Issue #0

Great Fishing Catalogues of the Golden Age

Plot

Here is a marvelously full and nostalgic collection of the most interesting pages from such outstanding old catalogs of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as those of Orvis, Abercrombie & Fitch, Sears Roebuck, Montgomery Ward, William Mills, the House of Hardy, L.L. Bean, and scores of others.Mail-order catalogs were (and still are!) the fisherman's opium. Here - in the fine free frenzy of bygone copywriters' prose - are old rods and reels, Rube Goldberg gadgets brought to market with the blast of trumpets, "African Steel Vine" rods and other absurdities, belt worm-boxes (for some reason labeled in French), and a host of other perfectly delicious items - at deliciously low prices.Great Fishing Tackle Catalogs of the Golden Age is a fascinating look back into the past that is sure to delight anglers young and old. (8 1/2 X 11, 352 pages, b&w reproductions)