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Coigney, Rodolphe L.
Izaak Walton A New Bibliography 1653-1987.
Publisher: James Cummins, New York;
Date of Publication: 1989
Stock Code: 10335
FIRST EDITION. Copy EE, SIGNED by the Author and one of only five “Ad Hominem” copies with five original leaves from the 1653 first edition of “The Compleat Angler”, from an edition limited to 531 copies only. Quarto, pp. xix, [1], 434. Colour frontispiece of Walton’s house and 26 monochrome plates. Full vellum with gilt titles to spine and upper board, top edge gilt and others uncut, and marbled endpapers. The 1653 leaves are H1, H2, H3, H6 and H7 (pp. 97-100 and 197-110) with marginal annotation in a contemporary hand; the leaves are loosely inserted in a card folder. Leaves folder and book are housed together in the original red cloth drop-back box with gilt titles to spine and monogram to upper board. A Fine copy with the copy number and Author’s signature to limitation leaf to rear. Lower corner of lower board of box bruised otherwise also Fine. Exceptionally comprehensive volume by Walton collector, author and keen angler Rodolphe Coigney, and the standard work on the subject, covering all editions of Walton’s book, the Lives, catalogues and other reference works. Coigney (1911-2001) was a Parisian wartime hero who amongst other acts of bravery managed to steal German stamps and papers which enabled resistance fighters and refugees to leave the Nazi occupied zone, and who helped to persuade Himmler to release French women from the concentration camp at Ravensbruck. Awarded the Croix de Guerre, Coigney later worked with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency, and headed the World Health Organisation’s New York office. £2000.00