Hi,
For anyone interested, the link below should take you to a copy of Pritt’s “North-Country Flies”, 2nd edition, published in 1886 (the 1st being entitled “Yorkshire Trout Flies”). If you choose the print option you can save it as a Pdf file on your hard drive (the copywrite has expired so it’s now freely available). This is a good book for those interested in spider/soft hackle flies.
http://www.archive.org/stream/northcountryflie00pritrich
Great find, Jeff!!
Now a bit of prodding my old brain … how do you get it to copy as a pdf ALL the pages at once?
Hi Betty,
After clicking on the link in the first post, on the right hand side of the web page that opens up should be “Print Details”. Click on that (it’s a link, but doesn’t really look like one). That opens another window that includes a PDF option, which will allow you to save it to your computer. It should download the whole book into one file. Hope that was clear?
It appears you could choose to have the book printed, bound, and sent to you, but I have no idea what that would cost.
Hey Jeff,
Thank you for the research. That’s a wonderful book. I love the way the introduction captures the flavor of the times. 8T 
Thank you! It’s amazing how easy that was … when you have someone tell you how to do it!!!
Jeff
Great find!!! Thanks for the posting.
Fatman
I found quite few other by following the address archive.org and then searching for fly fishing.
Roy
Lot’s of good stuff at archive.org I like it for music and books but you could spends hours on the site looking things up.
Fatman
Saved a copy to my back up hard drive, my hard drive, and made a CD ! Today I’m off to Kinko’s to have them print up a copy for me! 
Betty, if you don’t mind, let us know the quality and cost for getting the Kinko hard copy.
Dave
Thanks a lot Jeff for that link.
Mike Conner posted a lot of these but I wasn’t going to bother as I
had the book. I just tried to read it with a magnifying glass, most frustrating. My lovely print copy can stay on the shelf.
I’ll read it as an E-book now.
Thanks, Jeff. I’m going to see if it is legal to put it on my website for a free reference for folks. It is just terrific!
Ron
OK!! Just got back from Kinko’s …
Had it printed, centered on the full page, and spiral bound, for 21 bucks! It turned out great! Did have to go through the agonies with them about copy rights, and had to show them where the web site was that allowed for the printing. Other than that, it’s beautifully printed and bound.
Jeff,
That’s a great find. I am doing the PDF copy thing right now.
I bought a printed copy through Abe Books a few months ago for around $10. I see they have gone up in price since. The Kinko’s deal is a good one.
REE
Hi Everyone,
I hope everyone enjoys this read as much as I have. I’ve read bits and pieces, but never the whole book. I just finished on the train into work today and really enjoyed it. I like how Pritt realises that there are conditions where wet fly fishing is the most suited method and there are conditions where dry fly fishing is the most suited, and also how he regards all forms of angling as being “proper sport” (yes, even worms!)
Anyway, not only that, but I found the following section quite interesting, from page 61:
“… he (the angler) will find that on very cold, dark
days when there is not sufficient warmth to hatch out
many perfect flies if the hackled fly be allowed to sink in
the stream as far down as possible, and then be quietly
worked up in a series of short and gentle jerks, it will often
account for fish which can be got in no other way.”
This is very close to the Leisenring Lift where one lets the fly sink, drift down, then gently tighten up and the fly will rise through the water column attracting a strike. What Pritt describes above, although a bit different in some specifics, is more or less the same principle. And, I would not be surprised to find that this wasn’t his idea but rather just the common wisdom of the day.
Jeff,
I have enjoyed reading Pritt’s book several times over. The flies are still as deadly today as they were in Pritt’s day, as you well know. I noticed that the drawings of the flies show them with hackles that are way oversized according to todays “norms”. Fly dressers of the day used what they had available. Are we over complicating these great flies by imposing modern standards?
I wouldn’t be surprised to find that the “Lift” was around long before Pritt’s day and was simply a technique passed down from one angler to another.
REE
Hi Ron,
I agree that the hackles often seem larger/longer in the fibre than the modern norms. They also look “fuller” than the one to two turns recommended by Stewart. I’ve tied some quite “heavy” and others quite “light” in the hackle, and I’ve seen various people recommend hackle lengths from “to the point/barb/bend/beyond”, and body lengths are equally varied with respect to landmarks. Some like fat bodies, others sleek and slim, so really, to each their own. These patterns work a treat, are easy to tie, and are versitile in their fishing utility. I always recommend them to everyone, especially new tiers and new anglers. They fit the KISS rule perfectly.
Jeff,
This find is just so priceless - thank you so much for finding the link and for sharing it with us all.
Jeanne