Auctioneer David Harrison with the rare book (16928/5)A RARE first edition of one of the most famous books ever written in the English language has come to light in a Pewsey auction room.
Auctioneer David Harrison could not believe his eyes when he came across the 1653 first edition of Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler, in among a collection of old history and French textbooks that had come in a job lot from a warehouse in Swindon.
He said: "It was a stunning thing to find.
"Having been a fisherman since a boy, this book was always something I coveted and it is like coming across the Holy Grail."
Most laymen could be forgiven for not recognising the tiny volume as one of the most significant literary finds of the year.
The book itself measures no more than six inches by four and a half and was rebound in a pale yellow cover in the 19th century.
Mr Harrison expects the volume, which is the star lot in the sale at the Jubilee Auction Rooms on the Fordbrook Business Park on August 17, to fetch a five-figure sum.
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