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Don Rice

Don Rice
This, my Sisyphean task:

Contributions to a Bibliography of Loire Viticulture Texts

After almost ten years it has reached a somewhat presentable state. Some of you here may remember its first incarnation. Now - much bigger.
It's an attempt to tell the story of Loire viticulture through an annotated chronology of published texts.
The more texts discovered, read, cited and annotated, the more complete the story will be.

It is a project without end, undertaken for my own satisfaction. Perhaps it will also be a useful thing to others interested in Loire viticulture.

Lord have mercy and pass the bottle opener.
 
Thanks. It ain't the MMWR, but it works for me.

I think there's a good set of bones there. With time, the flesh will come.
 
Wow, Don. We're overwhelmed with fantastic Loire resources these days, it seems. Congratulations!
 
Magnifique Don.

I hope all the Loire growers will build you a statue with empty vouvray bottles some day.

Why don't you care for Cotes du Rhone...
I'm jealous.

Really

Eric
 
Don, Do you consider including websites? You have a very traditional bibliography here, and yet it is itself a website. We have just been introducedto an extremely interesting and thoughtful siteabout Savennires, would you consider including it?
 
It's tempting Joe but I'm not sure it's a good fit for this project.

Web sites and blogs are not robust things that withstand time or neglect as well as paper texts can. Internet sites come and go. And when they do go, can disappear without a trace. Which limits their usefulness as resources.

That evanescence is what makes me reluctant about including them. They're like privately-owned manuscripts, available for us to view solely at the discretion of their owner, not truly public property. The texts in my project are nearly all referenced to public institutions, or should be. That's what will give it usefulness beyond just today or next year. And I want it to have lasting usefulness.

Which means that my project will at some point need to be published or at least have some form of printed distribution, even if it's only readers of the internet version printing out a hardcopy to have onhand for whenever mac.com turns into something else, as did the aol ftp server before it.

Now, if established libraries began offering selections of digital works, like the ones you mention, and were committed to maintaining their availability as resources, that would be a different thing.

I think it will happen someday, possibly soon (see what GoogleBooks or Gallica are doing). But we aren't there yet.
 
originally posted by Don Rice:

Which means that my project will at some point need to be published or at least have some form of printed distribution, even if it's only readers of the internet version printing out a hardcopy to have onhand for whenever mac.com turns into something else, as did the aol ftp server before it.

Now, if established libraries began offering selections of digital works, like the ones you mention, and were committed to maintaining their availability as resources, that would be a different thing.

I think it will happen someday, possibly soon (see what GoogleBooks or Gallica are doing). But we aren't there yet.
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You should at least shoot Gail Unzelman an email and maybe do something through the Wayward Tendrils. At least that way you'd have a direct link to the librarians who'd be most interested in your work and who'd also be most likely to have copies of the original works that could eventually be uploaded.

Calling this a "Sisyphean task" is understatement but it's impressive, inspiring and needed.

-Eden (and I thought that I was an obsessive when it came to wine books!)
 
whose name is on my last bottle of '79 Coulee de Serrant. It's in the Mosel, so let me know when you have the time.
 
Eden
I corresponded briefly with Gail several years ago about this and she, along with Bo Simon at the Sonoma Wine Library, had advice which was quite helpful at the time. Probably time to check in with them again.

Good to know there are other wine book obsessives out there.
 
originally posted by Don Rice:
originally posted by Yixin:
Now I know...whose name is on my last bottle of '79 Coulee de Serrant. It's in the Mosel, so let me know when you have the time.
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I won't forget.
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I remember when you brought that '77 Coulee de Serrant to that first Loire offline dinner, Don. Wasn't my cup of tea. That '67 Baumard QDC you also brought, however, was quite nice.
 
originally posted by Don Rice:
I corresponded briefly with Gail several years ago about this and she, along with Bo Simon at the Sonoma Wine Library, had advice which was quite helpful at the time. Probably time to check in with them again.
Click to expand...

I've gotta think that they (and maybe Nina W too) would be able to get this out to the people who could really make use of this information.

Good to know there are other wine book obsessives out there.
Click to expand...

I ran out of room and am now trying to wean myself off of the habit. I've weeded out most of the books I'd acquired "just to have" and now have a pretty decent reference library, along with some of the writers I enjoy reading. The rest are going to a library in my hometown where the chief librarian really wants to add the books to their collection. Lots of wine action happening there and these are all books they don't have so they're unlikely to show up at the annual bargain book sale.

-Eden (it's nice having a little shelf space for a change)
 
originally posted by Eden Mylunsch:

I've gotta think that they (and maybe Nina W too) would be able to get this out to the people who could really make use of this information.
Click to expand...

Eden,
I don't think I know Nina, but it sounds like I should. Could you tell me more? (OK to go to email if you see fit).

donrice@gardensnyc.net

For WD members:

Gail Unzelman publishes The Wayward Tendrils Quarterly, a newsletter for wine-book collectors with a nice mix of fun and in-depth scholarly writing, often CA-centric.

Another wine-book-related group, the Wine Librarians Association, is more of a brain-trust for institutions and book professionals.
 
John

Thanks. Binding is five to ten years off, at the rate I'm going, which ain't a hare's pace.
It will live happily enough in the ether until it coalesces into solid form.
 
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