Printed in 500 copies: 20 copies with original illustrations (1 to 20), 80 copies on "vélin blanc pur fil" (21-100), 400 copies (101-500), 26 copies "d'artiste" (A-Z), and 15 copies not for sale. This is copy number 332.

In his preface, Curnonsky says that this book will appeal to all enthusiasts of good food, to all gourmands, gastronomes, gourmets and gourmettes of France and elsewhere; and that it represents a gastronomic tour of the world. [pages 9-11]. Well, yes, but there only two chapters devoted to non French cuisines – a 4-page chapter on cannibalism and a 7-page chapter on "foreign cuisines." The latter begins: "One does not eat better anywhere than in France. But then one eats only in France and one should not treat foreign cuisines with disdain, exotic though they may be." [page 185]. How, one might ask, would one be qualified to judge foreign cuisines if one eats only in France. Well anyway, a good example is the short shrift given to the cuisines of Italy – a mere 6 lines, including the wines! Largely forgotten is the debt French cuisine owes to the Italians. I would only add that in our experience it is much more difficult to eat poorly at random in Italy than it is in France. Another judgement: "It has been said that one eats poorly in the United States. Not exactly … we know American citizens who are good gastronomes. […] California fruits are magnificent to look at but are tasteless …" [189].

But these are minor quibbles. The book is packed with interesting details about a variety of subjects, including aphrodisiac cuisine, gastronomic societies (Club des Cent, Academy of Gastronomes, Cercle des Gourmettes, etc.), restaurants, humor (e.g. a sandwich is defined as a "ménage à trois"), great writers on food and cuisine, wine and the table, good food and the arts, the theater, diplomacy. Menu collectors are represented by Roger Braun who owned 18,000 items [99-103].

Paris at this time had two gastronomic clubs for women, les Belles Perdrix and le Club des Gourmettes. "Madame Maria Croci, whose husband was a member of the Club du Grand-Perdreau [perdreau=young partridge – masc.], was upset at seeing women almost systematically excluded from gourmet societies and founded a company of Perdrix [partridge – fem.]." Although the male clubs would not admit women, the Club de la Belle-Perdrix did admit men: "Every perdrix shall have the right to bring a perdreau of her choice, who may never be her husband; the same perdreau may not be invited two years in a row by the same perdrix. Stealing someone else's perdreau during a meeting is not permitted." [136-137].

First edition. The book that launched a thousand more. And so the wine writers who dismiss this work as ramblings of a pompous intellectual, of no real value to wine novice or expert, are of course biting the hand that fed them. Fortunately for Mr. Saintsbury, dead men are not easily insulted.

In a marvellously detailed appreciation of this book in The Wayward Tendrils (vol. 7, no. 4, October 1997), Thomas Pinney laments Saintsbury's extensive use of obscure allusions. One of Pinney's interests is attempting to decipher them all, and he has already had some responses to his call for help (Tendrils, VI-1, VI-2). I am reminded of Ezra Pound's allusion-packed cantos which have generated many volumes of explanatory guides. But, as my wife points out, it's easy enough to skim over Saintsbury's obscure passages and read only those in English. And that can be quite entertaining and even amusing. I'm sure Pinney would agree that Saintsbury should not be taken too seriously.

Is he serious, for example, when he speaks of "the overpowering and almost barbaric volume of flavour" in a German Auslese wine [page 83]. Even Sauternes was apparently "too rich for some tastes" though Saintsbury seemed to like it. He relates that a Finnish lady had confided to him that champagne in England was ‘so dreadfully dry.’ "Fortunately I had remembered beforehand that the warlocks and witches of the North like sweet things; and had provided a bottle of this very Sauterne [sic], of which I had a few left. She purred over it like one of Freya's own cats …" [79]. It has always puzzled me that so many wine aficionados love port, but dislike other sweet wines, such as German Auslese wines. Must be the alcohol.

In his remarks on whisky, Saintsbury mentions a reaction of his to Irish whiskey that is similar to an experience related by Maurice Healy in his Stay Me With Flagons [see my Catalogue GH, #115]: " … it is literally true that on two different occasions I myself … have taken what was supposed to be brandy for Irish whisky." [114-115]. On liqueurs, Saintsbury says he's partial to them. "No doubt they are bad things if you make yourself a slave to them; but then most things to which you make yourself a slave are bad – with some rare exceptions in the case of women, and then only because a few of them accept the slavery as reciprocal." [132]. Another touch of humor (on the subject of his wine cellar, which was infested with rats who were after some grease "that hung just above the top of an iron wine bin, and the ingenious beasts evidently climbed up without displacing the bottles. They, to do them justice, never lost me a drop that way … But their enemy, my Scotch terrier Bounce (whose pedigree I used to keep in the same drawer with my commission as Regius Professor) was more clumsy. He followed me one day without my knowledge, saw a rat, dashed at the bin, and I immediately found him yelling with fear and struggling with the débris and froth of two magnums of champagne. If he had got the rat it would have been some consolation for a rather expensive kind of sport." [196-197].

