COMING into a new hunting season it is fitting that we consider some hunting literature to while away the long winter nights. I am immediately drawn to the writings of two gifted Irish writers of the chase, Somerville and Ross, the latter being Violet Martin’s pen name.

I had the privilege of working on their original manuscripts when I was on a research fellowship in the National Sporting Library near Washington DC some years ago. It is near Mount Vernon the home of America’s First President George Washington who hunted his own pack of hounds.