American Toby Jug Museum 

Izaak Walton character jug produced by Royal Carlton of Japan circa 1970. The English writer and biographer, Izaak Walton (1593-1683), had a modest education, but after settling in London he developed scholarly tastes and associated with such men of learning as the poet, John Donne. It was not until 1653, at the age of sixty, that he wrote his famous book, "The Compleat Angler", or the "Contemplative Man's Recreation", the first of the English sporting classics. This discourse, mostly in the form of conversations between the author and his friends, on fish, rivers, rods and lines is interspersed with rural reflections, quaint verses and idyllic glimpses of country life. By 1676 the work was in its fifth edition and had grown from thirteen to twenty-one chapters. Walton's lesser-known works include biographies of Sir Henry Wotton, John Donne and Bishop Sanderson, the latter published just three years before his death in 1683. However, it is for his "Compleat Angler" that he is remembered here. A fish forms the handle of the jug.