From one of the tipped-in newspaper obituary clippings [source and date unidentified]: "Professor George Saintsbury is dead at the ripe age of 87. You must note particularly that he was 87 years of age … … His greater claim to immortality lies in the fact that he enjoyed life and knew how to live … … And you are to remember that he reached the age of 87."

First printed July, 1920. Reprinted August, 1920. Reprinted with note. November 1920.

[Fourth printing]. "Edition de Luxe. Fcap. 4to. 1921 (500 copies)." On first leaf: "This edition consists of five hundred copies signed by the author. [signed] George Saintsbury." All pages except ix-xvi and 209-216 bear the watermark of "London Assurance. 1720. 1920." Remaining pages have no watermark, except pages xi-xii: "Holbein." Just a bibliographic tidbit.

Owen Wister (1860-1938) was the author of many books, including Watch Your Thirst (1923). In his preface he tells us that Saintsbury was 75 when he wrote this book. "I don't always agree with Saintsbury, and I am seventy-three, and began to see Sherry and Claret daily on my parents' table as soon as I was old enough to dine downstairs. I think that Johannisberger blue seal of several of the seventies' was a master-wine. What matter. Tastes differ. I can subscribe with a whole heart to most of Saintsbury's opinions, and it has been my good fortune to know, I believe … almost every great wine in the world."

Eleventh printing.

Vicaire (326) lists the first edition of 1714, and three 1715 editions: La Haye, P. Gosse; La Haye, Moetjens; and Leyde. He also lists editions of 1720 and 1734. Bitting (415) and Simon (BG 1346) have the Moetjens edition, and Simon (1345) also has the first P. Gosse edition of 1714. Vicaire says that the work was completely revised by Miger at the end of the 18th century and published in Paris, An VI (1798). Melvyl lists a German edition, Leipzig 1724; English editions London 1723, London 1873; and another French edition, Paris 1799.

From the entry in Fritsch for the edition of 1798: "This charming badinage is the work of Sallengres, French writer born in The Hague in 1694. His family had taken refuge in Holland for religious reasons. He defended his theses in philosophy and law at the University of Leyden in 1711, then practiced law in Holland. In 1717 he visited France and then England before becoming counsellor to the Princess of Nassau. He died of syphilis on the 27th of July, 1723. During his short life Sallengres published a great deal. Gastronomy was without doubt his greatest interest, for besides this Éloge de l'ivresse (which appeared in 1714 when he was 18 years old), we are also indebted to him for a portfolio on the parasite glutton Pierre de Montmaur."

Sallengre expects that the title of his book will make for a bad opinion of its author. They will say that since he writes in praise of drunkenness he is a drunkard by profession. He asks to be judged on the same scale as Erasmus who wrote the Praise of Folly [preface]. In thirty-two chapters Sallengre covers the whole range of arguments for and against drunkenness, while identifying the drinking habits of individuals, classes and nations and the failed attempts over the centuries to control drunkenness through legislation. The final chapters present rules to be followed in getting drunk: not too often, in good company, with good wine, at the right time, not forcing a person to drink, and knowing your limits. Sounds like good advice. I'll drink to that.

The original title page of the English edition is reproduced: "… wherein is authentically and most evidently proved, the necessity of frequently getting drunk … confirmed by the example of Turks, infidels, primitive Christians, saints, popes, bishops, doctors, philosophers, poets, free masons, and other men of learning in all ages. By Boniface Oinophilus, de Monte Fiascone …"

In his preface, Lewis M. Thompson tells us about the claimed authorship of Robert Samber, explains the true authorship of the book and provides some information on the life of Albert Henri de Sallengre. The first of the two frontispiece plates is a copy of the one that appears in the 1715 edition [see item 7 above]. Melvyl lists this title as published by the Torch Press 1910, and again in 1922.

This edition was printed in 700 copies: 50 with a "state of the etching" [état de l'eau-forte], as well as 2 separate suites of the plates, in color and in black & white, numbered from 1 to 50; 200 copies with the 2 suites of illustrations, numbered 51-250; and 400 copies numbered 251-700. This is copy number 41. The etching is captioned "the water drinker" [le buveur d'eau].

From the preface to this edition: "… The book presented here is a jewel of old French heritage, a grandmother's ring set in burnished silver. The carving is of modest style, the shimmer of the thought is misty. All of it is simple, moderate, good-humored, as befits the manner of good society. The 18th century was decidedly not an age of flashy rhetoric. It seems anachronistic to celebrate the juice of the grape at a time when wine is banned from our tables. It doesn't seem quite proper to re-issue this Praise of Drunkenness now that alcoholism is the bête noire of our censors. But isn't there a Minister of Public Instruction who wrote a Praise of Ignorance?" … etc [page 9].

Sallengre's preface is taken from the edition of 1798. It is a slightly revised version of the preface to the 1715 edition.

Copyright 1879. One of a number of treatises from the heyday of the temperance movement that offered detailed proof of the fact that the wines of the bible were non-alcoholic. The author bases most of his "proofs" on linguistic hairsplitting – in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. I had the feeling in browsing through this book that the linguistic expertise was on the same level with the theological and that the author is preaching to the converted. Words have never been able to stop the fermentation process.

