173 - EIGHT RARE VICTORIAN SALMON FLIES

EIGHT RARE VICTORIAN SALMON FLIES Displayed without a modern black-background frame: 26 x 39 cm. In the center is a reproduction of a 1555 woodcut depicting the head of a bearded salmon (from Pierre Belon du Mans’ book on the Nature & Diversity of Fish, reproduced on the back of the frame). Eight rare, very large Victorian salmon flies (sizes 4/0 to 8/0), most of which have never been used, tied between 1890 and 1930. All named on the back of the frame: “fully dressed,” including: Greenwell Fancy, Eagle Traherne, Durham Ranger, Silver Arndilly, Durham Kelson, Eagle Namsen, Red Sandy, Alta Elva. Scotland, circa 1880–1910. All specimens predate the convention. Note “Victorian” flies—which date from the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901)—were used from the second half of the 19th century onward for salmon fishing, primarily in Scotland, but also in Ireland and Norway. Their very delicate construction required hours of patience. At that time, labor was inexpensive, and the feathers from exotic birds—necessary for their manufacture—arrived in large quantities in the luggage of travelers and officers of the Empire. Provenance Private French collection.