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Playing With Fire: The Life and Fly Rods of E.W. Edwards
One of the great names in the history of fly fishing is Eustis W. "Billy" Edwards, the scion of a family of rodmaking geniuses. Now for the first time, Patrick C. Garner details the life and rodmaking career of one of the legendary names in fishing history.
Garner covers Edwards' early years with Hiram Leonard, details the legendary "Kosmic" years with Hiram Hawes, Fred Thomas, and Edward Payne, his short-lived partnership with Thomas, and covers for the first time in print his career as a photographer. His return to rodmaking which lead to his discovery of flame tempering of cane, his years at Winchester, and his final stop in Mt. Carmel all flesh out the story of Edwards and his fly rods.
The book also details the known models of Edwards-made rods, teaching the reader how to identify and evaluate everything from the earliest Filbert Street rods to his last Mt. Carmel Specials. Special chapters on trade rods helps illuminate the often murky relationship between Edwards and trade houses like Abbey & Imbrie, Edward vom Hofe, and Thos. E. Wilson. It even includes historical data on Edwards rod prices.
What Others Are Saying
"Patrick Garner has done all of us a great favor. He corrects some often repeated misinformation about early American rod makers, as well as introducing some still intriguing mysteries. This work should go a long way towards creating a greater understanding and appreciation of Eustis Edwards' work -- which is truly seminal in American rod making."
Per Brandin, contemporary bamboo rodmaker
"A very well researched work about one of America's most unique and innovative rod makers. A great read for anyone interested in the history of bamboo rod making, and the remarkable ideas and innovations that Eustis Edwards first brought to the craft."
Hoagy Carmichael, author of A Master's Guide to Building a Bamboo Fly Rod
Garner covers Edwards' early years with Hiram Leonard, details the legendary "Kosmic" years with Hiram Hawes, Fred Thomas, and Edward Payne, his short-lived partnership with Thomas, and covers for the first time in print his career as a photographer. His return to rodmaking which lead to his discovery of flame tempering of cane, his years at Winchester, and his final stop in Mt. Carmel all flesh out the story of Edwards and his fly rods.
The book also details the known models of Edwards-made rods, teaching the reader how to identify and evaluate everything from the earliest Filbert Street rods to his last Mt. Carmel Specials. Special chapters on trade rods helps illuminate the often murky relationship between Edwards and trade houses like Abbey & Imbrie, Edward vom Hofe, and Thos. E. Wilson. It even includes historical data on Edwards rod prices.
What Others Are Saying
"Patrick Garner has done all of us a great favor. He corrects some often repeated misinformation about early American rod makers, as well as introducing some still intriguing mysteries. This work should go a long way towards creating a greater understanding and appreciation of Eustis Edwards' work -- which is truly seminal in American rod making."
Per Brandin, contemporary bamboo rodmaker
"A very well researched work about one of America's most unique and innovative rod makers. A great read for anyone interested in the history of bamboo rod making, and the remarkable ideas and innovations that Eustis Edwards first brought to the craft."
Hoagy Carmichael, author of A Master's Guide to Building a Bamboo Fly Rod
228 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2009
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