The Compleat Angler: A Graphic Adaptation
Words by Izaak Walton
Art by Gareth Brookes
Hardback, 160 pp, $19.99
A foundational environmentalist text centuries ahead of its time, The Compleat Angler is one of the most reprinted books in the English language. From the ruins of the English Civil War to the challenges we all face today, Gareth Brookes’ highly original multimedia adaptation of Izaak Walton’s classic focuses on its instructional aspects, highlights its eccentricities and contemplative themes of nature and friendship, and draws parallels between today’s politically divided and ecologically endangered England and that of the 17th century.
Following Brookes’ similarly ambitious The Dancing Plague, this adaptation is lovingly rendered in both linocut engraving and hand-drawn pen-and-ink to contrast the meditative and the instructional in Walton’s writing. As a guidebook on how to fish, this 350-year-old manual makes the perfect gift for any angling enthusiast, and its reflective writing connects with post-pandemic desires for calm, mindful pursuits and a return to nature.
Gareth Brookes
Gareth Brookes studied printmaking at the Royal College of Art. His graphic novels includeA Thousand Coloured Castles(2017) and The Black Project, which was nominated for an award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, 2018. His work has appeared in ArtReview, been published by Kuš, and was included in the “Comics Unmasked” exhibition at the British Library in 2014.
Izaak Walton
Izaak Walton (1593–1683) was an English writer, best remembered today as the author of The Compleat Angler (1653). He also wrote a number of short Lives, including the first biographies of the poets George Herbert and John Donne.