Re: Francis M. Walbran North Country Flies
Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2019 10:22 am
My Materials Reference Book is something I've been working on for several years now. The idea came about after I had acquired the Walbran Cooper Collection and a couple other collections of 19th Century North Country materials. The concept of Specimen Books to reference fly dressing materials goes back quite a long ways. Many have stated that Aldam was the first, which is true in a sense, but Blacker offered specimen editions of his books decades earlier. Individual fly dressers also included actual materials in their pattern lists, so the idea is far from original to me.
What I wanted was easy access to representative samples of fly dressing materials, especially the rarer and more exotic ones. In the old collections, most of the materials are contained in labeled envelopes and these are often in fly wallets. I further isolate these in air tight plastic boxes so trying to find a sample feather, such as the Bullfinch feather, can be a time consuming task. I also don't want to handle the materials and envelopes any more than is absolutely necessary in order to preserve them.
The idea for the basic layout came from Richard Salmon's book, Trout Flies, a specimen book published in 1975. Originally, my Reference Book only included materials for North Country flies but as it grew I began adding other traditional materials, especially hackles. It is truly a work in progress and I am up to over 30 pages of materials with many more to go. I have only just begun to add furs and hairs which will add at least another four pages of twenty four materials per page. The scan isn't the best, especially since the page is in a plastic sheet protector, but this should give an idea of what the book looks like. These are all actual sample materials, not photos. I know a number of Forum members have seen my book and I very much enjoy sharing it with others interested in traditional fly dressing materials. And sharing these things is really what the project is all about.
What I wanted was easy access to representative samples of fly dressing materials, especially the rarer and more exotic ones. In the old collections, most of the materials are contained in labeled envelopes and these are often in fly wallets. I further isolate these in air tight plastic boxes so trying to find a sample feather, such as the Bullfinch feather, can be a time consuming task. I also don't want to handle the materials and envelopes any more than is absolutely necessary in order to preserve them.
The idea for the basic layout came from Richard Salmon's book, Trout Flies, a specimen book published in 1975. Originally, my Reference Book only included materials for North Country flies but as it grew I began adding other traditional materials, especially hackles. It is truly a work in progress and I am up to over 30 pages of materials with many more to go. I have only just begun to add furs and hairs which will add at least another four pages of twenty four materials per page. The scan isn't the best, especially since the page is in a plastic sheet protector, but this should give an idea of what the book looks like. These are all actual sample materials, not photos. I know a number of Forum members have seen my book and I very much enjoy sharing it with others interested in traditional fly dressing materials. And sharing these things is really what the project is all about.