This gorgeous book tells the history of US fly tyer Mary Orvis Marbury and the classic, stylish, "gaudy" flies of her era
Updated or edited 2 hours ago
You don’t have to dig far into the history of flies – those from the US in particular – before you bump into the acronym MOM. And it’s not mom like in mother, but MOM like in Mary Orvis Marbury.
She was the daughter of the founder of the Orvis company and became an influential fly tyer in the late 1800’s through her work in said company where she ended up heading the fly tying department and also authored the now famous book “Favorite Flies and Their Histories” – which you can actually find in its full extent on Archive.org.
But that’s not the book I’m going to focus on here. The book at hand is from author Steve Woit, who has compiled and written this extensive treaty on MOM – or M.O.M. as it’s correctly written in the book.
This book is a celebration of Mary Orvis Marbury and a very thorough coverage of her life, history and legacy.
It tells the story of the Orvis company and the way she found interest in fly tying, became a fly tyer and wound up leading the company’s fly tying department employing half a dozen women, for some unknown reason referred to as “The Owls” – perhaps because they sometimes tied late into the night.
The company story is told and touches upon development of tackle such as rods and reels as well as the history of developing a fly tying department out of necessity, mostly because it was hard to source well tied flies consistently.
Mary Orvis Marbury wasn’t a fly pattern inventor, but meticulously cataloged and registered the many hundred flies tied by the company, both based on well known patterns and on models sent in by customers and copied by the company. Many of these flies didn’t have names, but were named by Mary and added to the many plates that were used to hold templates for the Orvis tyers to use, but also served as the base for paintings and prints for catalogs, and were used for exhibitions.
The book has full page images of a whole wealth of these plates, showing the original flies.
These plates cover flies in the categories trout flies, bass flies and lake flies – not that there are very distinct differences between them. They were often used for whatever species the angler was fishing for. There are some “standard” wet and dry flies, and even salmon flies, tied in the UK tradition, but a large part of the flies are the “gaudy” style, which has in part become Mary’s claim to fame: large, colorful, densely dressed and many with the characteristic high feather wings. It's a fly style that has come to be almost synonymous with her name, even though she didn't invent it as such.
A particularly beautiful and interesting set of plates get their whole own section – and even a 60-page separate “booklet” with details. These plates stem from the Columbian Exposition in 1893 where they were on display with their mix of flies and photos showing fishing and landscapes.
Another highlight in the book is Lee Schechter’s section where he describes how to tie one of the flies, and shows the techniques and material handling in very detailed step-by-step photos and text. For people interested in tying flies as close to the originals as possible, this is a special treat! The text describes the tools, materials and preparations as well as every single step of the tying.
This may not be a book for everyone, but if you have the slightest interest in fly history you will certainly enjoy it. If you have an interest in the history of US fly-tying it’s a must-have. It containing images of over 600 patterns from this golden age, and with it’s 216 + 60 pages of meticulously researched content it is a true treasure trove.
You can read more about Mary Orvis Marbury and her flies in these articles: Discovering the Marbury Lake Flies and Tribute to MOM.
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