Dr David Solomon will be signing copies of his new book A History of Fish and Fisheries of the River Thames at Thames Tidefest on September 12th. You can come and meet the author and not only will he personally sign your copy of the book, but David is giving a £5 discount to every purchase made at the event. So come along to Strand On The Green on September 12th to get your copy and have a chat with the author.

The book itself describes the fascinating history of fish in the Thames, and the development of fisheries to catch them both for food and sport. It is lavishly illustrated with old engravings, maps and photographs, and contains a wealth of anecdotes and stories that will delight the angler, natural historian, historian and fishery professional alike. The author is both a lifelong angler and a fishery scientist, and he draws on his long experience in these fields for the background and material for this book.

Interesting stories include:-

· the numbers and price of each species of local freshwater fish used to feed Thomas Cranmer, former Archbishop of Canterbury, in the days leading up to his execution in Oxford in 1556 (pike were the most expensive);

· the long history of attempts to re-introduce salmon to the river (it held good numbers until the early 19th century);

· a thriving fishery for roach at London Bridge in the 18th century, and the interesting methods used to catch them;

· huge catches of barbel in Victorian times, made by groundbaiting with thousands of worms;

· the decline of the fishery for eels using traps and weirs

· the man with a lifetime catch of more than 800 Thames trout over 3 lb (including several of more than 10 lb). Details of availability will be found at www.fluvialbooks.com