An Angler at Large/Dedicatory Letter
Dear H. T. S.,
It is a commonplace that there are too many books on angling.
My instinct, therefore, is to follow the established custom of authors who write on that subject, and hypocritically to apologise for what I have done.
But gratitude compels me to dedicate the Angler at Large to you, the man the most truly, though perhaps not the most conspicuously, responsible for its appearance. For lacking your encouragements (of which this book is the most direct fruit), very possibly I had been still floundering clueless in the labyrinth of Conveyancing Law, and employing my pen upon the infinitely discreditable labour of storing up trouble for the harmless unborn children of inoffensive clients. You have done more than any twenty men (though less than one woman) to save me from this misery and infamy, and I hold myself bound publicly to testify my obligation.
You are, then, the natural dedicatee of this book.
But if I follow the custom which I have mentioned—if, that is to say, I apologise for adding to our prodigious list of Angling books, what kind of a compliment do I pay you, upon whom responsibility must so seriously fall? I should be slighting your taste most villainously.
I decline, therefore, to follow that custom. I do not apologise for the Angler at Large, I prefer to say that the book is a good book, and that I congratulate the public on its appearance. I do not hesitate to own that it is a book which I am glad to possess; that I am sure it is one which a great number of people ought to buy—if only to give it instantly away. I will even declare that it is a book which should be translated into all polite languages.
I could develop this theme indefinitely, but I find that, while I am putting its proper valuation upon your judgment, I am almost losing sight of that modesty which it still behoves an author in some degree to preserve.
I think enough has been said to show that I am in a very embarrassing situation.
So here is the book for you.
Always yours,
William Caine.
Hampstead, 1911.