Christie's Wine Companion By Pamela Vandyke Price
Christie's Wine Companion (First Edition)
An Anthology of Instruction, History, and Wit from the World’s Foremost Oenological Authorities
An Anthology of Instruction, History, and Wit from the World’s Foremost Oenological Authorities
Bibliographic Specifications
• Title: Christie's Wine Companion
• Author: Edited by Pamela Vandyke Price (With an Introduction by Michael Broadbent MW)
• Publisher: Webb & Bower (Publishers) Ltd, Exeter / London (In association with Michael Joseph)
• Publication Date: 1989
• ISBN-10: 086350308X
• ISBN-13: 9780863503085
• Edition Details: First Edition, Standard Hardcover Release.
• Binding: Original publisher's premium textured cloth boards featuring crisp metal-stamped spine typography, housed in the original illustrated dust jacket.
• Physical Format: Octavo (8vo), approx. 192–224 pages. Lavishly enhanced with archival black-and-white plates, artistic historical prints, and custom viticultural maps printed on high-grade text stock.
• Language: English
• Title: Christie's Wine Companion
• Author: Edited by Pamela Vandyke Price (With an Introduction by Michael Broadbent MW)
• Publisher: Webb & Bower (Publishers) Ltd, Exeter / London (In association with Michael Joseph)
• Publication Date: 1989
• ISBN-10: 086350308X
• ISBN-13: 9780863503085
• Edition Details: First Edition, Standard Hardcover Release.
• Binding: Original publisher's premium textured cloth boards featuring crisp metal-stamped spine typography, housed in the original illustrated dust jacket.
• Physical Format: Octavo (8vo), approx. 192–224 pages. Lavishly enhanced with archival black-and-white plates, artistic historical prints, and custom viticultural maps printed on high-grade text stock.
• Language: English
Official Condition Report
• The Book: Very Good Plus (VG+) / Near Fine
o Exterior / Boards: The cloth-bound hardboards are in spectacular physical condition, holding perfectly linear edges and sharp, unbumped corners. The spine is structurally perfect, showing no lean, crushing, or vertical handling creases.
o Interior: Pristine, immaculate, and tightly bound. The text block and interior leaves are remarkably clean, crisp, and completely free of thumb-soil, age-toning, or corner folding. There are no former owner signatures, library ink stamps, gift inscriptions, bookstore stickers, or underlinings.
• The Dust Jacket: Very Good Plus (VG+)
o Condition Details: The original illustrated jacket is vibrant, glossy, and entirely complete. It exhibits only very limited, microscopically faint signs of superficial shelf-wear along the outermost edges. It has been meticulously preserved inside a professional, removable clear cellophane archival sleeve to guarantee lifelong protection from future environmental wear or surface friction.
• The Book: Very Good Plus (VG+) / Near Fine
o Exterior / Boards: The cloth-bound hardboards are in spectacular physical condition, holding perfectly linear edges and sharp, unbumped corners. The spine is structurally perfect, showing no lean, crushing, or vertical handling creases.
o Interior: Pristine, immaculate, and tightly bound. The text block and interior leaves are remarkably clean, crisp, and completely free of thumb-soil, age-toning, or corner folding. There are no former owner signatures, library ink stamps, gift inscriptions, bookstore stickers, or underlinings.
• The Dust Jacket: Very Good Plus (VG+)
o Condition Details: The original illustrated jacket is vibrant, glossy, and entirely complete. It exhibits only very limited, microscopically faint signs of superficial shelf-wear along the outermost edges. It has been meticulously preserved inside a professional, removable clear cellophane archival sleeve to guarantee lifelong protection from future environmental wear or surface friction.
Synopsis & Historical Value
Published in 1989 by Webb & Bower in collaboration with Christie’s Wine Publications, Christie's Wine Companion is a beautifully curated, sophisticated anthology designed to inform, instruct, amuse, and please the discerning oenophile. Compiled during a golden age of wine literature by the legendary Pamela Vandyke Price, this scarce hardcover volume brings together an extraordinary roster of specialized essays, historical observations, and artistic anecdotes from premier figures in the international wine trade.
Published in 1989 by Webb & Bower in collaboration with Christie’s Wine Publications, Christie's Wine Companion is a beautifully curated, sophisticated anthology designed to inform, instruct, amuse, and please the discerning oenophile. Compiled during a golden age of wine literature by the legendary Pamela Vandyke Price, this scarce hardcover volume brings together an extraordinary roster of specialized essays, historical observations, and artistic anecdotes from premier figures in the international wine trade.
The anthology takes readers deep behind the scenes of elite tasting seminars and historic cellars, including an exclusive look into the private cellars of His Excellency, the British Ambassador to Paris. The diverse selections range from technical overviews of classic and emerging wine regions to cultural histories exploring wine as an aesthetic inspiration in fine art. It also details the high-stakes history of European and American wine auctions. Introduced by Michael Broadbent, this out-of-print classic is a brilliant encapsulation of late-20th-century oenological culture and functions as an exceptional collectible asset for serious cellar libraries, gastronomy historians, and collectors of fine Christie's literature.
Author Profile: Pamela Vandyke Price
Pamela Vandyke Price (1923–2014) was a formidable British wine critic, journalist, and highly prolific author who made history as the first woman in the United Kingdom to write seriously and extensively about wine and spirits. Having studied English at Somerville College, Oxford—where she was lectured by both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien—she trained initially as an actress before channeling her sharp wit and analytical precision into professional journalism. She served as the long-term wine correspondent for The Times and editor of Wine & Food Magazine, publishing around thirty definitive reference texts, including The Taste of Wine and A Guide to the Wines of Bordeaux. Celebrated for her uncompromising standards, fierce independence, and robust, self-aware humour, Vandyke Price permanently reshaped post-war oenological critique, paving a clear path for future generations of master writers.
Pamela Vandyke Price (1923–2014) was a formidable British wine critic, journalist, and highly prolific author who made history as the first woman in the United Kingdom to write seriously and extensively about wine and spirits. Having studied English at Somerville College, Oxford—where she was lectured by both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien—she trained initially as an actress before channeling her sharp wit and analytical precision into professional journalism. She served as the long-term wine correspondent for The Times and editor of Wine & Food Magazine, publishing around thirty definitive reference texts, including The Taste of Wine and A Guide to the Wines of Bordeaux. Celebrated for her uncompromising standards, fierce independence, and robust, self-aware humour, Vandyke Price permanently reshaped post-war oenological critique, paving a clear path for future generations of master writers.
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