Who was Izaak Walton? courtesy of the Lois Green Sligo Chapter, IWLA

What is the Izaak Walton League?
Who was Izaak Walton?


	To strive for purity of water, the clarity of air, and the wise stewardship of the land and its resources; to know the beauty and understanding of nature, and the value of wildlife, woodlands and open space; to the preservation of this heritage and to man's sharing in it, I pledge myself as a member of the Izaak Walton League of America.

Portrait of Izaak Walton Many people regard Izaak Walton as a champion of a cherished lifestyle. Walton regularly achieved a state of serenity through his love and enjoyment of the natural environment, specifically while pursuing the art of “angling,” or fishing. In 1653 Walton published the first edition of “The Compleat Angler,” a story of three friends—a fisherman, a huntsman, and a fowler—as they discuss the merits of their favorite pastimes. The book not only provides techniques of angling, but promotes Walton’s philosophy of the peace and simple virtues achieved by immersing one’s self in the natural world. Over the past 350 years “The Compleat Angler” has been reprinted over 300 times, making it one of the most published books in English history.

Izaak Walton was born to innkeepers in Stafford, England in 1593. As a boy he was apprenticed to a cloth merchant in London. He then became the proprietor of an ironmonger’s shop, and in 1618 became a freeman of the ironmongers company. He eventually achieved a degree of prosperity by establishing a drapery business. He was married twice and had seven children, all of whom died young.

a contemporary photo of Izaak Walton's cottage in Shallowford, England, which now serves as a museum. Although of modest education, Walton was very well read, and associated with clerics, writers and philosophers. Walton’s first published works were the completion of a friend’s biography of the local vicar, John Donne, also a companion of Walton’s. Walton went on to write the biographies of several of his friends, but none of these books have captured the souls of so many as has “The Compleat Angler.” When Walton died in Winchester, England, in 1683, he had already seen to several new editions of this famous book, each containing additional material.

“Doubt not but angling will prove to be so pleasant that it will prove to be, like virtue, a reward to itself.”
—The Compleat Angler. Part i. Chap. i.