A very good clean hardback in very slightly shelf-worn dust-wrapper. Dust-wrapper has a couple of small scratches to the front panel and some very minor fading to the rear panel but is otherwise clean, bright and presentable.
First edition, first printing.
2004 1st edition. Large 4to (224 x 287mm). Ppviii,160. Colour and b/w photographs, colour and b/w illustrations. Blue-green boards, spine titled in gilt.
Pictures show the actual copy being offered for sale.
A good book on Spey flies, Dee flies and related classic salmon fly patterns. This is the increasingly hard-to-find hardback first printing. Includes a history of the fly patterns, recipes for 160 dressings along with a few step-by-step tying instructions with good clear colour photographs. Recommended to anyone with an interest in salmon fly-tying.
"The Spey and Dee patterns that originated in Scotland are among the oldest salmon flies, dating back more than 150 years. Since the 1970s, these classic designs have enjoyed a rebirth of popularity among salmon and steelhead anglers. 'To many of us,' Bob Veverka writes in Spey Flies, 'these are the most elegant and graceful of all flies.' His reverence for his subject comes through on every page of this extraordinary book. Pattern lovers will find much to enjoy here, including more than 160 dressings, but Spey Flies provides more than a collection of recipes. Veverka furnishes a detailed history of Spey and Dee patterns and their place in the literature of salmon fishing. The chapter on materials is perhaps the most exhaustive and useful treatment of salmon-fly ingredients yet written, loaded with insights gleaned from decades of tying. This chapter alone makes Spey Flies worth owning; its descriptions of salmon-fly materials will quickly become a standard reference for all those who tie salmon or steelhead flies. In six chapters devoted to patterns and tying methods for Spey, Dee, Don, Eagle, Steelhead Spey, and related patterns, Spey Flies takes the reader through each step of constructing these complex, rakish flies. Superb photos and color plates by Michael Radencich illustrate Veverka's tying instructions and notes. The special challenges of tying Spey and Spey-style flies - winding the long body hackles, wrapping the collars, mounting the unique wings, finding substitute materials no longer available - are explained and solved. Nothing is left out; Spey Flies covers the entire range of patterns, from such classic dressings as the Lady Caroline and Gled Wing to the Orange Heron and Sol Duc steelhead flies of Syd Glasso to a number of contemporary flies. Although the original patterns from the River Spey and River Dee have fathered a large, varied, and ever-growing family, a common theme ties all these flies together. 'The essence of the Spey style remains the same,' Bob Veverka writes: 'a body of silk and fur; a long, mobile body hackle; low-set wings; and a small, neat head.' Thanks to Spey Flies, fly tiers can now master the intricacies of tying these elegant, graceful, and historic patterns." (Publisher's blurb).
Contents include:- Foreword; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Spey fly history; Materials; Spey patterns; Dee patterns; River Don patterns; Eagle patterns; Spey-type patterns; Steelhead Spey patterns; Material sources; Bibliography; Index.