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Library lands collection of fishing books
August 21, 2003
BY ERIC SHARP
FREE PRESS OUTDOORS WRITER
GRAYLING -- "La peche est ma folie." It translates as "fishing is my madness," and the Duc de Choiseul's wry comment on the passion that ruled his life in France in 1761 would strike a sympathetic chord with many Michigan anglers in 2003.
Now others who share that passion can read about the duke and other facets of the history and practice of this sport through a new collection of books about fly-fishing and fly-tying at the Devereaux Memorial Crawford County Library, located in a town that is one of America's trout fishing centers.
Fishing has one of the oldest and largest bibliographies in any field outside of politics. You can't learn how to fly-fish from a book. That can be done only by getting into a stream. But reading can teach a lot about the fish, the tackle and why we do it.
You can learn a lot about fly-fishing in Grayling, too. Nestled between two of the best-known trout streams in eastern America -- the Manistee and the Au Sable -- the little town of 2,000 draws thousands of anglers each year from all over the world.
So what could be more sensible than starting a public library collection about fly-fishing and fly-tying in an American trout fishing hot spot?
The project got started last year when Marion Wright, a Grayling resident and founder of the local Mason chapter of Trout Unlimited, died at the age of 90, and his heirs donated 22 of his fly-fishing books to the library. Most are rare first editions and signed by the authors.
Wright moved to Grayling from the Detroit area 25 years ago. He was a friend of George Griffith, the prime mover in the founding of Trout Unlimited in 1959 by a handful of anglers at Griffith's Barbless Hook retreat a few miles down the Au Sable mainstream.
Those few volumes became the nucleus of the George Griffith and Marion Wright Memorial Collection, which increased dramatically this summer when Dr. Homer Smathers of West Bloomfield donated his collection of more than 500 books. It also includes many signed books and first editions.
Smathers, 87, has fished from Alaska to Argentina.
"Now I know that fishermen, when there's nothing hatching or a storm brewing, can come into the library and enjoy these books as much as I did," he said.
There have been many other, smaller donations, and the 400 or so books that have been placed on shelves form a wonderful nucleus for what could grow into one of the country's best collections.
It includes key works such as "Fishless Days, Angling Nights," by Sparse Grey Hackle, the nom de plume Alfred Miller took from his thinning and whitening hair.
There is also a reprint of "Fishing with the Fly," first issued in 1885, in which Charles F. Orvis (of Orvis tackle company fame) and A. Nelson Cheney collected the wisdom of some of the finest anglers and fishery scientists in 19th Century America.
If you haven't read them, I highly recommend John McDonald's "The Complete Fly Fisherman: The Notes and Letters of Theodore Gordon," a biography of a turn-of-the-20th Century patrician angler, and "Silk, Fur and Feather," written by Englishman G.E.M. Skues, who taught the world about nymphing.
Edward Elsner, the library's director, said the long-term plan is "to keep adding to the collection, and hopefully it will become an important resource for fly-fishing and fly-tying." The collection will specialize in fly-fishing for trout, although there will be some general works on trout and fly-fishing for other species.
"We have about another 100 books that still need to be processed, and we get more all the time," Elsner said. "The more valuable books are in the reference collection, which can only be used in the library."
Books from the collection also are available to anglers throughout the state on inter-library loan.
"We've been surprised by all of the interest so far," Elsner said. "A fly-fishing collection was a good mix and match for us because of the area, but it has been even more popular than we expected."
Anglers who would like to donate books to the collection can send them to the Devereaux Memorial Crawford Library at 201 Plum, Grayling, Mich. 49738, or telephone Elsner at 989-348-9214.
August 21, 2003
BY ERIC SHARP
FREE PRESS OUTDOORS WRITER
GRAYLING -- "La peche est ma folie." It translates as "fishing is my madness," and the Duc de Choiseul's wry comment on the passion that ruled his life in France in 1761 would strike a sympathetic chord with many Michigan anglers in 2003.
Now others who share that passion can read about the duke and other facets of the history and practice of this sport through a new collection of books about fly-fishing and fly-tying at the Devereaux Memorial Crawford County Library, located in a town that is one of America's trout fishing centers.
Fishing has one of the oldest and largest bibliographies in any field outside of politics. You can't learn how to fly-fish from a book. That can be done only by getting into a stream. But reading can teach a lot about the fish, the tackle and why we do it.
You can learn a lot about fly-fishing in Grayling, too. Nestled between two of the best-known trout streams in eastern America -- the Manistee and the Au Sable -- the little town of 2,000 draws thousands of anglers each year from all over the world.
So what could be more sensible than starting a public library collection about fly-fishing and fly-tying in an American trout fishing hot spot?
The project got started last year when Marion Wright, a Grayling resident and founder of the local Mason chapter of Trout Unlimited, died at the age of 90, and his heirs donated 22 of his fly-fishing books to the library. Most are rare first editions and signed by the authors.
Wright moved to Grayling from the Detroit area 25 years ago. He was a friend of George Griffith, the prime mover in the founding of Trout Unlimited in 1959 by a handful of anglers at Griffith's Barbless Hook retreat a few miles down the Au Sable mainstream.
Those few volumes became the nucleus of the George Griffith and Marion Wright Memorial Collection, which increased dramatically this summer when Dr. Homer Smathers of West Bloomfield donated his collection of more than 500 books. It also includes many signed books and first editions.
Smathers, 87, has fished from Alaska to Argentina.
"Now I know that fishermen, when there's nothing hatching or a storm brewing, can come into the library and enjoy these books as much as I did," he said.
There have been many other, smaller donations, and the 400 or so books that have been placed on shelves form a wonderful nucleus for what could grow into one of the country's best collections.
It includes key works such as "Fishless Days, Angling Nights," by Sparse Grey Hackle, the nom de plume Alfred Miller took from his thinning and whitening hair.
There is also a reprint of "Fishing with the Fly," first issued in 1885, in which Charles F. Orvis (of Orvis tackle company fame) and A. Nelson Cheney collected the wisdom of some of the finest anglers and fishery scientists in 19th Century America.
If you haven't read them, I highly recommend John McDonald's "The Complete Fly Fisherman: The Notes and Letters of Theodore Gordon," a biography of a turn-of-the-20th Century patrician angler, and "Silk, Fur and Feather," written by Englishman G.E.M. Skues, who taught the world about nymphing.
Edward Elsner, the library's director, said the long-term plan is "to keep adding to the collection, and hopefully it will become an important resource for fly-fishing and fly-tying." The collection will specialize in fly-fishing for trout, although there will be some general works on trout and fly-fishing for other species.
"We have about another 100 books that still need to be processed, and we get more all the time," Elsner said. "The more valuable books are in the reference collection, which can only be used in the library."
Books from the collection also are available to anglers throughout the state on inter-library loan.
"We've been surprised by all of the interest so far," Elsner said. "A fly-fishing collection was a good mix and match for us because of the area, but it has been even more popular than we expected."
Anglers who would like to donate books to the collection can send them to the Devereaux Memorial Crawford Library at 201 Plum, Grayling, Mich. 49738, or telephone Elsner at 989-348-9214.
