Silas Weir Mitchell's "A Madeira Party" online now

Peter Reutter · Post by **Peter Reutter** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 12:16 am

A long time project has finally come to life:
A wanted to make Mitchell's "A Madeira Party" available, and after many hours of handtyping (no text-scanner would work with the old print) here it is.
The story "A Madeira Party" by Silas Weir Mitchell was fist published in 1895. Since then it has been published in about 30 different versions, most often together with a second story "A little more Burgundy". The text in http://www.madeirawineguide.com is taken from one of the earliest publications in 1895 from The Century Co., New York, printed by The De Vinne Press.
To my knowledge there is no copyright on the story "A Madeira Party", especially not in this 1895 version. Since "A Madeira Party" was published before January 1st, 1923 I believe it has entered public domain. Many of Silas Weir Mitchell's other publications can allready be found at the Project Gutenberg in e-book format. But should you know of any still existing copyright please inform me using my email-address from the chapter "Introduction" or the forum.
I used the original text layout and all the typos are exactly from the original (or so I hope). Anybody interested in obtaining "A Madeira Party" as a printed book is advised to get the 1975 edition of Corti Brothers, Sacramento, still available from the company. This book also contains a very interesting essay on "Our Madeira Tradition" by Roy Brady.
Some contents of "A Madeira Party" might not seem "correct" these days, but of course the story has to be seen in its historical context. I find it quite entertaining, especially since it offers an interesting glimpse back into american history. Also for the Madeira wine lover it contains lots of information about old Madeira wine drinking habbits, general knowledge about Madeira wine and some myths about Madeira wine too. And even though I feel very much at home in the 21st century, I envy these guys their full decanters of Madeira wine...

The link to the complete story is:
http://www.madeirawineguide.com/60writi ... arty_1895/

Enjoy reading!
Peter

Post by **Roy Hersh** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 12:29 am

Fantastic stuff Peter.

Have you ever read:

The Madeira Heritage in Colonial America by John P. Cann?

Fine reading as well and not to0 different from that Madeira party which the Rare Wine Co. used to distribute too.

(BTW, John was no relation to the infamous pecan).

F rank Tota · Post by **F rank Tota** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 8:10 pm

Very interesting, thanks. I have friend here in LA names Silas Weir Mitchell, which drew me to this thread initially. Fortunately, this is very interesting in its own right!

- Frank

Post by **Andy Velebil** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 8:33 pm

Peter,

I am about 1/2 way done reading it...a bit slow at work today, and love it so far. I can't wait to finish it.

Peter Reutter · Post by **Peter Reutter** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 8:01 am

Roy Hersh wrote:Fantastic stuff Peter.

Have you ever read:

The Madeira Heritage in Colonial America by John P. Cann?

Fine reading as well and not to0 different from that Madeira party which the Rare Wine Co. used to distribute too.

(BTW, John was no relation to the infamous pecan).

Dear Roy,

if I remember this right, it's a small booklet, maybe 20 to 30 pages, with a few bw-pictures? Then I read it before and found it very useful. It should be at home in my Madeira library. Will look it up as soon as my weekend-shift is done.

Best
Peter