A walk down memory lane: French Wine and Havana Cigars

[El Presidente]

 

 

[JohnS]

This book was limited to just 300 copies in 1929? (Granted, that was a pivotal year in the 20th century, that's for sure!) How fortunate to even have a copy!

[Puros Y Vino]

Hmm. Might have to look for a digital copy on Google books.

[zacca]

This is amazing. I definitely need to source a copy. 

[BrightonCorgi]

9 hours ago, Puros Y Vino said:

Hmm.  Might have to look for a digital copy on Google books.

Let us know if you find it. Would be interested in reading this book as well.

[JDoughty]

5 hours ago, zacca said:

This is amazing. I definitely need to source a copy. 

AbeBooks has a print on demand reprint of the original for $30. A signed first edition is also listed for $234. 

[loose_axle]

9 hours ago, JohnS said:

This book was limited to just 300 copies in 1929? (Granted, that was a pivotal year in the 20th century, that's for sure!) How fortunate to even have a copy!

A book on wine and Havana cigars comes out and then a major crash happens... and @ATGroom just printed a pivotal book on Havana cigars 

[ATGroom]

2 hours ago, loose_axle said:

A book on wine and Havana cigars comes out and then a major crash happens... and @ATGroom just printed a pivotal book on Havana cigars 

At least I got to sell a few more than 300 copies before everybody's money ran out.😁

It does seem like a bit of a strange number for this book, ie, it's only 100 pages, small size, lot of white space. There probably aren't more than 20,000 words, so it's not exactly going to be an in depth encyclopaedia, more of a brief overview of the different regions etc. 

In today's world at least, for publishing to work, you either need to sell a small number for a very high price (think The Impossible Collection of Cigars etc), or else you need to sell a large number of a book that is produced very cheaply (The Cuban Cigar Handbook).

This doesn't seem like a book that could have commanded a particularly high price.

Looking up the author, it seems like he was primarily a financier but published quite a few books either privately or in very limited printings. It may be that these were more a rich guy getting his ideas out there for his friends than a serious commercial endeavour.

[Habanoschris]

Uh oh ...

[Puros Y Vino]

So. I've found this book via Anna's Archives. Sadly it is text only, no pictures.  😔

[Ken Gargett]

what a great find. 

[zacca]

I’ve ordered a leather bound copy for the office shelf. I’m more curious than anything to see how cigar and wine culture has changed or remained the same over the last 100 years. Should be a quick and interesting read.