One of the first women to write about wine, she was known for her prickly putdowns and forthright views about food and drinkPamela Vandyke Price, who has died aged 90, was the first woman in Britain to write seriously about wine and spirits. Writing about drinking – its tastes, smells, intoxication, history and innumerable scraps of lore and myth – had been the preserve of a variety of old buffers, long on purple prose, short on precision. Vandyke Price arrived on the scene just as mass wine consumption began in Britain. People had a taste for drink and needed fast, often peremptory, instruction. She provided it. She became a wine correspondent of the Times newspaper, closely followed by many readers, and wrote books on the subject.She was born Pamela Walford in Coventry, daughter of a clockmaker and his wife, a part-French woman with a firm vision of her middle-class station. Pamela was privately educated and went on to study English at Somerville College, Oxford, being taught by both CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien.Her life was peppered by a long list of dislikes and prohibitions: no perfume or talking in the tasting-room, no bought sandwiches, and above all, no bad manners. When she was making plans for her own funeral, there was a list of people not to be invited.Her mother encouraged her to think of the stage as a career and she trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, London, in the postwar years. She never actually trod the boards, though the apprenticeship bore... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-02-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Journalist, biographer and author who explored the history of property ownership in AmericaThe Scottish author Andro Linklater was fascinated by the relationship between people and land. His death at the age of 68 from a heart attack came while he was on the isle of Eigg, researching for a new... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This summer a judge ruled that Apple arranged a conspiracy with major publishers to raise ebook prices. Now Apple faces a class action lawsuit from plaintiff states and a consumer class. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-11-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Ellen Harvey With the prevalence of free online content, many readers have become reluctant customers, leaving publishers puzzling over how to monetize their greatest asset. Yet the same technologies (the web,... Continue reading at Publishing Executive
[ Publishing Executive | 2013-11-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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At this year’s fair, piracy has been a noticeably absent topic, replaced by a new, more pressing concern for publishers in the digital age: pricing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The real problem with ebooks is that they're more 'e' than book, so an entirely different set of rules govern what someone can and can't do with them compared to physical books, especially when it comes to pricing. The collusion in pricing has been a public issue for a while, but we need to talk... Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2013-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon has announced the US release of three new Kindle Fire Tablets. Meanwhile Barnes &... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bookworms in the UK tired of smuggling flashlights to bed might want to take another look at the Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight. After all, you can get one for £49 now that Barnes & Noble has slashed £20 off its retail price -- that's far, far lower than the amount people had to pay at... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tesco has confirmed its widely anticipated tablet launch, bringing out "Hudl", a 7-inch... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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“Book” has meant different things to different cultures, explains Harvard professor Leah Price in an interview with Ploughshares literary magazine. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Warehouse clubs, mass merchandisers, and other big-box retailers remain important to publishers because they not only sell books, they are places where books can be discovered. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-09-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple says it will appeal against a court ruling that bans the company from entering into deals with publishers that could allow ebook prices to be fixed or inflated. The case was raised by the Department of Justice and judge Denise Cote's decision is very much in line with what they were... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2013-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The direct results of the ebook price fixing scandal between Apple and the five major U.S. book publishers are one-step closer to turning into real money for millions of Amazon customers. The online retailer recently began sending out e-mail notifications to Kindle ebook buyers telling... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2013-09-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon is to drop a clause banning third party Marketplace traders across the EU from offering... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-08-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Following a promotion in which the site sold books at 10 percent off Amazon's prices, Overstock.com says it will now match Amazon prices for books. And it's not a temporary measure. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Booksellers are warning of major disruption to the “back to school” season. The... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Samsung has launched an $1400 ATIV Book 9 Plus laptop (shown above) equipped with Intel’s latest Haswell chip, but analysts said such sustained high prices for laptops and Ultrabooks could hinder the recovery of the PC market. PC shipments are already in a steady decline with the growing... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2013-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The US Department of Justice isn't buying publishers' arguments that proposed injunctions against Apple for alleged ebook price fixing are excessive and contradictory. DOJ attorney Lawrence Buterman claims in a response letter that the penalties against Apple are necessarily harsher, since it... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apparently Apple isn't the only company thinking the US Department of Justice's recently imposed remedies against it were "draconian." US publishers HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin and others have also ganged up on the DOJ with a legal brief opposing the punitive restrictions. In... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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One part of a proposal to enforce the verdict against Apple for allegedly fixing ebook prices would require Amazon and Barnes & Noble 'buy' buttons in the Apple store, allowing consumers to easily compare ebook costs. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Could limiting the period for fixed book prices give a needed boost to backlist sales by allowing retailers to discount after the initial buying frenzy is over? Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-07-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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