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 ]
News tagged with:
#early 1960s
#fiercely loyal
#tasting room
The US has evidence that will show Apple participated in a conspiracy to raise the prices of ebooks, the judge overseeing the government's civil antitrust case against the company says. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2013-05-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
A rare first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone with annotations and drawings by JK Rowling sells for a record £150,000. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-05-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#harry potter
Alma Books is launching a new series of low-priced classics, and will be the first publisher in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#alma books
#low-priced classics
The gist: "Apple knew that the plan it was proposing involved a ‘dramatic business change’ for publisher defendants." Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2013-05-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Barnes & Noble knows it's not winning the tablet race by any margin, but the book retailer is hoping for a big boost for Mother's Day. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-05-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#barnes noble
#book retailer
#big boost
Four top publishers Tuesday reaffirmed their commitment to print and discussed revenue ideas for bolstering their products. The discussion was part of an executive roundtable at the Key Executives Mega Conference in New Orleans. The publishers of ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Porter Anderson's weekly curation of the best Web postings for authors takes in the UK's growing consternation over 20p ebooks, Amazon's untrustworthy reviews and more. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#ebook prices
#porter anderson
#20p ebooks
Think you can finish a 168-page novel in a month? It might pay to opt for Amazon's new Kindle rental feature, now available on an incredibly limited number of titles. A few options published by Princeton University Press appear to represent the site's introductory offering. The 5 Elements of... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-01-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#eligible books
#list --
#comments section
On August 22, 2012, 13 days before Quebecers went to the polls in one of the most hotly contested provincial elections of the past two decades, Quebec’s book industry launched its One Price for Books campaign (noslivresàjusteprix.com). Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-01-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Macmillan Children's Books has appointed Alyx Price [left] to the role of communications... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#leave scholastic
#macmillan children
The consumer ebook market was worth more than £90m in the first 10 months of 2012... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-12-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#e-books grow
#low prices
Between December 3 and December 14, Amazon ran its “12 Days, 12 Books” promotion, which saw limited supplies of 12 books reduced to bargain prices over 12 days. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-12-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
The Justice Department said today it had reached a settlement with Penguin Group (USA), one of six companies it had accused of conspiring to raise prices of ebooks. The agreement, if approved by the court, would leave only two companies -- Apple and Macmillan -- facing the lawsuit, due to go to... Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2012-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#justice department
#e-book pricing
#raise prices
#simon schuster
The European Union has accepted an offer from Apple and four major publishers to reduce pricing restrictions on content offered at Amazon and other book-sellers. After being caught out by the EU, we heard that the offer was likely to be adopted last month, and the commission has now confirmed... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#european union
#major publishers
#most-favored nation
#lagardere sca
#hachette livre
#striking deals
#favored nation
Amazon only offers the lowest price on its top 20 print bestsellers, with lower-ranked titles... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#lowest price
Australia's Bookworld has guaranteed that it will beat Amazon and other online competitors' prices by 10%. But are they risking losing too much profit? Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#beat amazon
#price war
#online competitors
Amazon lowered the price of its Japanese Kindle Paperwhite to 100 dollars, matching the price of the recently announced Kobo Glo, while Sony's ebookstore is again on iOS. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Apple's new iPad Mini is the best small tablet on the market and makes an amazing e-reader; the only problems are its not-so-hi-res screen and it's not-quite-low-enough price tag. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#ipad mini
#high price
#price tag
Amazon Prime's trifecta of two-day shipping, instant media streaming and monthly Kindle book rentals just became a little more consumer friendly at a slightly higher price. As a Hacking Netflix reader recently noticed, Amazon is now inviting users to buy into Prime for $7.99 a month, bringing... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-11-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#inviting users
#yearly fee
#full year
#good deal
#holiday season
EU regulators will next month accept an offer by Apple and four publishers to end the antitrust... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-11-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#eu regulators