of Museums, the Vermont Museum and Gallerv Alliance, and the International Association of Sports Museums and Halls of Fame. We are a nationally accredited, nonprofit, educational institution chartered under the laws of the state of Vermont.

S U P P O R T ! As an independent, nonprofit institution, the American Museum of Fly Fishing relies on the generosity of public-spirited individuals for substantial support. We ask that you give our museum serious consideration when plan- ning for gifts and bequests.

V I S I T ! Summer hours (May 1 through October 31) are 10 to 4. Winter hours (Novem- ber 1 through April 30) are weekdays 10 to 4. We are closed on major holidays.

B A C K I S S U E S ! Available at $4 per copy:

Volume 6, Numbers 1,2,3,4 Volume 7, Numbers 2,3 Volume 8, Number 3 Volume 9, Numbers 1,2,3 Volume lo, Number 2 Volume 11, Numbers 1,2,3,4 Volume 12, Number 3 Volume 13, Number 3 Volume 15, Number 2 Volume 16, Numbers 1, 2,3 Volume 17, Numbers 1,2,3 Volume 18, Numbers 1,2,4 Volume 19, Numbers 1,2,3,4 Volume 20, Numbers 1,2

by Donald S. Johnson E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R

Key Largo DinnerIAuction A Success

The warmth of breezes blowing off the bay, palm trees, a historic club, and a veranda under which presidents have sipped cool drinks and watched the tide come in: the Key Largo Angler's Club was the idyllic setting for the Museum's first ever Key Largo DinnerIAuction on March 24,1994.

It was a highly successful venue for the Museum, thanks to the efforts of a host of good friends and a strong committee that included Trustee Tom Davidson as chair and Richard T. Farmer and Joel Shepherd. Total gross proceeds for the event topped $60,000.

The highlight of the evening came when the fly rod and a box of flies do- nated bv former President George Bush

my Carter and First Lady Rosalyn Carter) was made possible by Key Largo committee member Richard Farmer, a personal friend of Mr. Bush. The gift was formally accepted by Museum Vice President Arthur Stern.

Special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Tom Davidson and all the wonderful Muse- um friends who helped make this initial event in the Keys such a fabulous success.

Cleveland DinnerIAuction Sets New Mark

Congratulations are in order to the Museum's Cleveland DinnerIAuction committee that organized a record-setting dinnerlauction at the Patterson Fruit Farm in Chesterland, Ohio, on April 28,1994.

Though the success of this innovative event- held in a barn replete with hay wagon and horse stalls-was due to the

were prisented to the ~ u s e u m ~ f o r in- efforts of the entire Cleveland commit- clusion in its permanent Presidential tee, special thanks go to longtime com- collection. The donation of these histor- mittee chair and Museum Trustee ically important objects (the Museum Woods King, 111, Trustee Dick Whitney, already holds rods, reels, and assorted Sr. (who was honored during the tackle of presidents Cleveland, Hoover, evening for his exemplary service on the Eisenhower, John Quincy Adams, Jim- Museum's board), and Jo Reynolds and

A great day in February 1994. Revel1 Carr, Coiiznzissioner of the Accredita- tion Comnzittee of the American Association of Museuins (left) looks on as Museum President Wally Murray and Vice-President Arthur Stern present oficial AAM credentials to Executive Director Don Johnson (right).


Claire Paskevich for their dedicated and tireless efforts.

We want to encourage our members and friends to support the Museum by attending one of its all-important din- nerlauctions during the coming year.

Awards Presented at Festival Weekend

As is the Museum's custom, several awards were presented to some highly deserving volunteers at the Museum's Annual Museum Festival weekend June 3 to 5,1994.

The 1993 Joe Pisarro Volunteer of the Year Award was presented to Pamela Bates Richards of Newburyport, Massa- chusetts. Pam, daughter of the late an- glerlwriter ~oloneljoseph D. Bates, has been an active Museum volunteer for the last seven years and has served as a

Margot Page

Pam Bates Richards was the recipient of the 1993 Joe Pisarro Volunteer of the Year Award. Standing with her is her mother, Mrs. Helen Bates.

member of the Museum's Boston dinnerlauction committee for nearly all of that time. In 1993 she succeeded the hard-working Frank Tardo as chair of the Boston committee.

