Beschreibung:

PAYNE-GALLWEY, Sir Ralph William Frankland, 3rd Baronet (1848-1916). A collection of approximately two hundred letters addressed to Payne-Gallwey by over sixty correspondents, various places, mostly in England, Ireland and Scotland, 1893-1914, all on sporting matters discussing record shoots, wild-fowling, punt-shooting and related subjects; with notes and drafts by Payne-Gallwey, and a few printed items, the collection tipped into three quarter albums (280 x 240mm), red half morocco, by Rivière. A SUBSTANTIAL COLLECTION OF LETTERS BY CONTEMPORARY SPORTSMEN AND EXPERTS, listing record shoots of the day, identifying different species of water-fowl, describing techniques of shooting and guns, submitting specimens, describing various incidents, and commenting on Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey's published works. 'Two thousand rabbits a day to one gun is a pretty tall order, nevertheless I can guarantee that it is possible on my shoot' (Lewis Blackmore, Sussex, 22 September 1898). 'The present record for Rabbit shooting is 5,080 in one day ... If 4,000 rabbits are killed I pay you £100' (Payne-Gallwey, 27 September 1898). The correspondence includes a note on willow wand throwing at Thirkleby; letters on wild-fowl shooting at Anglesey; from the head-keeper at Berkeley on wild goose shooting; a letter on duck shooting in icy weather from George Skelton ('one of the last decoymen'); letters on shooting abroad including woodcock at Santa Maura and in Corfu; wild-fowling in Belgium and partridge shooting in Bohemia; descriptions of hunting in British Columbia by a correspondent at Vancouver who sends specimens of duck; comments on Payne-Gallwey's book on wild-fowl; a proposal by a Newcastle gunsmith to open a shop in London with Payne-Gallwey; record grouse days on Lord Sefton's moor; Lord Derby's 'Controller' asking advice on pheasant rearing; letters on shot and powder; on the 'morbid' digestion of salmon; on deer-stalking and woodpigeon shooting, and other aspects of field sports. The collection also includes notes by Payne-Gallwey for new editions of his Letters to Young Shooters (May 1914). Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey of Thirkleby in Yorkshire was one of the foremost and most knowledgeable sportsmen of his time, and the author of well-received works including (with Lord Walsingham) Shooting (1886), The Fowler in Ireland (1882), and several editions of Letters to Young Shooters as well as works on weaponry and historical subjects. The lot includes a typed list of correspondents. (3)