The beverage consumed at the Last Supper was of course grape juice, as was the water turned into wine at the famous wedding. "To argue that Jesus must have drunk intoxicating wine because He was at a table where wine was drunk, compels also the admission that He yielded to gluttony and to lust …" [page 164]. Samson cites instances from Egypt, Rome and Greece to bolster his position with repect to Jewish and Christian religious practices. Maybe he's right about the grape juice. Certainly the Christian community grew much more rapidly in the more "liberal" atmosphere of later Rome, with its Bacchic revelries. Samson also claims the support of the medical community to show that the use of wine is as ill-considered now as it was then [page 282 and elsewhere]. Even Hippocrates is cited as a friend of abstemiousness [110].

The preface by Patrick W. Sandeman is dated at London, 1955. This book traces the history of the house of Sandeman and the making of port and sherry. Port is covered on pages 1 through 38, the remainder is dedicated to sherry. The fourth revised edition was published in 1979.

The introduction to this glowing portrait of the California wine industry was written by Samuel T. Bledsoe, who succeeded Storey as president of the railroad in 1933. The Atchinson, Topeka and Santa Fe was very active in support of agriculture in states served by the railroad. The railroad was hit hard by the depression. Bledsoe was president until 1939 "when death would claim him prematurely, yet another victim of the depression." [Constance Libby Menninger in The Gospel of Better Farming According to Santa Fe]. Melvyl lists this title as printed by the Regensteiner Corporation, Chicago.

A series of illustrated thoughts in rhyme, not too sublime, for those in their cups. Such as: The wine does no harm if you do not sip, / It only hurts him who drinks it. / 'Tis not the water outside the ship, / But the water within, that sinks it; – or Soon or late each man must learn / In matrimony's school, / That his wife, just like other wives, / Is married to a fool.

Amerine 2990: "The first American ampelography? Bailey (Cyclopedia, vol. 2, 1546). Bailey states that there is an 1860, 2d edition, that is a reprint of the 1860 1st edition and is not a true 2d edition …" There is no indication of reprint in this copy. Not in Simon.

In the "note by the publisher" A.M. Spangler says that with the first issue of the Farmer and Gardener, a premium was offered for the best essay on the grape. "For reasons which we cannot explain, there was little or no competition." The offer was renewed in a subsequent issue and seven essays were submitted. Saunders' essay was awarded the premium, while the other two were also included here because of "the freshness and novelty of the views" (Cope) and "the research displayed" (McMinn). The bulk of the volume is taken up by Saunders (pages 1-54), followed by Cope (55-72) and McMinn (73-96).

Saunders was a nurseryman, landscape gardener and horticulturist. He was born in Scotland, was trained at Kew Gardens, and came to the US about 1848. In Baltimore, he managed an estate owned by Johns Hopkins. He wrote many articles for Gardener's Monthly, The Horticulturist, and other periodicals. Later he went into the nursery business and also became a landscape gardener, completing the plantings of the National Capital's Park System started by Andrew Downing. In 1862 he was appointed Botanist and Superintendent of Horticulture of the newly created United States Department of Agriculture. He introduced many fruits to the US, including hardy Russian apples, the Japanese persimmon, and the Bahia or Washington Navel Orange. He designed the cemetery at Gettysburg and sat near Lincoln during the famous address. In 1890 he helped establish the tea gardens of Charles W. Shephard near Somerville, SC. According to the National Cyclopaedia of American Biography (1900), he had the largest collection of books and pamphlets on agriculture and horticulture in the US.

Saunders' essay in this book covers all aspects of grape culture – grape varieties, propagation methods, pruning, grape houses, pot culture, etc. Cope advocates propagation from seeds and then pretty much letting nature take its course. "Nature never propagates by scions or cuttings; she does, sometimes, by layers; more frequently by sprouts; but generally by seeds … I am convinced by experience and observation, that no vine can very long maintain its original vigor, which has been for a series of years annually pruned …" [page 64]. McMinn concludes his essay with a vote of confidence: "I confidently anticipate the complete success of the American grape, both as a table fruit and for wine, and I think nothing now remains but to clear away the rubbish, and adopt the best varieties …" [96].

"New, completely revised, redesigned edition." Original edition 1930, new edition 1952, reprinted 1954 and 1959. New edition, revised and reset 1965. There is a note regarding a change in practice since 1930. "At that time, it was considered correct to shake most cocktails: now it is regarded as wrong to do this unless in the ingredients there is a fruit juice. There are exceptions to this rule, but briefly it is safe to stir a clear mixture and shake a cloudy one." There is, however, no indication as to whether it is safe to drink these mixtures.

For those who find the sweetness of port not quite deadening enough, there is the "Chocolate Cocktail (No. 2): yolk of 1 fresh egg, ¼ Yellow Chartreuse, ¾ Port Wine, 1 teaspoonful of Crushed chocolate. Shake well and strain …" [page 43]. As an antidote, try the "Choker Cocktail: 2/3 Whisky, 1/3 Absinthe, I dash Absinthe Bitters. This cocktail is to be very thoroughly shaken and no sweetening in any form should be added." [43]. A warning label appears on the endpaper: "Drink this, and you can drink anything; new laid eggs put in it immediately become hard-boiled."

