A handsome set. A handsome set of the first editions of William Scrope's two most important books, classics in the history of British sporting.

Scrope (1772-1852) was an excellent classical scholar, a keen sportsman, and one of the ablest amateur artists of his time. He painted views in Scotland, Italy, Sicily, and elsewhere, and exhibited occasionally from 1808 at the Royal Academy, and later at the British Institution, of which he was one of the most active directors. He was frequently assisted in his work by William Simson. None the less, Scrope perhaps achieved more general acclaim for his two well-known books, The Art of Deerstalking (1838) and Days and Nights of Salmon-Fishing in the Tweed (1843), each illustrated with plates after Edwin and Charles Landseer, David Wilkie, W. Simson, and others, and each reprinted thrice, up to 1894 and 1921 respectively. Scrope rented a place near Melrose, where he lived on terms of great intimacy with Sir Walter Scott. He was a member of the Accademia di San Luca at Rome, and a fellow of the Linnean Society' (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).

First edition; 2 vols; 8vo (26 x 17 cm); vol one: (Art of Deer Stalking), additional engraved pictorial title, engraved frontispiece, 10 tinted lithographic plates, some light spotting to contents; vol two: (Days and Nights of Salmon Fishing in the Tweed), additional lithographic pictorial title, tinted lithographic frontispiece and 12 plates, contemporary manuscript notes loosely inserted, a few small spots on the fore-edge and margins; both volumes beautifully bound in uniform, elaborately gilt green morocco by Bickers, the original cloth bound in at the rear, grey endpapers, top edges gilt; an excellent set; 436 & 298pp.

Westwood & Satchell, p.191.