Pam hasn't limited her efforts to our annual Boston fund-raiser. She is the quintessential goodwill ambassador for the Museum and regularly helps staff informational tables at sport shows, at- tends nearly all Museum functions within a 300-mile radius of Newbury- port, and frequently enlists new members and friends for the Museum. We thank her for her distinguished service over the years.

Our 1993 Austin Hogan Award was awarded to Gordon M. Wickstrom of Boulder, Colorado. The Hogan Award was first established in 1985 "to honor the memory of Austin Hogan and awarded annually to that person who makes the most significant contribution to the Museum's journal, The American Fly Fisher, founded by the Museum and Austin Hogan in 1974."

Gordon is a professor of drama, emeritus, at Franklin and Marshall Col- lege in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. "W. B. Yeats and the Fly," the latest of his many contributions to The American Fly Fish- er, appeared in the Spring 1994 issue.

Museum Nets Major Collections

We are pleased to announce that the Museum has recently acquired two significant and historically valuable collections through the generosity of Hoagy B. Carmichael and Donald Phillipson.

Mr. Carmichael's gift of twelve su-

Longtime Museum supporters David Mc- Clellan, Krista and Bob McClellan, with young David ashoulder.

perb Everett Garrison rods will enable the Museum to eventually exhibit what Jim Brown, author of the Museum's A Treasury of Reels and one of our most knowledgeable angling historians, has called "the finest historical collection of Garrison rods ever assembled." Included in this outstanding collection are the Garrison rods once owned and used by such fly-fishing notables as Dr. George Parker Holden (author of Idyll of the Split Bamboo), the legendary Sparse Grey Hackle, John Alden Knight, and Otto Kienbusch. These rods will one day be exhibited at the Museum and in its traveling exhibitions.

Mr. Phillipson has presented the Mu- seum with a generous gift of rods, reels, and ephemera from the personal collection of his father, the late Bill Phillipson, founder of the famed Phillipson Rod Company of Denver, Colorado. We are

S U M M E R 1994 27

particularly excited about this gift because it affords our staff the opportunity to prepare an exhibition that will ex- amine not only the life and times of Bill Phillipson, but the history of his trend- setting Denver-based rod company as well.

The Museum is deeply grateful and highly honored to be able to add these exceptional gifts to its permanent collections.

"Hemingway's Michigan" Trip Planned for 1995

If you've ever read Hemingway's Big Two-Hearted River or any of his classic Nick Adams stories, and have wanted to fish some of the same waters the famed

From Papa Hemingway (1966)

1 Michigan" during the summer of 1995. We have only begun to lay the early

groundwork for this exciting venture, but we know that we will be visiting several rivers immortalized by the Nobel Prize-winning author, including the Fox, Hemingway's "big two-hearted river." Special guest speakers are being in- vited and a Hemingway dinner is also being planned. And, of course, plenty of time will be built into the trip for our guests to explore Hemingway country.

Look for further details on this unique Museum-sponsored educational offering in the months ahead. Those

author fished, or visit some of the members and friends interested in jour- Michigan locales mentioned in his time- neying with Executive Director Don less writing, then sign on to our Muse- Johnson to Michigan in 1995 should um-sponsored trip to "Hemingway's contact him at 802-362-3300.

C O N T R I B U T O R S

Jeffrey Norton is a publisher who lives in Guilford, Connecticut. His company ~roduces self-instructional audio-cas- sette courses in ninety-one languages. Obtaining new materials to publish has provided him with many opportunities to fish in interesting places, including Zimbabwe, Tasmania, and the former Yugoslavia. A book collector for many years, he bought his first Compleat Angler while in college, which led in time to the acquisition of a delightful Angler by wood engraver Joseph Crawhall, which led to collecting all of Crawhall's works, which led in time to collecting the works of Thomas Bewick, Crawhall's predecessor and fellow resi- dent of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which led to an overflowing home library.

Museum member Ray R. Smith is an angler and fly dresser from Fort Collins, Colorado. He teaches fly tying locally and has demonstrated tying for the Federation of Fly Fishers and for Trout Unlimited. Ray enjoys early angling literature and collecting older trout flies and Atlantic salmon flies. His interest in fly-tying techniques and early fly styles inspired him to reproduce antique salmon hooks and to dye materials using the old methods.

