Facts About Champagne collected during numerous visits to the Champagne District - Inscribed -
Henry Vizetelly
1890 - Vizetelly &, London - Second and Revised Edition
Scarce edition of this wonderful work on Champagne inscribed by the great Henry Vizetelly to George Augustus Sala, a celebrated Victorian author, gastronome and a colleague at the Illustrated London News, dated ‘Covent Garden, 14 Augt. 1901’, two years after Vizetelly was released from prison for translating and publishing the works of Émile Zola in unexpurgated form.
Profusely illustrated with 32 full page engraved plates and 68 in text engravings drawn by Jules Pelcoq, W. Prater, Bertali, etc. from original sketches, as well as 38 small engravings of the Champagne brand marks to the rear.
Chapters cover:- The Origin of Champagne; The Vintage in the Champagne; The Vineyards of the River; The Vineyards of the Mountain; The Vines of the Champagne and the System of Cultivation; Preparation of Champagne; Champagne Establishments of Reims, Epernay, Ay, Mareuil, and Avize; and Concluding Facts and Hints. Henry Vizetelly (1820-94) was considered one of the finest wine connoisseurs of his time, his interest in wine dates back to 1869 when the Pall Mall Gazette commissioned a series of articles on the wines of France. Vizetelly had settled in Paris. He was one of the judges at the Exhibitions of Vienna in 1873 and Paris in 1878. Interestingly he believed that great vintages never occurred more than twice in ten years, and that during the same period there would generally be one or two other fairly good vintages.
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Born in London, Henry Vizetelly was the son and grandson of printers. The "Vizzetelli" family had migrated from Italy at the end of the 17th century. Henry's wood engravings contributed to the success of "Parr's Life Pills," from the profits of which Herbert Ingram started the Illustrated London News, for which Vizetelly's firm executed a number of engravings. In 1843 Henry, together with his older brother James (1817-1897) and Andrew Spottiswoode, started the rival Pictorial Times, which counted Thackeray as a staff member. Vizetelly's "best work as a wood-engraver was done about 1850 … for an edition of Longfellow's Evangeline."
In 1855, Vizetelly started The Illustrated Times, with Gustave Doré as one of the artists, but he sold his share in it to Ingram in 1859, and in 1865 went back to work for Ingram as Paris correspondent of the Illustrated London News, where he mainly spent the next seven years, including the time of the siege of Paris, about which he later wrote a book. It was in Paris that he he became an authority on wine and in 1873 he served as a wine juror at the Vienna exhibition.
Vizetelly gave up his position with the Illustrated London News and became a London publisher, specialising in translations of French and Russian authors. Publishing Zola in unexpurgated form led to his indictment in 1888 on obscenity charges. The jury refusing to listen to a recital of 21 passages selected by the prosecution, Vizetelly pleaded guilty, on advice of counsel, and was fined £100. Vizetelly issued pendente lite a selection of "extracts principally from English Classics, showing that the legal suppression of M. Zola's novels would logically involve the bowdlerising of the greatest Works in English Literature (London … twelve copies printed …" He then proceeded to reissue Zola's works, expurgated by his son Ernest. He was again charged with publishing obscene libels and in 1889 was sent to prison for three months, to the detriment of his health, though he continued to publish. [DNB].
***
References: Eberhard Buehler, Viniana Supplement, 1020-1. Gabler, Wine into Words, G40290. Jancis Robinson, Oxford Companion to Wine, 406, 757. André Simon, Bibliotheca Vinaria, 105.
Octavo (book size 18.3x12.8cm), pp. [2] 159 [1]. In publisher’s burgundy cloth, spine and upper board illustrated and lettered in gilt and black, rear board patterned and ruled in blind. In later blue grained cloth, spine lettered and ruled in gilt, block edges with original red tint. Condition: Near fine, foxing to endpapers. Ref: 112008 Price: HK$ 9,000
Profusely illustrated with 32 full page engraved plates and 68 in text engravings drawn by Jules Pelcoq, W. Prater, Bertali, etc. from original sketches, as well as 38 small engravings of the Champagne brand marks to the rear.
Chapters cover:- The Origin of Champagne; The Vintage in the Champagne; The Vineyards of the River; The Vineyards of the Mountain; The Vines of the Champagne and the System of Cultivation; Preparation of Champagne; Champagne Establishments of Reims, Epernay, Ay, Mareuil, and Avize; and Concluding Facts and Hints. Henry Vizetelly (1820-94) was considered one of the finest wine connoisseurs of his time, his interest in wine dates back to 1869 when the Pall Mall Gazette commissioned a series of articles on the wines of France. Vizetelly had settled in Paris. He was one of the judges at the Exhibitions of Vienna in 1873 and Paris in 1878. Interestingly he believed that great vintages never occurred more than twice in ten years, and that during the same period there would generally be one or two other fairly good vintages.
***
Born in London, Henry Vizetelly was the son and grandson of printers. The "Vizzetelli" family had migrated from Italy at the end of the 17th century. Henry's wood engravings contributed to the success of "Parr's Life Pills," from the profits of which Herbert Ingram started the Illustrated London News, for which Vizetelly's firm executed a number of engravings. In 1843 Henry, together with his older brother James (1817-1897) and Andrew Spottiswoode, started the rival Pictorial Times, which counted Thackeray as a staff member. Vizetelly's "best work as a wood-engraver was done about 1850 … for an edition of Longfellow's Evangeline."
In 1855, Vizetelly started The Illustrated Times, with Gustave Doré as one of the artists, but he sold his share in it to Ingram in 1859, and in 1865 went back to work for Ingram as Paris correspondent of the Illustrated London News, where he mainly spent the next seven years, including the time of the siege of Paris, about which he later wrote a book. It was in Paris that he he became an authority on wine and in 1873 he served as a wine juror at the Vienna exhibition.
Vizetelly gave up his position with the Illustrated London News and became a London publisher, specialising in translations of French and Russian authors. Publishing Zola in unexpurgated form led to his indictment in 1888 on obscenity charges. The jury refusing to listen to a recital of 21 passages selected by the prosecution, Vizetelly pleaded guilty, on advice of counsel, and was fined £100. Vizetelly issued pendente lite a selection of "extracts principally from English Classics, showing that the legal suppression of M. Zola's novels would logically involve the bowdlerising of the greatest Works in English Literature (London … twelve copies printed …" He then proceeded to reissue Zola's works, expurgated by his son Ernest. He was again charged with publishing obscene libels and in 1889 was sent to prison for three months, to the detriment of his health, though he continued to publish. [DNB].
***
References: Eberhard Buehler, Viniana Supplement, 1020-1. Gabler, Wine into Words, G40290. Jancis Robinson, Oxford Companion to Wine, 406, 757. André Simon, Bibliotheca Vinaria, 105.
Octavo (book size 18.3x12.8cm), pp. [2] 159 [1]. In publisher’s burgundy cloth, spine and upper board illustrated and lettered in gilt and black, rear board patterned and ruled in blind. In later blue grained cloth, spine lettered and ruled in gilt, block edges with original red tint. Condition: Near fine, foxing to endpapers. Ref: 112008 Price: HK$ 9,000