Contains a chapter on "Culture of the Grape" and another on "Management of the Vinery" [pages 108-137]. The copy listed in Amerine (2998) is apparently missing the book catalog pages – one at frontis and 2 at end.

A miscellany of wine drinking tales from the Rhine country, written in verse. At the end, the author suggests that anyone who feels the poet is having problems and that wine could be beneficial might consider sending a supply to him via his publisher. An unusual little booklet.

Copyright 1891. A treatise on drink, with a few historical pages on menus and dining customs as they related to drinks. The bulk of the book is devoted to mixed drinks [pages 105-271], and in his preface the author describes his credentials as a mixer. There is an index of drinks at the end.

This copy is identical to item 18 above, except for minor variations in the pagination and the covers. Of special interest is a scarce price list of the Brotherhood Wine Co, New York, pasted in on front endpaper – 14.5 cm, 32 pages, burgundy wraps. There is no date, but the latest vintage wine listed is 1895. Also inscribed on endpaper: "Compliments of E.H. King." Edward H. King is listed in the catalogue as a director of the Brotherhood Wine Company.

I have seen a copy of this book described by book sellers as bound in "navy blue" or "blue" cloth. One entry states that there is a "tissue-guarded frontispiece photo of author … Navy blue boards with gold and silver depiction of steaming bowl on front board, gilt lettering." There is no evidence in either of my two copies of a missing frontispiece.

In Bertelsmann's Steckenpferd-Bücherei series. A chatty introduction to cocktails and mixed drinks, and all the attendant party do's and don'ts. The author begins by explaining how he came by his hobby after having been exclusively a wine drinker. There are details on how to set up a bar, the origin and nature of the various spirits that are used, and of course numerous cocktail and other drink recipes and mixing techniques.

Another cocktail book, less detailed, by the author of item 20 above. Needless to say, most of the drinks are of American origin. Melvyl lists several Schmoeckel titles on wine and drinks published in the 1990s.

©1964. A journey through the wine country of Franconia with a miscellany of history, lore and eulogy, as well as sketches of specific wines. There is a chapter for each month of the year, with the opening sentence identical for each: "In January it's particularly pleasant in Mainfranken," … "In February it's particularly pleasant in Mainfranken," and so on. A different vintage is described in each chapter: 1186, 1631/32, 1899, 1857, 1895, 1431, etc. A little bit of everything. Schnack was a collector of wine labels, old maps, and bird feathers. His other works include poetry and fiction.

2. Auflage. ©1965, 1967. As far as I can tell, identical to the first edition (item 22 above), except for the revised title page, the catalog pages at the end, and lower paper quality. Melvyl lists only this second edition.

A miniature book. No date (acquired 1966). A collection of literary passages on wine. Authors cited include Goethe, Schiller, Kerner, von Scheffel, von Eichendorff, Mörike, Hauff, von Grimmelshausen, Cervantes ... and Friedrich Schnack! Friedrich was Anton's older brother, and wrote books on nature and natural history, notably on the subject of butterflies (Das Leben der Schmetterlinge, 1928, republished 1958).

A minibook. No date (acquired 1970). A small collection of literary pieces on wine. Authors include Hesiod, Euripides, Horace, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Klopstock, Fontane, Joseph Wechsberg (from Blue Trout and Black Truffles). Two of the plates illustrate the wine harvest – one by Goya, another by György Lehoczky.

Schoonmaker had written a series of major articles on wine for the New Yorker. These were expanded into the present book, unusual for its time – just after the end of Prohibition – in its detail and scope. The journey through the wines of the world begins, notably, with "American Wines," and there are chapters on the wines of France, Germany, Italy, Spain & Portugal, and other countries, followed by chapters on home made wines, the cellaring, buying, serving and drinking of wine, wine in the kitchen, and finally a chapter on spirits. Also included are charts of the Bordeaux classification, Burgundy vineyards and shippers of port, sherry and madeira. At the end there are a few blank wine record pages.

The introduction and lead chapter are devoted to Schoonmaker's pet peeves – wine legislation in the US and "the abracadabra of wine." One often sees references to wine snobs (or pontificators) in wine writing, but rarely is one given specific examples. Schoonmaker names names: "A pair of epicures … tell us that … Pouilly is ‘deep golden, sweeter than Chablis, something like Sauternes’ … [Carlisle and Dunn, Wining and Dining with Rhyme and Reason]. From the dining halls of Hollywood comes cloth-bound counsel for the nation on ‘the lost art of polite drinking’ [Alma Whitaker, Bacchus Behave], the feminine author of which assures us that ‘Port originally (sic) came out of Portugal,’ that many West Coast connoisseurs prefer a ‘French brand’ of Sherry … to Monteledo, whatever that may be, and that ‘connoisseurs … will tell you that a Champagne less than twenty years old is unfit for human consumption.’ A San Francisco wine authority ‘explains’ the brazen appropriation of honorable European place names on the part of California wine makers by stating that ‘to the wine buyer the name is not a geographic name any longer, but is the name of a particular type of wine,’ and gives weight to his assertion by listing ‘French Sauterne’ as a ‘dry type.’ [H.F. Stoll. Wine Wise]." [page 15]. But Schoonmaker, of course, makes statements of his own, in defense of rules for wine-drinking: "One does not hear Kreisler and Paul Whiteman on the same concert program … nor does one hang a Degas in the kitchen. And the real rules of wine drinking are almost equally obvious …" [17]. Luckily for him, he was spared the concert halls and kitchens of the 21st century. About American wine, Schoonmaker has good and bad things to say. Among the bad are the genius of California vintners who have devised a chemical way of rapidly aging wines to achieve properties "that would otherwise be acquired in three years of ageing. Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad." [41].

