The Curiosities of Ale & Beer

An Entertaining History (Illustrated with over Fifty Quaint Cuts)

by John Bickerdyke

Spring Books,London, 1965, 449 pages, hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition

'The amount of information contained in this impressive yet far from ponderous survey of the English national drink is astonishing.  A random dip into its pages may disclose something of the origins of wassailing or customs connected with church-ale, the text of a famous ballad like Sir John Barleycorne, a description of well-known inn signs, a homily on the value of porter and stout to the working classes, a warning against the coarse language and doubtful morals of the Kent hop-pickers, or an argument on the inquiry of total abstinence.  Bickerdyke's company is refreshing and exhilarating, and if the reader feels that the best way to enjoy it is with a tankard of beer at arm's length, the author would certainly approve.'