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Napa Wine by Stevenson, Robert Louis, a rare example image of the 1965 - wine book.
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  • Napa Wine by Stevenson, Robert Louis, a rare example image of the 1965 - wine book.
  • Napa Wine by Stevenson, Robert Louis, a rare example from the work of the 1965 - wine book.
  • Napa Wine by Stevenson, Robert Louis, a rare highlight from the volume of the 1965 - wine book.
  • Napa Wine by Stevenson, Robert Louis, a rare image from the book of the 1965 - wine book.
  • Napa Wine by Stevenson, Robert Louis, a rare fascinating view of the 1965 - wine book.
  • Napa Wine by Stevenson, Robert Louis, a rare view of the 1965 - wine book.
  • Napa Wine by Stevenson, Robert Louis, a rare example image of the 1965 - wine book.
  • Napa Wine by Stevenson, Robert Louis, a rare example from the work of the 1965 - wine book.
  • Napa Wine by Stevenson, Robert Louis, a rare highlight from the volume of the 1965 - wine book.
  • Napa Wine by Stevenson, Robert Louis, a rare image from the book of the 1965 - wine book.
  • Napa Wine by Stevenson, Robert Louis, a rare fascinating view of the 1965 - wine book.
  • Napa Wine by Stevenson, Robert Louis, a rare view of the 1965 - wine book.
Napa Wine

Stevenson’s Napa: Wine Before the Boom

Stevenson, Robert Louis

Napa Wine
A Chapter From "The Silverado Squatters" [...] With An Introduction By M.F.K. Fischer

1965, St Helena, California, James E. Beard

First edition

$150 USD

Overview

Long before Napa became shorthand for prestige vintages, Robert Louis Stevenson walked its hills as a convalescent and found poetry in its barrels.

Inside the book

Napa Wine, a little editorial jewel, resurrects a once-omitted chapter from The Silverado Squatters (1883), where Stevenson writes with unfiltered enthusiasm for the valley’s “inimitable fragrance and soft fire.”
Issued under the guidance of James Beard and graced with an introduction by M.F.K. Fisher, this elegant little volume reaffirms Stevenson not just as a novelist but as one of Napa’s first literary champions. His prose captures the valley at a tender moment, before the marketing, before the Michelin stars, just sunlight, soil, and the unmistakable promise of wine.

Why La Fenice chose it

The proof that Napa was literary long before it was luxury and the marketers showed up. This slim book is a literary curiosity, an editorial gem, and a sly reminder that Napa’s first vintage was ink on paper.
Condition Report

Pp. [2] f.e., X, 12, [4], [1] r.e.

Original half green cloth, boards with green vine-leaf patterned paper. Beautiful title page with a green lithographed vine that extends onto the recto of the preceding leaf, which bears a black-and-white photograph of the author at St. Helena. Green initials and ornaments throughout the text. The elegant colophon states that the title page comes from the collection of Norman H. Strouse, the type is Centaur, and the decorations are by Mallette Dean.

Dimensions (inches): 7.5 x 5 1/4 x 1/4
About the author

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894), Scottish novelist, poet, and essayist, famed for Treasure Island and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

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