An interesting document of the state of wine and wine knowledge in America in 1934. Schoonmaker’s wine books were preceded by European travel books, beginning with Through Europe on $2 a Day (1927). For more information, see the entry on Schoonmaker in the Oxford Companion to Wine.

Another copy, well used, with marking and underlining. The blank pages at end are completely filled in with lists of wine purchases – many 1928 and 1929 Bordeaux (first and second growths mostly) and Burgundy vintages, as well as Tokay, Sherry, Port, Champagne, German & Spanish. For wines purchased, the owner recorded the number of bottles (ca 250 in all), date purchased (January & February 1936), name of dealer (Lehmann, Macy, Hearn, Bates & Schoonmaker [?]), and references to pages in this book. An interesting contemporary document of a wine cellar aborning.

"Second and revised edition." Contents appear to be identical. Title page is revised. Also published by George Routledge, London, 1935 [22 cm. xv, 262, (9 wine record blanks) pages]. Schoonmaker's American Wines was published in 1941.

An isolated copy of this winery periodical. Unsigned material on Almadén, and on Clos des Goisses, "the most remarkable vineyard in all the Champagne country," is presumably by Schoonmaker. Articles by other contributors include "Food for Spring and Conversation" by Jeanne Owen, "Gastronomy in Baltimore" by Tom Marvel, and "In Quest of Wine and Lampreys" by H. Warner Allen.

This was my German wine bible during the sixties and early seventies. An excellent guide through the maze of German wines and vineyards, now somewhat out-dated because of changes in the wine laws, though old traditions have a habit of surviving, in one form or another.

Revised edition, May 1966. "Preface to the revised edition" pages vii-viii. Addenda notes pages 144-148. Included in the addenda is a note regarding Eiswein. "… this is a rare oddity which could almost be considered an accidental Auslese; it is made from the first pressing of frozen grapes … The result is a rather sweet, interesting wine, usually less well-balanced and considerably less fine than a true Auslese." This is rather interesting to me, since Canada now produces much of the world's icewine, made by the same method as German icewine [Eiswein], but apparently achieving higher qualities because of the more cooperative winter weather, and thus gaining world-wide recognition. Unfortunately, the current global taste in wine and the political pressures of the European Common Market do not favor the production of the great Auslese wines of the past, let alone the truly incomparable Trockenbeerenauslese wines. Let's hope we will not lose the opportunity to savor the differences.

The third edition is dated 1969, and another, revised by Peter Sichel, was published 1980.

August 1969. Original title Encyclopedia of Wine, Hastings House, New York. Licensed by Süddeutscher Verlag, München, from the 2nd revised edition, ©1967. ©1965 Frank Schoonmaker.

Schoonmaker's Dictionary of Wines was published 1951, followed in 1964 by the Encyclopedia of Wine, revised and expanded by Julius Wile 1978, and completely revised by Alexis Bespaloff 1988.

A technical treatise on the subject. Volume 20 in The International Scientific Series. The 4 catalog pages at the front are identical to those at the back. Other editions: in English, New York 1876, 1879, 1882, 1887,1889, 1893, 1896 and 1900, London 1876, 1880, 1883; in German, Leipzig 1876; in French, Paris 1864, 5th edition 1889, 6th edition revised 1896. In 1865 [or 1869?], Schützenberger invented acetate rayon, called celanese, first used commercially in fabrics in 1904.

First printed 1953. A story about the an old wine maker in France, reminiscing about his vineyard and wines following a banquet in honor of his retirement. He remains seated at the table after all the guests have departed and continues to taste and drink the wines of the vineyard he loved. A limited edtion of this work was published by the Yolla Bolly Press of Covelo, CA in 1996.

Scott was explorer, statesman, advertising representative, publicity manager and author. He was wine correspondent for the Daily Telegraph during his time there from 1933 to 1965, but was best known as explorer and writer. In 1928-29 he was a member of H.G. Watkins' expedition to Labrador, and a year later, again with Watkins, he completed a 450-mile trek in 29 days in Greenland, which earned him a Polar Medal. He wrote on Labrador, as well as the Arctic and Antarctic.

