When I found this book a few weeks ago at the Saint Louis Goodwill Outlet, I have to admit the title intrigued me. What in the world! Who has a favorite fly? Well, it turns out that when this book was first published in 1892 a lot of people did, and not of the annoying insects that land on your food type. The flies in this book are for catching fish but when the color lithograph prints caught my eye I was floored.  Hot pink, robin’s egg blue, chartreuse green, and bright yellow. There were even embellishments of gold and silver.

The book I found was a 1955 reprint of the original bestseller.  It has 32 color plates in it with flies for salmon, bass, trout, lake fishing, and hackles.

The author was the daughter of C.F. Orvis, and today Orvis is the oldest mail order retail business in America. A current catalogue came in our mailbox a few weeks ago and it is filled with gift ideas for the sporting man.

If you click on any of these images it will take you my etsy shop where I offer the digital prints.