COLLECTION HIGHLIGHTS

THOUGHTS ON HUNTING
In a Series of Letters to a Friend
by PETER BECKFORD, Esq.
Sarum, England: Printed by E. Easton, 1781.

In Peter Beckford's 1781 fox and hare hunting classic, Thoughts on Hunting, each chapter is a letter which details different aspects of fox hunting and hare hunting. Broad in scope, he included plans for a kennel, and explanations for the care and feeding of hounds, hound breeding, entering young hounds, diseases and medicine, observations on the huntsman and whipper-in, observations on scent, and more.

Perhaps one of the most popular and frequently printed books on hunting of all time, the NSL is fortunate to possess several rare first editions of Thoughts on Hunting.

Beckford wrote in the Contents for Letter I, "The subject introduced - Hunting recommended, not only as an entertaining but also as a wholesome exercise - Cervantes and the Spectator: their opinion of Hunting - For whom these Letters are intended."

"It is rather singular to observe but worthy of remark by the Sporting World that, till Mr. Beckford's book appeared, no work on the subject of Hunting had been published, except an anonymous publication, in 1733, entitled An Essay on Hunting," wrote The Editor of the 1820 edition, who remains unknown. "In consideration for the age in which he lived, we could have forgiven Beckford if he had been slightly longwinded, but every word is to the point, and there is not a sentence we would wish left out," wrote J. Otho Paget, who penned the introduction in the 1904 edition. More recent editions of Thoughts on Hunting are shelved in the foxhunting section in the main reading room. The first edition and other rare editions are shelved in the rare book room.

"They spread like a sky-rocket" drawing by G.H. Jalland, 1904 ed.