A good read
Ian Buxton peruses the library for some of the finest whisky books
How would you like a whisky investment that you can enjoy, display in your home, share with friends and which, however often you use it, will never wear out? And, as a special bonus, will almost certainly go up in value over the long term?
It sounds appealing. You’ve probably worked out that it’s not a collectable bottle.
Open your precious vintage malt and the collectable value is gone faster than you can drink the dram you’ve just poured.
For that reason collectable bottles tantalise us: we can savour the anticipation of opening them but, once opened, drinking the contents is all that’s left to us. So here’s a better idea: collect whisky books.
They look good and, provided you are careful with handling, can be enjoyed and still retain their value. In fact, they’ll proved to be a worthwhile investment and retain a historical interest for the true enthusiast.
Most collectable whisky books are in English and were published before 1950.
Books about Scotch whisky written from a consumer perspective really begin in 1930 with the publication of Aeneas Macdonald’s Whisky (of which more later).
Prior to this, however, there are a number of titles published for a trade audience or for the purposes of political lobbying.
An early and important title is George Smith’s The Practical Distiller Or, a Brief Treatise of Practical Distillation published in 1718 by Bernard Lintot.
Period editions are very hard to find and expensive but collectors may be satisfied by t.....
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By Ian Buxton
Section : Whisky books
Page number : 50
