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Before the research for this on-line exhibition began, we had little idea of exactly what we would find in the library’s collections. But the question soon became “Where do we stop?”. The National Library of South Africa’s collections include material on almost every conceivable topic related to wine and particularly on the history of the South African wine industry. Material includes original unpublished material, books, private donated collections, journals, maps, photographs, government gazettes and reports, and so on. In this section, Vineyard Vignettes, we have included a few examples of materials that in themselves form small vignettes - on wine, wine connoisseurs, wine consumption, and the place that wine has occupied (both respectable and not) in the lives of South Africans over the centuries. Some we simply deemed too enjoyable to exclude.
The Connoisseurs [100] [73] [426] Andre Simon (1877- 1970) was an accomplished and popular writer on food and wine and in his 1926 book, Bottlescrew Days, he extols the invention of the “bottlescrew” or cork screw which resulted in the glories of port being sipped deep into the night. Simon believed that “a man dies too young if he leaves any wine in his cellar”. Clearly a man of his word, only two magnums of claret remained in his cellar when he died at the age of 93.
Simon also collected wine books and his Bibliotheca Vinaria was the printed catalogue for the library of the Wine Trade Club of which he was founder and president.
Many of the books on this site come from Leipoldt’s private collection on cookery, diet and wine which Leipoldt bequeathed to the National Library.
Literary Wits [162]
The Compleat Imbiber was an “annual celebration of the pleasures of the table” that appeared until recently. The first volume, with the Gerard Hoffnung dust jacket, was collected together in 1957 celebrating the centenary of W & A Gilbey Ltd 9 (best known for Gilbey’s Gin). Most of the pieces had appeared in the Gilbey’s in-house magazine. “Yet here…we have the whole cream of the literary world of
today bringing original thought to one of the vital pleasures of living”
[Ray, C. (ed.)]
The breadth and scope of material in the library demonstrates that wine is a subject of abiding interest. The Library carries a significant number of books from the 18th and 19th Centuries, for example:
The practice of keeping a wine cellar was deemed to require particular skills in construction, temperature control, wine vats and the storage of bottled wine. The National Library holds a copy of a Butler’s manual, written in 1825 (author unknown) - in which underground cellars are assumed. This stands in strong contrast to 2003, when an underground cellar is nothing short of luxury. The following piece of advice indicates the nature of cellaring:
Memorable Meals [109] Notes on a Cellar-book by George Edward Saintsbury is a limited de luxe edition of 500 copies, signed by the author. The text recalls many memorable meals and the menus at the end, demonstrate the art of using just the right wine to enhance the culinary invention. This book inspired Andre Simon to found The Saintsbury Club in Saintsubry’s honour in 1930. The Saintsbury Club is a prestigious London dinning club that still meets biannually.
A Reward of Wine [369] The National Library has a renowned collection of illuminated medieval manuscripts. One example, a Latin and French “Book of Hours” (c1385 – 1405), belonged to a Robert de la Brosse. Such books were very personal to their owners and were considered valuable possessions. Of particular interest in this medieval manuscript is a scribbled note by de la Brosse on the end flyleaf, offering a gift of wine to any finder of the book who would return it to the owner.
A formal South African wine song was composed in 1941 for the 282nd birthday of the local wine industry. (2nd February 1659 being the day that Jan van Riebeeck recorded in his diary; “Today, praise be to God, wine was made for the first time from Cape grapes” ). The composition is dedicated to CWH Kohler, the “father of the KWV”.
Wine drinking is often associated with wealth and snobbery. In the South African context, such an association ignores the many wines specifically marketed for popular appeal – and there are a number of wine brands that fit the category of South African “vin ordinaire”. This phenomenon is covered in more details elsewhere on this site. Godfrey de Bruyn starts his essay on one such wine, Tassenberg, by saying:
Adam Small, Professor of Literature at the University of the Western
Cape - and one of South Africa's foremost poets - was born in the same
year as “Tassies”, 1936. In his poem, Die Here het gaskommel,
he speaks of another of the popular “people’s wines”,
Oom Tas.
At the Vienna International exhibition in 1873, wines from South Africa were “so charged with alcohol as to shock continental palates”. The battle to bring South African wines to the world was a long and arduous one and, in many ways, is still being fought.
Spirit of the Vine, a comprehensive study of wine in South Africa,
was published in 1968 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Ko-operatiewe
Wijnbouwers Vereniging (KWV).
The scope of the book is encompassing and the editor, D.J.Opperman, has
drawn together contributions by many of the leading lights of the time: Frederick T’ons’ famous painting (housed in the William Fehr Collection at the Castle in Cape Town) is reproduced in Chapter 8 of Spirit of the Vine. Entitled “Inn at Grahamstown” and painted in 1849, it gives the lie to the claim that the first South African wine song was written in 1941.
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