CHARLES FARLOW CATALOGUE 1840

This diminutive pocket catalogue is important and very rare. Albeit a facsimile, our CEO Richard has the original.

The Farlow tackle trail did not start with Charles; it was his father John King Farlow who was responsible for this. JK worked for among others, George Eaton (1790), master turner and makers of rods and reels.

Back to this catalogue, the famous Golden Salmon we see stamped to Farlow reel feet adorns the front cover. The address, 221 Strand Nr Temple Bar, is important as very few items turn up with this address from which Farlow only briefly traded. 

This catalogue measures 4” x 2-1/2 with 24 pages and dates 1840. Approx. 40 years prior to Hardy and 2 years after Thomas Turner, that’s right, we eclipsed them both!

The range of tackle is impressive. We all know rods go back to way back when but think of reels as a more recent invention in volume retail terms.

Inside pages 6-11 covers all types of rods, general, fly, best fly salmon, trolling etc. 

Page 12 lists Winches; a variety of sizes from the 1-1/4” diameter plain model, 1-1/2” multiplier, the check winches for 6d less than multipliers and with check 2 shillings more, so quite a comprehensive selection. You can only guess how much input master turner Geo Eaton played in the early reel supply chain.

By page 13, I was getting excited. Reels were different from winches and in boxwood too. Not the Nottingham reel as it was still being developed 100 miles north, but line winders.

Some ready furnished with lines, for one, two and three and up to 6 lines with the box in the centre containing shots, caps plummets, etc.

The later pages are devoted to everything required by anglers, clearing rings, paniers for travel, nets, gaffs, minnows,  lures, flies, gut and silk lines, floats, baits and hooks and so on. 

And finally the back page “ Silk Worm Gut, Bamboo Cane bought in any quantity, Flies made to any pattern, and tackle cases completely  fitted for any part of the World” 

Farlows were determined to supply the gentleman anglers, including many military personnel fishing world-wide via the shipping/ trade routes.

In all a very comprehensive selection of angling requisites are brought to light through this catalogue’s existence.

Read more in the Farlows 175th Anniversary celebration book. Click here to buy one of the last remaining copies before stocks run out.