Sunday 10 June 2012

A letter from Pierre Galet


Having looked for Pierre Galet's 'Dictionnaire encyclopedique des cepages' all over we decided to try to ask the author if he could help. We had a couple of leads. The great man (b.1920) lives in Montpellier we discovered. It is said that he has previously been known to self-publish so we were hopeful that he would have some plan to make the work available again. The 'Dictionnaire' was published by Hachette in 2000 but has been out of print for as long as we have been searching.

The book is the bible of Ampelograpy with over 9,600 grape varieties listed. Frequently quoted, it is impossible to find second hand either on the internet or in specialist second-hand bookshops, here or abroad - for any price.

It was surprisingly easy to find an address for one Pierre Galet in Montpellier so we wrote to him there and were amazed and delighted to receive a reply shortly after handwritten by M. Galet himself telling us that Hachette didn't want to re-print the book but he has been working on a second edition with another company and this should see the light of day at the end of this year.


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