MANCHESTER, VERMONT
August 9, 2025
Instagram: @flyfishingtreasures
Email: [email protected]
Mary Orvis Marbury: A Life in Flies The New Book Featuring One of the Most Important Figures in the History of American Fly Fishing Debuts at the American Museum of Fly Fishing
Mary Orvis Marbury: A Life in Flies is the first biography of a remarkable woman whose work was transformational in fly tying in America. Mary was a true pioneer. She founded the fly tying operation for the iconic Orvis Company, wrote the landmark book Favorite Flies, and produced the spectacular fly display for the first World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
The large format 216 page coffee-table size book (11 x11 inches), published by Fly Fishing Treasures, includes over 300 color photographs of over 600 patterns of original Mary Orvis Marbury flies in frames and panels featuring the work of the Orvis fly tiers.
The volume also includes a step-by-step guide to tying a Mary Orvis Marbury fly pattern, the Prouty, complete with instructions on materials and techniques by master fly tier Lee Schechter.
Each copy of this limited edition is numbered and signed by the author and includes a separate 60-page Complete Guide to the Mary Orvis Marbury World’s Columbian Exposition Fly Panels.
The book features, for the first time in print, the largest collection of early Orvis trout, bass, lake and salmon flies. The collection includes the flies and photographs of the complete set Mary Orvis Marbury World’s Columbian Exposition panels as well as a sampling of the plates of flies included in Mary’s book Favorite Flies and the book Fishing With the Fly by her father Charles and his co-author Albert Nelson Cheney.
The treasured Orvis fly collection from the American Museum of Fly Fishing in Manchester, Vermont is prominently featured, including the historic World’s Columbian Exposition fly panels, as well as a newly discovered complete collection of hundreds of fly samples used in the original Orvis fly tying operation. Jim Schottenham, curator at the American Museum of Fly Fishing, provided full access to us to their Mary Orvis Marbury collection.
The Manchester Historical Society and its curator Shawn Harrington were instrumental in helping to conduct the research for the book. The volume draws from a rich archive of Orvis family photographs and rare collections of Orvis flies and ephemera from around the country.
A rare photograph of Mary fishing with the fishing legend Theodore Gordon is also included.
Readers interested in fly fishing and fly tying history will learn not only about Mary’s life and work, but will also gain an understanding of the Victorian gaudy wet fly and the hundreds of fly patterns associated with this formative time in the evolution of fly tying.
The book is published by Fly Fishing Treasures and can be purchased exclusively online on the Fly Fishing Treasures website here for the cover price of $90.
About the authors of Mary Orvis Marbury: A Life in Flies:
Steve Woit, Author:
Steve Woit is the author of Fly Fishing Treasures, the bestselling book covering the world of fly fishers and the collection of antique fly fishing tackle.
Steve writes a regular column for Classic Angling, the world’s leading journal devoted to the history of antique tackle and collecting, where he serves as North American book reviewer. He has also contributed articles on fly fishing history and antique fly tackle collecting to the Yale Anglers’ Journal, AntiqueWeek and Maine Boats and Harbor Magazine as well as to leading online fly fishing publications such as Hatch and MidCurrent.
He completed his undergraduate studies at Yale with a degree in Combined Literature in English and French Literature. He was Publisher of the Yale Daily News Magazine and served as President of the Yale Fishing Club and Captain of the Yale Fishing Team.
He is a member of the Flyfishers’ Club in London and the Anglers’ Club of New York.
Lee Schechter, Chapter Contributor:
Lee Schechter is a long time avid fly fisherman and tyer. Lee considers himself primarily a saltwater fly fisherman and his passion for fly tying focused on saltwater patterns for many years before he discovered the beauty and historical significance of the early American bass, lake and salmon flies.
Lee Schechter’s inspiration for his work is primarily based on the classic Mary Orvis Marbury bass, lake and salmon flies but include other fancy wet flies of the period from companies such as Thomas Chubb and others. He has actively studied the history of these flies in 18th and 19th century books, catalogs and museum collections and has developed an authentic vintage style of tying using original hooks, tinsels, and materials. Using old traditional techniques when tying the original patterns, he creates examples reminiscent of those found over 100 years ago.
Lee has authored articles on fly tying across the globe including Fly Tyer, Hatches, Fly and Tie Magazine (published separately in Germany and Sweden), and Fly Fishing in Saltwaters. He has also contributed flies to supplement numerous articles in various magazines and his flies were featured as cover photos for issues of Fly Tyer that included his articles in 2013 and 2021.
Lee’s flies have also appeared widely in books including Classic Salmon Fly Patterns by Mike Radencich (2012), The Founding Flies by Mike Valla (2013), Tying Heritage Featherwing Streamers by Sharon Wright (2015), America’s Favorite Flies by John Bryan and Rob Carter (2017) and the Solarez Pro Tyers’ Guide to UV Resin Flies edited by Tony Lolli (2016) and By a Thread: A Retrospective on Women and Tying by Erin Block (2016). Lee was also selected to be a highlighted fly tyer in the limited edition book Fly Tyers of the World – Volume 3 published in 2009 by Steve Thornton (VEM Publishing, UK).
He is currently a Pro-Staff member of the Dr. Slick Fly Tying and Fishing Tool Company, and is involved with the new UV resin product Solarez. He has worked with a number of companies to help develop hooks and fly tying materials, including a collaboration with Gaelic Supreme to replicate a vintage blind-eye Allcock #5907 Kensey hook for tying old gaudy wet flies.
Lee has participated regularly in the leading international fly tying shows and forums and continues to do commission fly work particularly for framed collections.