THE LAST COPIES OF CORTI BROTHERS’ PRINTING OF A MADEIRA PARTY

A MADEIRA PARTY, by S.Weir Mitchell, reprinted 1975 by Andrew Hoyem.

Now, more than a quarter of a century ago, to celebrate our Bi-Centennial, Corti Brothers re-printed a Madeira short story published in 1895 by a noted physician, Silas Weir Mitchell, and reprinted in 1900 and 1910. It deals with a Madeira party in Philadelphia. That a physician should write such a piece only goes to re-enforce the affection of the medical profession for wine. The printing was done by one of San Francisco’s most famous fine printers, Andrew Hoyem with artwork by noted Sacramento painter, Patrick Dullanty.

In 1976, it was chosen as one of the Western Books of that year by the Rounce and Coffin Club of Los Angeles.
Now we are down to our last copies of A Madeira Party and with the new interest in Madeira itself, we are offering them to bibliophile minded Madeira wine lovers.

A Madeira Party does not deal with the making of Madeira, but the drinking of it. There is a forward written by a late physician friend, Bill Dickerson, about Weir Mitchell, the author, and an afterword on old Madeira by Roy Brady, also a late friend who edited several wine magazines in California. When it first came out in 1976, one of the first purchasers was the late Alfred Knopf, of the publishing house, who commented that “finally, someone has made a proper sized edition which can be read.” The book is in small octavo size. The original was in 3"x5" size.