First catch your hare

Commonly thought to originate in the recipe for hare soup in Mrs Glasse's Art of Cookery (1747) or in Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management (1851), but not found there (see quot. 1896). Similar in sentiment to catching's before hanging. Cf. [c 1300 Bracton De Legibus Angliae iv. xxi.] vulgariter dicitur, quod primo opportet cervum capere, & postea cum captus fuerit illum excoriare, it is commonly said that one must first catch the deer, and afterwards, when he has been caught, skin him.

How to dress a dolphin, first catch a dolphin.
[1801 Spirit of Farmers' Museum 55]

‘To seize wherever I should light upon him—’ ‘First catch your hare!’‥exclaimed his Royal Highness.
[1855 Thackeray Rose & Ring xiv.]

The familiar words, ‘First catch your hare,’ were never to be found in Mrs. Glasse's famous volume. What she really said was, ‘Take your hare when it is cased [skinned].’
[1896 Daily News 20 July 8]

Sloan took his reply straight from the pages of an early cookery book. ‥‘First, catch your hare.’
[1984 ‘C. Aird’ Harm's Way iii.]

Related to: ways and means

Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.