Compleat Angler, The

The Compleat Angler, in full The Compleat Angler; or, the Contemplative Man’s Recreation, a pastoral discourse on the joys of fishing by Izaak Walton, first published in 1653. A much enlarged edition appeared in 1655, and the last edition supervised by the author, published in 1676, included additional material by Charles Cotton. This last edition has been among the most often reprinted books in English literature.

The book opens on the first day of May, as three sportsmen—Auceps the fowler, Venator the hunter, and Piscator the fisherman—compare their favoured pastimes while traveling through the English countryside along the River Lea. Venator decides to learn how to fish. Piscator, in the course of a five-day expedition, teaches his friend how to bait a hook and catch several species of freshwater fish and then how to cook them. The discourse is enlivened by more than 40 songs and poems, country folklore, recipes, anecdotes, moral meditations, quotes from the Bible and from classic literature, and lore about fishing and waterways.

The Compleat Angler is based in part on 15th- and 16th-century fishing manuals, and the sections on fly fishing and the making of artificial flies are by Cotton.