The Jancis Robinson Story | Mission Blind Tasting | Wine writing competition

Vintage wine books seek a home

• 3 min read
Christopher Johnson who lives in Cambridge and works in London sends the following:
 
A family friend gave me some 35 wine books some years ago, mostly hardback and from the 1960s, although there are some from the ‘50s and early ‘70s.

I no longer have room for them but, rather than giving them to a charity shop or antiquarian bookseller, I would like to find someone who would really like them. I’m prepared to give them either gratis
[although he would presumably expect the recipient to pay the postage] or for a charitable donation.
 
A list of these books, a period piece in itself, appears below. May I, Jancis, suggest that anyone interested in acquiring any of these books contacts Christopher at [email protected] to organise their despatch and also makes an appropriate donation here to one of Nick and my favourite charities, Room to Read? You can read more here about this extraordinary organisation which has opened up hundreds of schools and libraries for underprivileged children throughout Asia in the last few years.
 
Christopher Johnson’s wine books
(all hardback, unless marked S)
 
·         *John Aye: The humour of drinking. Universal Publications. 1934
·         Banco de Vizcaya: Jerez la Frontera. (S)
·         Sarah Bradford: The Englishman’s wine – the story of port. Macmillan. 1969
·         David Burroughs & Norman Bezzant. Wine regions of the world. Heinemann. 1981 (1st : 1979)
·         Johnnie Cradock: Wine for today. Frederick Muller. 1975
·         Anne Crawford: A history of the Vintners’ Company. Constable. 1977
·         Rupert Croft-Cooke: Sherry. Putnam. 1955
·         Hubrecht Duijker: The great wine châteaux of Bordeaux. Times Books. 1975
·         Patrick Forbes: Champagne – the wine, the land and the people. Gollancz. 1967
·         German Wine Institute: A short guide to German wines (S)
·         Manuel M Gonzalez Gordon: Sherry – the noble wine. Cassell. 1972 translation (original 1948)
·         *Winfrid Heinen: Gesamtwerk deutscher Wein: Mosel, Saar, Ruwer. Heinen Verlag. 1979
·         Jean Hugel : ...And give it my blessing... 1967 (S)
·         Louis Jacquelin & René Poulain (trans. TA Layton): The wines & vineyards of France. Paul Hamlyn. 1962
·         *Alexis Lichine: Encyclopaedia of wines & spirits. Cassell. 1967 2nd ed (1st: 1967)
·         Oscar Mendelsohn: The dictionary of drink & drinking. Macmillan. 1965
·         *A Massel: Basic viticulture. Heidelberg Publications. 1976 (2nd ed; 1st: 1971)(S)
·         P Morton Shand: A book of French wines. Jonathan Cape. 1963 impression of 1960 revised edition of 1928 original
·         Lamberto Paronetto: Chianti – The story of Florence & its wines. Wine & Spirit Publications. 1st English edition 1970
·         Edmund Penning-Rowsell (intro): German Wine Atlas. Davis-Poynter. 1977 (S)
·         Cyril Ray: The Wines of Italy. Octopus
·         *Cyril Ray: The Compleat Imbiber. Putnam. 1956
·         Desmond Seward: Monks & Wine. Mitchell Beazley
·         André Simon: The history of the wine trade in England; vol 1. Wyman & sons. 1960
·         André Simon: The History of Champagne. Ebury Press. 1962
·         André Simon: The noble grapes & the great wines of France. Octopus
·         *André Simon: The commonsense of wine. (foreword by André Maurois) The Wine & Food Society / Michael Joseph. 1966
·         André Simon & SF Hallgarten: The great wines of Germany. McGraw-Hill. 1963
·         Kreis Trier-Saarburg – Jahrbuch 1974
·         H Warner Allen: The wines of Portugal. George Rainbird / Michael Joseph. 1963
·         H Warner Allen: A history of wine. Faber & Faber. 1961
·         *John Watney: Beer is best – a history of beer. Peter Owen. 1974
·         *Basil Woon: The big little wines of France. Vol 1. Wine & Spirit Publications. 1972
·         William Younger: Gods, men & wine. George Rainbird / Michael Joseph. 1966
 
* = had been thinking of keeping myself, but would happily give to someone keen.
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