First Edition: 101 pages, frontispiece portrait of the author, illustrated with photographs and sketches, original brown cloth titled gilt on the upper cover and spine and a leaping trout blind stamped on the upper cover, very good copy.
Bradlow (Frank R. Bradlow) The Nine Earliest South African Books on Trout Fishing (Piscator No.89, Summer 1973/4), page 109, 'This book, the sixth trout-fishing book dealing with South Africa, and probably the fifth to be printed and published in this country. Written in rather pedantic Victorian prose, this book was to arouse the ire of the famous "Kingfisher", Fred Bowker, because of Reid's suggestion that the Eerste River rainbows were anadromous, and that many had "been to the sea or estuary and it is well known that many have been taken by the fishermen's nets in False Bay and offered for sale in Somerset Strand" (page 72).
'In his opening chapter, Reid, in ponderous prose, writes, "May I therefore premise by assuring the reader that I desire to abstain from all dogmatic propositions and offer every apology to those experienced anglers who may disagree with my opinions". Fred Bowker was certainly one of those who disagreed, as we shall see. The book consists of 101 pages in all, plus preliminaries, and has 21 photographic illustrations and two line drawings. The 51 chapters are short, mainly instructional and descriptive, with some thoughts on "anglers one meets", "overgrown streams", "wind and weather" and other subjects.
'Despite its pedantic style it must have been of assistance to beginners and other anglers. Incidentally, this book, too, is excessively rare, and the only two copies I know of are the one I own and the one owned by A.C.H.'
Curtis (Paul) Fishing Wider Margins, A History and Bibliography of Angling in Africa, Platanna Press, 2015, pages 88, 'Fred Bowker, the Cape's guru fisherman of the time, who wrote under the pseudonym Kingfisher, certainly disagreed with Reid's opinions and indeed quite vehemently so. He wrote the next book, A Trout Fisher in South Africa, largely as a response to Reid's assertion about the sea going trout.
'Trout and Angling in South Africa is also an extremely rare book. The copy Dr Bradlow had was one of only two he knew about, the other belonged to A. C. Harrison, Secretary of the Cape Piscatorial Society.'
- Overall Condition: Very good
- Size: 8vo (220 x 140 mm)
