Lot 608

Signed Limited Edition Arthur R. Macdougall Book

Estimate: $150 - $300

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $5
$50 $10
$100 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $250
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$25,000 $2,500
$100,000 $5,000
Presented in this lot is the signed Limited Edition (#47 of 450) book, "Dud Dean And His Country", by Arthur R. Macdougall. Macdougal, who won many friends and admirers through the pages of Field & Stream magazine in the 1920s and 1930s, has become a legendary figure in Maine sporting fiction through his collections of short stories on fly fishing featuring the famous fictional character and Maine Guide, Dud Dean. Mak, as Macdougall was known by his friends, was a constant presence in the Dud Dean stories and told them in the first person. In typical fashion, he and Dud would often be out on some trout water, or headed that way, and Dud would get to telling stories. Dud was an incredible story teller, but not because he stretched the truth. On the contrary, Dud’s honesty was refreshing. It was the way he described the setting and the people in his stories, in the unexpected clarity of his somewhat broken Maine dialect, that made them so appealing. In any Dud Dean tale, Macdougall had the uncanny ability to really make you feel like you were there, in the Maine woods, walking alongside Dud, Mak, and their companions. In addition, the era in which these stories were based adds even more appeal. Reaches of the Kennebec River, area streams, lakes and ponds were described in a time when roads, houses, dams and other signs of encroaching civilization were much less pronounced. Most places required a train ride or long walk from Bingham for a day’s fishing. Even though cars began to arrive on the local scene, roads on which to drive them were scarce. Waterways were still a major means of transportation, including the shipment of millions of logs downriver to the mills. And, at least in the Dud Dean stories, the fishing was much, much better. This book features a brown and wine coloured cloth on board cover with gilt embossed design of a fish, coloured frontispiece and other black and white illustrations by Milton C. Weiler. In good condition, cover has normal wear consistent with normal handling, foxing noted throughout pages, measures 9.5"L x 6.25"W x .75"D