The Compleat Angler

Three friends, a fisherman, a hunter and a falconer, walk out of London along the river Lea on a fine May morning, and the fisherman, Piscator, spends five days teaching the hunter, Venator, the art of angling. Between instructions on catching trout, pike, carp and eels, on baits and on recipes for cooking them, they stop at country inns, sing songs, recite poems, meet milkmaids and praise the quiet, contemplative life.

Izaak Walton (1593–1683), a London ironmonger, published the book in 1653, during the Civil War, and it became one of the most reprinted books in English; his friend Charles Cotton later added a part on fly-fishing. Compare Thoreau's A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers.