Muriel Foster's Fishing Diary

This is one special little book that will charm you and send you back to a quieter time where life was not so rushed. I am a watercolorist and found this book mesmerizing for it's beautiful sketches and paintings of fish, lures, landscapes, and animals. The entries date from 1913 to 1949. It is an accounting book with detailed and stunning illustrations showing the dates the artist fished, the place (where caught) the lures he used (beautifully illustrated lures), the kind of fish caught and how many and their weights. There are "Remarks" pages filled with comments such as "fish only splashing at fly" or "very cold" or "hooked and lost a small one", and the page may also be filled up with a beautiful sketch or watercolor painting of something such as a dragonfly or old mill house. I love this book mostly for the artwork but also the nostalgia of everything in it. You get to relive the author's experiences through his remarks and lovely sketches and paintings.

I am a watercolorist and found this book mesmerizing for it's beautiful sketches and paintings of fish, lures, landscapes, and animals. The entries date from 1913 to 1949. It is an accounting book with detailed and stunning illustrations showing the dates the artist fished, the place (where caught) the lures he used (beautifully illustrated lures), the kind of fish caught and how many and their weights. There are "Remarks" pages filled with comments such as "fish only splashing at fly" or "very cold" or "hooked and lost a small one", and the page may also be filled up with a beautiful sketch or watercolor painting of something such as a dragonfly or old mill house. I love this book mostly for the artwork but also the nostalgia of everything in it. You get to relive the author's experiences through his remarks and lovely sketches and paintings.

I never tire of reading her entries and admiring her ability to capture great vistas and small details in a few pen strokes. A wonderful book that should be back in print.

Diaries are diaries. They're often of not much interest to anyone but the author. Muriel Foster kept a diary of her fishing expenditions beginning in 1913. She recorded her catches with infinite detail; her ones-that-got-away with unashamed blank lined pages. And she painted. Tiny, perfect little watercolours that embellish each page - you can get lost in them. Some paintings are entire scenes of buildings near her favourite fishing spots, some are of the spots themselves. Some are just of fish - detailed, eloquent paintings. A perfect diary is one the author thinks no one but themselves will ever read - for it is the diary that is true to itself. Little did Muriel Foster know that long after he demise her diary would be found - it's contents deemed suitable for other eyes to see. A charming, poignant treasure.