New Discovery of Early Fishing Text by Monk

Word has been circulating of an early angling text discovered by Maggs Bros. Ltd. of London. The text takes the form of notes bound in the back of a prayer book belonging to a Benedictine monk in Austria. The notes possibly date to 1450’s or 1460’s. The purpose of the notes are not clear, but they contain information on artificial flies and fishing. If the attributed dates are correct, the notes predate “The Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle.”

As mentioned in the Game Fisher’s Diary episode below, the notes are similar to the text identified as Tegernseer Angel- und Fishbucklein, dating to approximately 1500. This latter text was probably created as a guide to fishers employed by Benedictine monks of Tegernsee Abbey, in Bavaria, to procure meat. You can learn more about the newly discovered text by watching linked video; it features a visit by Rae Borras to Maggs, where he discusses the text with Jonathan Reilly. The text, by the way, will cost you in the neighborhood of £125,000. (currently $184,264.22) to purchase.

This entry was posted on March 13, 2015 at 2:51 PM and is filed under Environmental Literature, Fishing and Religion, Fly Fishing Literature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “New Discovery of Early Fishing Text by Monk”

rivertoprambles Says:
March 13, 2015 at 5:13 PM | Reply
As a writer of angling literature, I find this discovery to be absolutely fascinating. Thanks for bringing it to light.

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Kenov Says:
March 13, 2015 at 10:45 PM | Reply
Hopefully, whoever buys this will allow facsimiles and translations to be made.

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Early Fishing Text | MidCurrent Says:
March 21, 2015 at 2:31 AM | Reply
[…] fly pattern recipes was recently discovered by antiquarian bookseller, Maggs Bros. Ltd. of London. Read more and view a video of the manuscript via The Literary Fly […]

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Thanks and Wonder | The Literary Fly Fisher Says:
October 4, 2015 at 3:10 PM | Reply
[…] to do with the earliest history of our sport.” He continues on to discuss fifteenth century Breviary of Leonardus Haslinger, about which I wrote some time […]

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billrulandci Says:
February 21, 2016 at 8:44 AM | Reply
Reblogged this on bruland3wordpresscom and commented:
This is truly an amazing story. As we approach the creeks of our lives, we are joining a brotherhood that stretches back over at least 550 years.

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Yale acquires Haslinger Breviary | The Literary Fly Fisher Says:
January 17, 2017 at 8:34 PM | Reply
[…] dating to between 1452 and 1462, was first publicized last year by Magg Bros. Ltd of London. I wrote about it when it was in their […]

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