Author: Smith, J. V. C.
Title: Natural history of the fishes of Massachusetts, embracing a practical essay on angling [= Part second: on trout, interspersed with remarks on the theory and practice of angling].
Description: Boston, MA, Allen and Ticknor, 1833. Two parts in one. 8vo (16.6 x 10.9 cm). vii, 399 pp. with a nice woodcut on the title page and numerous engravings of fish species in the text. Original full cloth with printed paper label on the spine. = This work is regarded as the first American work on angling. The writer, Jerome Van Crowninshield Smith (1800-1879) was an influential physician and politician. "Dr. J.V.C. Smith, as he was known, was the fifth Port Physician in Boston but the second under the city council form of government. Born July 20, 1800 in Conway, New Hampshire, he took the post at the young age of 26 and was apparently happy to take up residence on Rainsford Island in the summer of 1826. He carved his name and date of becoming the port physician into a rock outcropping on Rainsford Island in the summer of 1826 and this carving still remains visible today. He was a rare individual who combined eminent skills in medicine with considerable literary abilities which he demonstrated as the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine and Collateral Branches of Science, the original name of the New England Journal of Medicine. He studied surgery under Dr. William Ingalls, an eminent surgeon of Boston, and in his spare time took up sculpture, creating busts of Bishop Fitzpatrick and Bishop Eastburn, among others" (Boston Port Physicians). According to the preface, he did more than that: "In the course of several years residence on a small island in Boston harbor, the author became interested in ichthyology". The first part is an annotated list of all the marine fishes found in Boston harbor and its surroundings, with nice engravings; the second part deals with trout fishing, and is separated by a second title-page with a nice engraved vignette. Old owner's signature on the front free endpaper recto. Hinges a bit weak, some rubbing to the boards; light, inoffensive spotting throughout, otherwise a good, complete copy. Dean II, p. 461.

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