First [US] edition. The woodcut-type illustrations in this edition are not quite as clear and crisp as in the UK edition (item 34)

The author voices a rather negative opinion of wine. "Every one seems to have a darling Liquor, which he is disposed to commend and celebrate at the Expente of all the rest. This he extols to the Skies; and … finds it … adapted to the Cure or Prevention of all Diseases … And … he proceeds … to prove all other Liquors good for nothing …" He goes on to say that malt liquor has been vilified and he's afraid the legislature will soon prohibit its use. It is because of the strength of our own malt liquors that our men out-work and out-fight any nation on earth. "How quickly are the Spirits of the Grape evaporated, in Comparison of those which are produced from our Barley? Let a Military Foreigner enter the Field, his Veins flowing with Burgundy and Champaign … in a short Time his fine Spirits are drawn off, and you find the Man almost reduced to a Caput Mortuum. Very different are the Effects of the Englishman's Ale and Beef … his Perseverance is as remarkable as his Courage. If the Wine-Drinkers Abroad accuse our Liquor of rendering us obnoxious to Coughs, Consumptions, and Dropsies, it might be sufficient to retort upon them their Gout, and their Stone." [preface]. The treatise covers the subject of malt liquors in eight chapters: antiquity, how produced, their nature, usefulness, when appropriate to consume, differences in malt liquors, physiological considerations, and comparison with wines.

Simon does not list this title, but lists another work by James Sedgwick (BV and BG), for which Melvyl's entry reads: "A new treatise on liquors: wherein the use and abuse of wine, malt-drinks, water, etc. are particularly consider'd in many diseases, constitutions, and ages. With the proper manner of using them, hot, or cold either as physick, diet, or bath. Containing plain and easy rules for the preservation of health, and the attainment of long life.. London, Charles Rivington, 1725. 6, xviii, [22], 407, p. 20 cm." The person from whom my copy was originally purchased had identified the author of the present essay as James Sedgwick, but did not specify the source of the information.

Published July, 1930. Seldes was a literary and editorial writer. In this book his aim is to discuss the future of drinking, not the future of Prohibition. As the dustjacket blurb states, "this is an ironic account of the two new religions in America: the fanatic religion against drinking and the equally fanatic religion of compulsory drunkenness." Seldes devotes some space to the "woman drinker," saying that she was probably not created by Prohibition, which came just after "the triumph of Woman Suffrage, and the fact that women had taken to drinking, with their characterisitic thoroughness, just when Prohibition became legal, may be merely a coincidence …" … "… the woman drinker has always been a thorn in the flesh of the man she is drinking with – and to anticipate the conclusion – it is very likely that the future of drinking lies in the hands of women." [page 66]. As for the pre-Prohibition era, "it is no use pretending that the art of drinking was ever skillfully practised in America. Not even in the Gilded Age, when Ward McAllister spoke of putting ice into … white wines and specifically champagne …" [74]. After listing some of the cocktail recipes of pre-Prohibition days, Seldes says that "if this revolting catalogue is correctly dated … the bill of complaint against the woman drinker is perceptibly diminished … [Her] effect on the taste of drinks is due partly … to the fact that she began drinking in a country already low in taste …" [86-87]. Interesting social history and commentary.

Seldes was managing editor of the literary journal The Dial from 1920 to 1923, the years of its greatest prestige, and was program director for CBS 1937-45. He published editions of Aristophanes' Frogs and Lysistrata, but was known particularly for his The Seven Lively Arts. Arthur Schlesinger Jr. described Seldes as "an exuberant man, generous and funny, overflowing with charm, curiosity, wit and passion."

First published 1957. In his preface, Seltman refers to Henderson's 1824 History of Ancient and Modern Wines. "Since that date – as far as I am aware – no book has appeared in the English language dealing with our subject … When Mr Henderson wrote his learned work, the science of archaeology was as yet unborn. Minoans were unheard of; the Mycenaean phase of Hellenic life unimagined; Athenian vases were called Tuscan urns … … [Archaeology] has been able to contribute far more to our knowledge about wine and the gods of wine in the ancient world than ever could have been imagined at the beginning of the last century." A dustjacket note on the author tells us that he died just before the publication of this book. H. Warner Allen's A History of Wine, which deals extensively, though by no means exclusively, with wine in the ancient world, was published in 1961. Younger's Gods, Men and Wine followed in 1966.

Seltman was active in numerous archaeological organizations and published a number of books and articles on classical antiquities. One of his hobbies was cooking.

First published 1964. On dustjacket: "The name Richard Serjeant conceals the identity of a consultant surgeon." The author covers social, legal and physiological aspects of drinking wine, beer and spirits. This statement by the author, in the first chapter, is characteristic: "Medical indications for taking alcohol are remarkably few; a glance at chapter 8 will in fact reveal far more reasons for not having any. However, there is a tendency among doctors to adhere to statistical and scientific considerations for what patients should have and do, while allowing humanity to influence their own behavior. There may not be any sound pharmacological basis for prescribing a daily glass of stout for a lonely old man in hospital just because he feels like it, but to see him enjoying it is a rewarding experience – even a moving one." [page 15].

Richard Serjeant was a pseudonym for William Van Essen, consultant surgeon, Woolwich Group, London. He wrote on aspects of medicine and on flying (Private Flying for Leisure and Business).

©1955. A second "corrected" edition was published in 1962 – also 343 pages. As indicated by the title, this is a wine reader covering the old and the new – from wine in the Bible, Mesopotamia, China, Rome, to the wines of Germany and other European countries, with selections of prose and poetry from a number of literary sources.

