FLYMPH FORUM

A couple more historical lists of dressings:

Thank you, once again, for these valuable contributions to this site.

I’ve downloaded the attachments to my iPad, and pinned the post. Thanks again mate.

The date of the Swarbrick list should actually be 1817 rather than 1807. Rob Smith and I have established this from examination of the only known original manuscript, which is dated November 30, 1817. The MS was owned by Henry Walbran Cooper who evidently leant it to Ellis Beanfields for transcription to his List of Wharfedale Flies, 1907 and it has been dated thus ever since. Beanfields evidently either misread or miswrote the date of the MS as 1807. You can see a photograph of the original page of the Swarbrick MS on page 26 of Rob's book. This is the only known Swarbrick MS to come to light. Although it is rumoured that there are other original Swarbrick lists as well as later copies, none have turned up. Yet!

Now I'm really confused! If I recall correctly, I downloaded / copied the info many years ago from (possibly) Don Nicolson's old web site.

I tried today to do a web search from the old links I had for Don Nicolson's site to no avail. But I did find a pic on Abe Books (https://www.anglebooks.com/list-of-whar ... lands.html ) that shows the cover dated 1807....thus my confusion.

Have been able to download both text and .pdf files of many of the old books but can't find a download for Swarbrick's book. Live and learn, eh? Thanks for the info.

The book that you see listed by Paul Morgan is a copy of the original List of Wharfedale Flies published by Ellis Beanlands in 1907. He (erroneously) gives the date of the Swarbrick list as 1807 and not 1817 as is actually correct and which appears in the original MS. Because of this error, the date of 1807 had been accepted and repeated until I turned up and eventually acquired the Swarbrick MS, and Rob Smith published the corrected date in his book. The Beanfields list is very rare itself and even the library of the Fly Fishers' club of London is without a copy.
Swarbrick did not publish a book, all we have from him is his MS which was previously owned by Henry Walbran Cooper, who provided it to Ellis Beanlands to copy for his 1907 List. I had the MS photographed and some of the pages are reproduced in Rob's book. You can't find a copy of Swarbrick's "book" because there never was one!

Very interesting info. Thanks.

It's good to be reminded; 'facts' are not always facts. Sometimes fraud and sometimes ignorance.

dd