Whisky. Edinburgh: The Porpoise Press, 1930. First Edition. Pp 135. Bound in plain brown wrappers. Light wear at spine ends, bookseller’s ink stamp to title page, text in nice condition throughout.

Proof copy, without the publisher’s emblem on the title page & Contents page left blank.

The malt site Whiskipedia states “MacDonald’s ‘Whisky’ is today regarded as perhaps the first modern book on whisky and certainly the first to treat the subject from the drinker’s point of view.” The author promotes single malt whisky over blends and defends the interests of consumers over producers. A highly entertaining read: personal and opinionated, and providing a valuable insight into the Scotch whisky industry during that curious period between the two World Wars, when the status of Scotch whisky was at a relatively low ebb.

George Malcolm Thomson earned the nickname of Scotland’s “best-hated man” while only 28 in the ’30s. A crusading journalist, literary publisher, novelist and playwright, he espoused Scottish nationalism but stated Scotland was doomed by an influx of Irish Catholics. His pseudonym, Aeneas MacDonald, came from one of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Seven Men of Moideart.