Print collector's quarterly (12.1925)

foxhunt on foot, at first with confident high spirits, next
with stitches in their sides and cramp in their legs, and
then with gin and ginger beer at a cosy inn by the
wayside.
There are beaten paths for collectors of other sporting
prints. The most frequented one follows the hounds
through history. After travelling along these old
pathways with great enjoyment, I have unbounded
admiration for their present-day master of hounds,
Mr. C. F. G. R. Schwerdt, whose collection of proofs
and books, all in a “ mint ” state, is certainly unique,
single in excellence and more extensive than any other.
But it is a collection which only a man of wealth, with
enough knowledge and judgment, could achieve little
by little, when aided from year to year, in many
countries, by agents chosen with great care. Angling
also needs wealth, if you wish to own rare prints in
first-edition copies of coveted books ; but reprint
editions illustrated with process blocks are good enough
for small incomes.
Fishing prints have never been hunted by a hue and
cry. They are not seen anywhere in large enough
numbers to attract much attention, but every second-
hand shop where books and prints are offered for sale,
no matter how small, is worth visiting. As I happen
to be the only writer who has devoted a great deal of
time and care to the study of British angling prints,
drawings, and pictures, my aim in this article is to
choose a sufficient number of hints to aid the new
generations of collectors, who must not allow themselves
to be outflanked by American competition.
British sporting prints preserve from age to age a
record of the customs and costumes and manners which

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