WHISKY GALORE - SMWS PRINTING

[Deactivated Member]

I've had the Scotch Malt Whisky Society's printing of "Whisky Galore" for a while, but it's only just struck me what great value it represents at just £15.

A poor quality paperback version of this novel can cost £7 or £8.

Yet the SMWS version is a hardback printing on quality paper. What's more, secreted within it is a 25 year old single cask malt whisky miniature(52.1% ABV). It's either "Glenlivet" or "Glenfarclas".

Truly great value for money !!!!

[irishwhiskeychaser]

I got a hard back version also and paid....

I bought it on ebay along with a hardback version of Jim Murray's Complete Book of Whisky for the grand total of £10 sterling including postage

Looks like it was sponsored by Dewars as it contains a mini of Dewars white label in a space cut into the pages which is quite cool.

Bargain

[Deactivated Member]

Ron (rthomson) bought one of these at the Vaults last year. I seem to recall that it was a Glenfarclas inside.

[Ian Buxton]

This is quite a funny story. The book was originally sponsored by Dewar's, around 1999, shortly after the Bacardi acquisition of the brand. I brokered the sponsorship deal as I was doing a lot of marketing consultancy work for the new Dewar's marketing team.
The problem then arose that Canongate (publishers) found the book rejected by the conventional book trade as it contained a miniature of Dewar's White Label and therefore any store required a licence to retail alcohol in order to sell the book - and bookshops tend not to have liquor licences! None of the geniuses involved (self included) had thought about this small problem.

So Dewar's took some for gifts and to sell at Dewar's World of Whisky and the publishers managed to sell a few to whisky shops and so forth - but they were stuck with a pile of books they couldn't shift and an unhappy sponsor.
After a suitable delay they took the Dewar's dustjacket off the book, returned the rest of the miniatures to Dewar's and flogged off the stock cheaply to the SMWS who put their own miniature in it!
As a result, the Dewar's version, with d/j, miniature and branded bookmark is quite collectable. I have seen them fetch $75+ on eBay.
I just wish I had kept more than one copy for myself - but it was a bit of an embarrasment all round at the time!

[irishwhiskeychaser]

Excellent ... so my book is worth a few quid .... I still have the white label miniature intact but I reckon I'll hang on to it. I got it by default too ... as it was the first edition Murray book I was after which is still not worth anything .

Great story Ian thanks for sharing.

[Di Blasi]

Yes, thanks for sharing Ian, as I too bought a version from The Vaults August 2006. I have yet to crack the book or the bottle, as I hoped it would gain in value, after such a great deal. I guess we'll see.

[Deactivated Member]

Ian

Thanks for the great background. Whatever the history, I think that £15 delivered for this book is really, really great value. And it would make a fab gift.

[Ian Buxton]

No question - at £15 it's a steal. But what you want - what you really, really want - is the Dewar's edition. That's the "collectable" one (due to the incompetence of a select band, including but not limited to, yours truly!)

[Di Blasi]

No question - at £15 it's a steal. But what you want - what you really, really want - is the Dewar's edition. That's the "collectable" one (due to the incompetence of a select band, including but not limited to, yours truly!)

Where to get that one Ian???

[Ian Buxton]

Ah, if I knew that I'd go get another copy for myself! As you'll see from my original post they just have to be rare (hence "collectable"). But they do turn up on eBay from time to time.
Having said that, Dewar's have probably got boxes full of them that they've forgotten about!
Whatever you do, if you get a Dewar's one, don't drink the miniature (as if).

[irishwhiskeychaser]

Okay lets start the bidding on my copy .... just want to get a feel for what it's worth

I'll even empty the the mini for you if you don't like Dewar's White Label


Hey Ian quick question ... did it also come with a Dewar's book marker in the shape of a bottle of WHite Label as there is one with my book also.

[Di Blasi]

Good going irishwhiskeychaser!

[Ian Buxton]

Hey Ian quick question ... did it also come with a Dewar's book marker in the shape of a bottle of WHite Label as there is one with my book also.

Hi, yes that should be there to make the edition complete. It's printed on some kind of toughened paper. I remember it was difficult to find this stuff (can't remember why we wanted it now) and then we were disappointed by the print quality!

[irishwhiskeychaser]

Hey Ian quick question ... did it also come with a Dewar's book marker in the shape of a bottle of WHite Label as there is one with my book also.

Hi, yes that should be there to make the edition complete. It's printed on some kind of toughened paper. I remember it was difficult to find this stuff (can't remember why we wanted it now) and then we were disappointed by the print quality!

Just had a closer and which if I had bothered in the first place would not have needed to ask the question as there is a tiny bio on Compton on it

Thanks a million anyway Ian... a very interesting back ground story to this edition...