Author: BADHAM, C. David.
Title: Prose Halieutics or Ancient and Modern Fish Tattle.
Description: London, Parker 1854. Octavo blindstamped straight grained green/blue cloth; xii,552pp. An excellent, fresh and bright copy. ¶ An enthusiastic delver's book of the best type. Badham has scratched together (much from classical writers) a wealth of recondite facts and fancies about fish - from the water to the table. He begins with ancient and modern fishing and ends with chapters on opsophagy (the eating of delicacies), covering ancient fish-dealers and their tricks, Greek cooks and gluttony. Other chapters wind through such things as fish in medicine, subterranean fish, the Naples fish-market, the etymology of Cod, spurious fish sauces, ancient fishing tackle, the uses of stingray hide, and Pliny's mistakes about Lampreys. While there is enough here to satisfy any student of any aspect of fish (or classics) its greatest value now may well be to those interested in cookery, food and their history.

Keywords: natural history icthyology fish fishing sports food cooking social history classical literature