COLLECTION HIGHLIGHTS

Joseph Seccombe
Business and Diversion Inoffensive to God, and Necessary for the Comfort and Support of Human Society: A Discourse Utter'd in Part at Ammauskeeg-Falls, in the Fishing-Season, 1739
(Boston: 1743).

The first American book on fishing, Business or Diversion Inoffensive to God (1743), was originally delivered as a sermon by its author, Joseph Seccombe. In the treatise, Seccombe justifies fishing on Sunday. This short pamphlet of 22 pages is coveted by collectors of angling books and American sport, and was called a "legendary rarity" by bookseller James Cummins.

The NSL's copy of Business and Diversion Inoffensive to God is a first edition, in very good condition and is also protected in a custom box with chemise.

The Sportsman's Companion: Or an Essay on Shooting,
"By a Gentleman," (Burlington, NY: Isaac Neals, 1791).

The Sportsman's Companion (1791), primarily a treatise on shooting, is touted as the first real sporting book published in America. The copy owned by NSL is a rare second edition - one of only five in existence. A mere two copies of the first edition (1783) are known to exist of this anonymous work, possibly penned by a British army officer stationed in America at the close of the Revolution. What's more, this particular copy is the only one that contains an index.

The Sportsman's Companion is a pocket-size volume of 89 pages. Bound in contemporary sheepskin, it is in fair condition and housed in a protective slipcase.

Both of these extremely rare and special books came to the National Sporting Library through the generosity of John H. Daniels, who donated his entire 5,000-volume sporting book collection to the Library in 1995. A valued member of the Library's Board of Directors, Mr. Daniels is the retired CEO of the Archer-Daniels-Midland Company, a former MFH of the Long Lake Hounds (Minn.), an avid sportsman, author and World War II veteran.