HOOKED ON FLOATS 1860-1960 “A COLLECTOR’S COMPANION” by JEFF DELLA MURA

HOOKED ON FLOATS 1860-1960 “A COLLECTOR’S COMPANION” by JEFF DELLA MURA

£189.99

Out of stock

Description

In very good condition.

Vintage fishing floats are becoming hard to find and are increasingly expensive. Sure indicators that interest and the need for knowledge are growing. Hooked on Floats is a timely arrival. The book is not a direct history of floats, nor is it a treatise on their design or use. It is intended as a collector’s companion and features much-needed identification and chronology sourced from numerous makers’ catalogues.

Hooked on Floats is focused on fishing floats dating from 1860 to 1960, the period from which most material can be found. Though it is primarily concerned with British floats the book also takes a meandering tour of some select international examples.

The bulk of the floats shown in Hooked on Floats are from the author’s collection. He has been absorbed by angling’s most humble artefact for more than a decade and was anointed in one radio broadcast as England’s most obsessive float collector. But there are other, like-minded souls. Indeed the opening chapter offers the personal reflections of a number of float enthusiasts – some being very familiar names in the world of angling – who share their memories, their thoughts and their favourites.

One determined ambition is that the book should visually entertain. Rather than rely upon dry illustrations lifted from vintage catalogues or patent drawings it has been designed around quality photography of real floats – of wood grain, of ageing paint, and even of repairs. Consequently, most of the pictures show floats in a realistic condition. The aim is to invoke a sense of nostalgic connection – to enable a metaphoric handshake with an angler or float maker who may be long gone.

Throughout the book, much care has been taken to keep the visual pace fresh and to include pleasurable context in the form of angling memorabilia, vintage packaging, tackle shop photographs, old postcards, trade graphics and so on. Hooked on Floats will appeal to anyone who remembers that crystalline moment when for the very first time their own float disappeared from view – and in so doing, sowed a seed that influenced a lifetime.