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.
