More Classic books on the way...

With the (re)release of Whisky by Aeneas MacDonald just around the corner, Ian Buxton is already hard at work finding and reissuing long lost whisky tomes...

Now Ian has teamed with author/publisher Neil Wilson to announce the launch of new publishing marque "Classic Expressions" which aims, in the words of their website  “to bring rare and exorbitantly expensive classics of whisky literature back to life”.

Classic Expressions will publish rare and out-of-print classic whisky titles in attractive facsimile editions, with an authoritative new introduction.

(By the way I've picked up a stack of books on this trip including Neil's The Island Whisky Trail - review forthcoming).

The first two titles to be published will be Reminiscences of a Gauger (1873) by Joseph Pacy, and Smuggling in the Highlands (1914) by Ian MacDonald. 

Both of these books are extremely rare, but the reproductions are sure to become collectors items in their own right, as each title will be available in a limited, numbered edition, in a slipcase, and packed with a CD containing a fully searchable PDF file of the original book.  Each title will be an authentic, complete facsimile of the original at the highest possible quality.

Regarding the reproduction process, Ian explains:

We do this by taking a copy of the original text, making a high resolution digital scan; removing all foxing, staining, marginal notes and so on and printing a brand new and highly collectible limited edition that accurately reproduces the original.

Neil adds:

Assuming you could even find these books, you could expect to pay over £250 for Reminiscences and at least £150 for a good clean copy of Smuggling in the Highlands.  Digital technology allows us to make these lost whisky classics available to our Founding Subscribers at £45 – complete with CD.

Founding Subscriber?

Classic Expressions have reserved the first 100 numbered copies of each book for their Founding Subscribers - whose names will appear in the new edition.  Founding Subscribers will also benefit from an attractive discount on the full published price.

Go check out the website to get more information on becoming a Founding Subscriber. While you're there you can also download previews of the books; read about future plans for further titles and register for further information.

Ian Tells me:

With ever growing interest in whisky's history and heritage we felt the time was right to reprint these hard to find books.  For the price of just one very rare bottle, Ardbeg 1965 for example, you can build a fabulous library of whisky books - and, however often you enjoy them, they never run dry!

We need to get around 100 orders to take the risk on printing - but our first 100 supporters will get a discounted price and their name printed in the book - they become part of whisky history!

The books give a unique insight into whisky as it really was and the people who made it.

I think the new editions will rapidly become collectible in their own right, especially the Founder Subscriber numbers.

Initially, these titles will only be available directly from Classic Expressions and selected specialist whisky shops.

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More on the forthcoming titles:

Reminiscences of a Gauger by Joseph Pacy
One of the most important works of its period - an invaluable record of some forty years service during the middle of the nineteenth century, being one of the very few contemporary accounts of the life and work of the Gauger (Excise man).  It is particularly notable for his detailed account of foiling a duty evasion racket in Campbeltown at the height of its whisky producing fame and his turbulent relationship with Captain William Fraser of the Royal Brackla distillery.

Smuggling in the Highlands by Ian MacDonald
The author was a highly-regarded and long-serving excise officer, who spent much of his career in the Scottish Highlands where he came to know the people and their whisky-related ‘ploys’ very well.
MacDonald had a keen eye for a good story, and many of the enthralling anecdotes recounted in the chapter entitled ‘Smuggling Stories and Detections’ have never subsequently been published.

Comments

[Ian Buxton]

Kevin
Very many thanks for your support. It's very much appreciated and, folks, Kevin has put his money where his mouth is by joining the honour roll of Founding Subscribers.

"Whisky writer buys book" - I'm here to tell you that's real dedication, a headline in itself!

Seriously, thanks again.
If anyone has any questions, please feel free to email me.
Ian

[GreyArea]

Just for reference, I've pre-ordered both books. I like the idea of the CD with PDF on it. Given that I use MacOS X it means that as soon as I copy the PDFs onto the Mac they will be indexed with Spotlight. Cool.

[jimmy]

These books sound cool. Will Spotlight index the pdfs? It sounds to me like the pdf will be pictures of text, not really text. Unless they are doing some OCR that they didn't mention.

just curious.

[GreyArea]

Ooooh, good point. No, hang on, they *say* they're searchable, so they must have been OCR'd for that to be the case. Hence Spotlight will index them once they're copied to a harddrive.

[Neil Wilson]

Just so that you are clear on this, the text was OCR'd at scanning stage. The disc will, however, be security locked to prevent proliferation of the data around the web. You will get instant access to the contents of the book on a read- and search-only basis. Hope this helps.

[GreyArea]

Neil, does this mean that there's some software involved? In which case does it become Windows only? I'd be a little downheartened about that - I'm on a Mac.

[Mixa]

Pretty nice books, I've tried to subscribe for both of them but suddenly was surprised there's no Russian Federation in the list of countries.It's a pity!

[Ian Buxton]

I guess this is a PayPal restriction, Mixa. We will try to figure out another way to get your money! Thanks for your interest - bear with us.