3-053-452 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Weighing the fish at a London anglers' club, 1873. 'There are several pleasant institutions, favoured by...worthy middle-aged Londoners of the middle class, which have no worse aim and bond of union than their common pursuit of good old Izaak Walton's river-side pastime... Fish-culture - or pisciculture, if you like that Latin word better - is naturally allied with the emulous zeal of the water-Nimrods to capture the most numerous and largest fish...The walls of a parlour frequented by the assembled members of an Anglers' Club are usually adorned with casts or coloured drawings of the finest fish taken within its jurisdiction; the pictures by Mr. H. L. Rolfe are especially admired. The Piscatorial Society offers to preserve in its permanent collection any specimens above a certain size, which is 10lb. for salmon, 6lb. for Thames trout, 3lb. for other trout, 3lb. for perch, 20lb. for pike, 5lb. for carp, and various proportionate weights for the less important kinds. Prizes are duly awarded to the most successful anglers...[in] recompense of their patient skill. Our Illustration will be viewed with some interest by those who can sympathise with the votaries of a healthful and harmless amusement'. From "Illustrated London News", 1873.