One of Shand's bêtes noires was teetotalism: "Teetotalism and castration are analogous abnegations …" [page 14]. Another was champagnisation ("prostitution") of all kinds of wine to still the "insatiable public appetite for effervescence …" [47]. Still another was the urge to "think imperially." "Australian Burgundy and South African Hock could not pass muster for the French and German wines they so unblushingly pretend to be …" Of the four main sources of Empire wines – South Africa, Australia, Palestine and Cyprus – "only the first and last are in any real sense wine-drinking countries." [56]. Very entertaining reading.

Shand's other great interest was architecture. He translated Walter Gropius' New Architecture and the Bauhaus from the German – London, 1935.

First of a number of wine books by Shand, in the Saintsbury / Warner Allen tradition. [Allen's Wines of France, 1924, is listed in the bibliography: "The most recent book, excellent as far as it goes."] The preface is dated at Lyons, August 1925. Shand holds strong opinions on various aspects of wine and has no difficulty communicating them. In the introduction he presents his views on the Prohibitionists: "Like Calvin, their egregious master, they think that the world can be made ‘good’ … by dint of decrees, tribunals, and penalties, forgetting that Calvin himself was a regular wine-drinker and received his supplies gratis from an as gloomy and ferociously intolerant ‘sanctified’ community as history has ever seen." [pages xi-xii]. He begins his survey of the wine countries with Portugal. Port wine is a serious sport to the Englishman in the tradition of fishing and fox-hunting. "The added alcohol … must first be given time to work itself out, just as the fox must have a fair start, the salmon be played patiently … With Port it is the spirit of the cult of the wine which matters far more than the wine's actual relative or intrinsic worth." [25]. Dr. Johnson loved Port, but so did "the gross and noisy Bismarck" and "Luther would probably have appreciated Port as much as Heine would have abhorred it … Dr. Johnson … was more eclectic and respectable in his tastes than Luther till it came to Port …" [26]. And so on.

Following Portugal, there are chapters on Spain, France (more than 100 pages), Germany, Switzerland, Italy, then Central Europe, the Balkans, the British Empire (including Palestine), and "The Rest of the World" (including Asia Minor, China, Japan and the Americas). Speaking of California vineyards: "That these immense vineyards have now been converted to the production of raisins need cause no particular grief. The raisins they yield are on a par with the wines they have supplanted: that is to say, they are very far from being the best that the world has to offer." [287]. In the next paragraph: "The island of Cuba produces a tart but refreshing wine made from native grapes."

The preface is dated at Lyons, April 6, 1927. A rambling essay on food, with chapters on seasonings, bread, soup ("A woman who cannot make soup should not be allowed to marry …") [page 104]), fish, vegetables, meat, cheese, dessert, beverages, as well as more general introductory chapters. All of it is both opinionated and fun reading. Shand tells us that his wife is French and he dedicates the book to her "… who has been instrumental in transforming … a bundle of cantankerous bones into a bushel of contented fat …" He looks forward eagerly to his periodical home-comings to England – for the lawns, the parks, the squares – but not the food. People ask "What's wrong with England?" Shand has a two-word answer: "The cooking." [16].

On medicine: "My own grandfather, a physician eminent in his day for the polished perfection of his bed-side manner, used to tell a story of how he was once called in to attend a little girl suffering from typhoid fever. Being satisfied that there was no hope of the child's recovery, he broke the terrible news to the distracted parents and added that since medical science was powerless to save their daughter, they might as well let her have anything she cared to eat. The little girl promptly asked for pickled walnuts with some insistence and made a very good recovery on the strength of them. Doctors persist in thinking – on behalf of their patients, I mean – that we eat but to live … What medical opinion … condemns in one generation it implores humanity to adopt in the next, and vice versa … … two or three decades ago they banished light wines from our tables … though they never dreamed of censuring port, the most unwholesome wine there is." [30-31].

This is an expanded version of Shand's earlier A Book of Wine, 1926 (see item 42 above). Again, the preface is dated at Lyons (May-September, 1927). The crippling coal strike of 1926 had depleted Britain's treasury and wine was to "assume a heavy part of the fiscal burden. It may be fairly safely prohesied that, as far as wine is concerned, Mr. Churchill's 1927 Budget [Sir Winston was Chancellor of the Exchequer under Baldwin 1924-29] is destined to become as historic as Mr. Gladstone's budget of 1861, which reduced the duty on light wines to a shilling a gallon. Thanks to Mr. Churchill's statesmanship and sound finance, lasting good has come of a great national misfortune … For the first time since the pernicious and meaningless 30 degrees proof dividing line was adopted the natural wines are no longer to be victimised in favour of the unnaturally fortified wines of Portugal and Spain …" Mr. Churchill had not yet ‘had the pleasure’ of tasting native British distillations, but he was working on it. "This can only be described as heroism. Britain may well be proud to have a Minister who … does not shrink from an ordeal that would daunt nine professional wine-tasters out of ten …" Since Port wine would not be able to ‘carry’ the new duty, some merchants were already reported to be planning shipment of 3 hogsheads of wine up to 25 degrees for every one of 40, blending them after they cleared bond, thus producing a wine of 28 degrees, about halving the duty on resulting wines of acceptably high alcoholic content. "The commercial morality which openly countenances such sleight-of-hand is apt to prove a discouraging example to the average sore-tried tax-payer, who has not the same resources of evasion at his command." [preface]. Eminently readable stuff.