Charles Steinhacker of Wilton, Con- necticut, is a noted landscape, wildlife, and fine arts photographer. He is best known for his largeIfo;mat photographic books and as an assignment photographer for National Geographic, Life, Audubon, and many other maga- zines. He has taught photography and exhibited his photo-graphs throughout the United States. Last year he formed a company called Classic Images that specializes in reprinting famous art- work. As its first project the company has produced reprints of the four favorite Denton fishes: Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Striped Bass, and Bluefish. Steinhacker is currently at work on a limited-edition book entitled The Fish Prints of S. F. Denton, a two-volume portfolio which will collect all of the Denton fish prints.


From Fishicians bv Walter DeForest Dav 118651. unoublished original manuscriot

A Life Commitment

I T WAS G R A T I F Y I N G to See SO many of our friends-trustees, staff members, and, perhaps most impor-

tantly, volunteers - recognized on these pages during 1993, the Museum's 25th anniversary year. As I have said before, the very essence - the life force - of any organization, especially one like our Museum that is growing rapidly, is its volunteers.

We felt it time to pay tribute to a sin- gularly distinguished component of our

volunteer complement that, at least heretofore, has received very little recognition - the Museum's Life Members. Each and every one of these individuals has, at one time or another, made a life commitment to the Museum, deciding that it is an organization with a future and a mission worthy of substantial support. Herewith, we proudly publish a full listing of these very special friends.

We hope that many of you will, in the days and weeks to come, consider join-

ing the ranks of our Life Members, or give thoughtful consideration to up- grading your current membership cate- gory. Increased member support is ob- viously necessary if the Museum is to continue to grow, evolve, and expand its educational mission. Of one thing we are certain, your commitment and con- fidence in this exciting organization will not be misplaced. Our thanks!

DONALD S. JOHNSON EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

P. J. Baugh Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr. Erik Bedford Heidi Bedford Kay Brodney Hamilton Budge Mark Canfield Thomas Clark Hugh Corrigan James R. Dalziel John C. Dorn John D. Drinko Cliff Fitzgerald

Michael Fitzgerald John and Lynn Foster Tim Foster Arthur T. Frey George F. Fry, Jr. Vernon E. Gallup Patrick Gilligan David L. Glaesser Francis Goelet Gardner L. Grant Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Hicklin Gordon Hine Herman C. Hittenberger

Robert J. Hoback Art Kaemmer John Kiely Edward D. Landels William Levy John J. Louis James F. McCloud Henry P. McIntosh Payne McIntosh Dr. W. Harrison Mehn David D. Perkins Leigh H. Perkins Perk and Randall Perkins

Romi Perkins 0. Miles Pollard Dean E. Richardson John Schlesinger Stephen Sloan Arthur and Ellen Stern James S. Taylor Stuart W. Tisdale Dickson L. Whitney George Widener Pete Widener Earl Worsham

THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OP FLY FISHING, a nationally accredited, nonprofit, educational institution dedicated to preserving the rich heritage of fly fishing, was founded in Manchester, Vermont, in 1968. The Museum serves as a repository for, and conservator to, the world's largest collection of angling and angling-related objects. The Museum's collections and exhibits provide the public with thorough documentation of the evolution of fly fishing as a sport, art form, craft, and industry in the United States and abroad from the sixteenth century to the present. Rods, reels, and flies, as well as tackle, art, books, manuscripts, and photographs form the major components of the Museum's collections.

The Museum has gained recognition as a unique educational institution. It supports a publications program through which its national quarterly journal, The American Fly Fisher, and books, art prints, and catalogs are regularly offered to the public. The Muse- um's traveling exhibits program has made it possible for educational exhibits to be viewed across the United States and abroad. The Museum also provides in-house exhibits, related interpretive programming, and research services for members, visiting scholars, authors, and students.

The Museum is an active, member-oriented nonprofit institution. For information please contact: The American Museum of Fly Fishing, P. 0. Box 42, Manchester, Vermont 05254,802-362-3300.

Documents

Victorian For - American Museum of Fly Fishing · Fly tyers Gary Borkowski and Bill Chandler demon- strate their skill during the open house. Victorian For A Day w E T H o u GH you'd