I go a-Fishing by Dr. W.C.  Prime (1873), Fishing with the Fly by C.F.  Orvis, A. Nelson Cheney and others (1883), The American Salmon Fisherman and Fly Rods and Fly Tackle by H.P.  Wells (1886 and 1885), Little Rivers and other books by the Rev. H. Van Dyke—­these are only a few specially distinguished in style and matter.  Germany and France have not contributed so largely to the modern library, but in the first country we find several useful works by Max von dem Borne, beginning with the Handbuch der Angelfischerei of 1875, and there are a good many other writers who have contributed to the subject, while in France there are a few volumes on fishing by different hands.  The most noticeable is M.G.  Albert Petit’s La Truite de riviere (1897), an admirable book on fly-fishing.  As yet, however, though there are many enthusiastic anglers in France, the sport has not established itself so firmly as to have inspired much literature of its own; the same may be said of Germany.

Modern Conditions.—­In the modern history of angling there are one or two features that should be touched upon.  The great increase in the number of fishermen has had several results.  One is a corresponding increase in the difficulty of obtaining fishing, and a notable rise in the value of rivers, especially those which are famed for salmon and trout.  Salmon-fishing now may be said to have become a pastime of the rich, and there are signs that trout-fishing will before long have to be placed in the same exclusive category, while even the right to angle for less-esteemed fish will eventually be a thing of price.  The development is natural, and it has naturally led to efforts on the part of the angling majority to counteract, if possible, the growing difficulty.  These efforts have been directed chiefly in two ways, one the establishment of fishing clubs, the other the adoption of angling in salt water.  The fishing club of the big towns was originally a social institution, and its members met together to sup, converse on angling topics and perhaps to display notable fish that they had caught.  Later, however, arose the idea that it would be a convenience if a club could give its members privileges of fishing as well as privileges of reunion.  So it comes about that all over the United Kingdom, in British colonies and dependencies, in the United States, and also in Germany and France, fishing clubs rent waters, undertake preservation and restocking and generally lead an active and useful existence.  It is a good sign for the future of angling and anglers that they are rapidly increasing in number.  One of the oldest fishing clubs, if not the oldest, was the Schuylkill club, founded in Pennsylvania in 1732.  An account of its history was published in Philadelphia in 1830.  Among the earliest clubs in London are to be numbered such societies as The True Waltonians, The Piscatorial, The Friendly Anglers and The Gresham, which are still