This book about wines, and to a lesser extent about spirits and beers, is a delightful new departure for Colin Wilson. There are, as he says in his Introduction, two kinds of books about wine: one is simply informative, the other is intended to convey to the reader the pleasure of people who enjoy drinking wine, works of the order of Saintsbury's Notes on a Cellar Book. Colin Wilson's is emphatically a book of the latter kind: personal, chatty, discursive.

Yet for all its witty diversions, the book contains a lot of hard information. The chapter on the wines of France, the famous and little-known, is of course the heart of the book, and there is also much about hock and Moselle, and about the wines of Italy, Spain and Portugal. In addition, there's a section on beers and spirits, and the book ends 'In Praise of Pubs'. Mr Wilson takes us from country to country, region to region, vineyard to vineyard, telling us most of the great wines, adding some discoveries of his own, and spicing it all with personal reminiscence. Moreover, he reveals himself as not only a considerable wine drinker but as a keen pub man.

Publisher: Victor Gollancz Ltd.

Year: 1974, First Edition

Condition: Excellent burgundy hardcover with gilt lettering in a very good price-clipped dust jacket which has a little shelf wear along the top and previous owner's name on the flyleaf. (see photos)

A Book of Booze by Colin Wilson Hardcover/Dust Jacket, First Edition, 1974