Hugh Johnson
‘I wasn’t going to throw 60 years of writing away. But who’d want it?’
It does pIle up. sixty years of writing and the attic is full. so I found when we came to move house three years ago. there were old tea-chests too heavy for me to move: inside my old typescripts from the days when type meant typing.
You banged away, with carbon paper for a copy. You always seemed to make mistakes near the bottom of the page, cursed, tore out the page, shoved in more paper and carbon and started again. throw all that labour away?
My first book, Wine, had been mouldering there for half a century, galleys scrawled with corrections. then I found The World Atlas of Wine, with letters asking for information and maps marked up for the cartographers. then research notes and returned questionnaires for Wine Companion, and manuscripts for my first Pocket Wine Books, notes for my wine history, film scripts, cans of film, magazine stuff for Decanter and years of correspondence. No, I wasn’t going to throw it all away. But who would want it?
I rediscovered a forgotten letter. ‘dear Johnson’, it went. ‘Visiting taiwan in december I bought a pirated copy of Wine…’. then followed two pages of precise and courteous corrections (or notes of approval) signed ‘yours cordially, Maynard A Amerine, professor of enology’. that was my introduction to the infinitely painstaking and scholarly professor, author of 400 books or papers on wine, and spiritual leader in many ways of the department of Viticulture and enology of the University of California.
It was my clue. Who really collects material on wine history, geography, technology and appreciation? the answer is the University of California. Its leafy campus at davis, near sacramento, takes care of agriculture in all its branches. Viticulture and oenology are key subjects, and the peter J shields library lists 30, 000 wine-related titles, surely the greatest wine library in the world. they start in prehistoric Mesopotamia, include intriguing medieval manuscripts, every known published text relating to wine (in many languages) – and naturally the considerable archives of one of its great benefactors, Robert Mondavi. Its other great archive is that of the late professor emeritus Maynard Amerine. Might they want my stuff?
Yes! In due course they received nine heavy boxes (more to come), and I duly went to meet the librarians. they had already started tidying up the muddle and fished out some of the good stuff to put on display. In due course comes digitisation. A far cry from my dusty attic.