A revised and expanded version of this title was published in 1960 by Jonathan Cape, London.

Publisher's note tipped in on page (v): "… The greater part of the material in this book is derived from a work, now out-of-print, by the same author entitled A Book of Wine which was published by Guy Chapman in 1926. Alfred A. Knopf."

See item 45 above.

Number 135 in the Gold Medal Book series. Complete guide for the home bartender, with tons of recipes for mixtures to get drunk on, and ending with a chapter of advice on the inevitable hangover.

©1934. First printing, May 1934 – 50,000. Second printing, August 1934 – 100,000. Third printing, October 1934 – 100,000.

Shaw states in his preface ("Advertisement") that this essay was inspired by Lord Bacon's [Francis Bacon, 1561-1625] philosophical works, and seeks to promote "the design of that Author, in the Chemical Branch: … reducing a small part thereof nearer to practice." Shaw had translated ["methodized, and made English"] Bacon's philosophical works, published in three volumes, London 1733. He says that the design of the "several Volumes already published of the French Encyclopaedia … seems to be the completion of [Bacon's] Sylva Sylvarum."

From the Dictionary of Scientific Biography (Scribner's 1981): "From 1733 to 1737 he practiced at Scarborough and was active in promoting its spa. [Shaw's Enquiry into the Contents, Virtues, and Uses, of the Scarborough Spa-Waters … was published in London 1734]. He became involved with the notorious Joanna Stephens' remedies, which, as she claimed, dissolved urinary calculi in situ. They were a complex mixture that included calcined snail shells and soap, and Shaw believed in their efficacy." Shaw was admitted to the College of Physicians in 1740 and became physician in ordinary to George II in 1760, the last year of his reign, and continued in the same post with George III. He died March 15, 1763 and was buried in the nave of Wimbledon church. [Dictionary of National Biography].

Shaw made much of his living translating, writing and editing books on medicine and chemistry. In the 18th century, "chemists found employment for their skills" at universities and academies in Germany, Scandinavia and France. In England, Shaw "was the first chemist to explore this kind of occupation in the early 1730s; by the 1770s he had several imitators in London and the provinces." [article on chemistry by Jan Golinski, to appear in the Cambridge History of Science, vol. 4, 2001].

Simon BG #1378. See Simon BG #1377 for Shaw's Juice of the Grape …, 1724. The first edition of the present work was published in 1731 (Simon BV, page 4, and again on page 151??). See also Gabler, page 244 and Noling, page 370.

A detailed look at the wines of the world, beginning with Port and Sherry, followed by chapters on France, and the rest of Europe and the world. The concluding chapters are on the handling of wine and on gout. There are lists of "all known wines," "wines of France" and "wines not French." Shaw acknowledges assistance from Jullien's Topographie de tous les vignobles connus [pages 379-429]. In the chapter on "America – California," Shaw quotes Longfellow's poem Catawba Wine, saying that those "beautiful lines … make me somewhat timid in expressing opinions so very different from his …" [351-53].

This work is the product of Shaw's near 42 years' experience as a London wine merchant. See Gabler, pages 244-245, for more information.

This second edition, published only a year after the first, includes a number of additions and deletions: added plate illustrations and foldout charts, introductory chapter expanded from 64 to 122 pages, "lists of known wines" are omitted, the appendix is reduced from 12 items to 2. The chapter on "America – California" has added material on grape culture in Canada (pages 471-473). This edition was reprinted by the Bacchus Press of Baltimore in 1992[?].

In an article in the Wine Spectator, dated March 31, 1988, Matt Kramer talks at some length about his encounter with a "pristine copy" of this book in the Shields Library at UC Davis. I'll cite only one paragraph: "As for wine writers: ‘Others who do know a little, but a very little, talk and write as if their knowledge were so perfect that no one must presume to question their statements and assertions.’ I felt a stab from the grave. Do you have any idea how hard it is to discreetly mop up bloodstains in a public library?"

The first 10 chapters cover the history of wines and vines, and on viticulture, including a chapter on the vineyards of England and another on wine writers from Homer and Aristotle to Redding, Chaptal, Denman and others. Chapters 11-19 cover the wines of the world. Finally, there are general chapters on wine and its management, followed by 7 chapters on malt liquors and distilled spirits. A lot of territory for a book of its size. Sheen, like Shaw, includes Longfellow's Catawba Wine in the chapter on America and California. The preface is dated at London, December 1864, and the closing line reads: "A Happy New Year to All!"

A general introduction to wine by a very knowledgeable wine merchant. Part one introduces the principles of wine-making, and how to recognize and assess them. Part two is a general discussion of vineyards, vinification, the selection of wines. Part three presents a survey of the wines of the world. Part four contains vintage listings, a bibliography, glossary and maps.