"MONUMENTAL… OUGHT TO BE IN THE HANDS OF EVERYBODY CONNECTED WITH THE BREWING INDUSTRY": FIRST EDITION OF ARNOLD'S ILLUSTRATED ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF BEER, 1911

ARNOLD, John P. Origin and History of Beer and Brewing. From Prehistoric Times to the Beginning of Brewing Science and Technology. Chicago: Alumni Ass'n of the Wahl-Henius Institute of Fermentology, 1911. Tall quarto, original pictorial orange- and black-stamped green cloth, patterned endpapers. $2200.

First edition of Arnold's widely praised and comprehensive history of beer, spanning the prehistoric era through the late 18th century, a fine copy.

Written for the 25th Anniversary of Chicago's famous Wahl-Henius Institute, this is widely regarded as the first comprehensive book on beer-making. Its author, John P. Arnold, was a writer and editor for Der Braumeister and Siebel Technical Review, two Chicago brewing journals. He skillfully orients the history of beer within the larger history of mankind, discussing beer as it relates to religious ceremonies, dining, agriculture, invention and more. On publication Arnold's Origin and History was praised as "monumental… ought to be in the hands of everybody connected with the brewing industry" (American Brewers' Review XXV: 596-7). With numerous in-text and full-page illustrations. As issued without dust jacket. LOC Catalog VIII:5604. Bookplate and owner signature (dated 1928) of James Birtley McNair (1889-1967), economic botanist and author of books on the chemistry of food production, fermentation, etc.

Text clean and fine, a few minuscule rubs to extremities. A lovely copy in fine condition.