So Merry Let Us Be by Philippa Legg

Title: So merry let us be...  ,the living tradition of Somerset cider

Author: Philippa Legg

Year: 1986

Format: Booklet

Page Count: 59

Price used: £10.00 (Amazon)*

*accurate at the time of posting

Description:

An expanded version of Cidermaking in Somerset Link to my Somerset Cider The Complete Story blog entry here

On the back of the book it says:

Nothing said but there's a nice colour picture of a cidermaker and a press with a straw cheese in it.

H. P. Bulmer Centenary

Title: H. P. Bulmer Centenary 1887 - 1987

Author:

Year: 1987

Format: Booklet

Page Count: 26

Price new: From Hereford Cider Museum

Description: (TLDR)

An A3 'brochure' more pictures than print.

On the back of the book it says:

Nothing....

Bulmers Of Hereford, A Century Of Cider-making

Title: Bulmers Of Hereford

Author: L.P. Wilkinson

Year: 1987

Format: Hardback

Page Count: 215

Price used: £0.51 (Amazon)*

*accurate at the time of posting

Description: (TLDR)

A detailed history of Bulmers released for their centenary.

On the flysheet of the book it says:

"This is the story of an enterprise that, beginning with the sale of a few bottles of cider from apples grown on a Herefordshire parson's glebe, has become the biggest cider-making business in the world.

Cider used to be a national drink, but in the nineteenth century production fell sharply. The revival began when Henry Percival Bulmer, son of the Reverend C H Bulmer of Credenhill, began making cider in 1887 from the fruit of his father's glebe in an old fashioned stone mill of a neighbouring farm. In the same year he moved to Hereford, where works have since been on different sites as the business expanded. His brother Fred Bulmer then at kings College, Cambridge, declined an invitation to tutor the sons of the King of Siam in order to help, and their partnership in labours that today sound incredible laid the foundation of future success. 

The business became a private company in 1910 and in 1970 the public were given the opportunity to share it's fortunes. But it has remained essentially a family firm. One consequence is that labour relations have at all times been excellent. With growth it is now operating I many countries and there has been some diversification, such as agencies for wine, spirits and mineral waters, but cider remains its mainstay, with nearly half of the British sales.

The author, Patrick Wilkinson, a famous classical  scholar, was a fellow of King's College, Cambridge, where so many of the Bulmers and their colleagues have been educated. Adam's Hill, the house built by Fred Bulmer, became to him a second home, and he undertook the writing of this centenary volume in gratitude. He had completed it just before he died."

Merrydown Forty Vintage Years by Graeme Wright

Title: Merrydown Forty Vintage Years

Author: Graeme Wright

Year: 1988

Format: Paperback

Page Count: 127

Price used: £6.21(Amazon)*

*accurate at the time of posting

Description: (TLDR)

Easy to read and sometimes amusing story of the first 40 years of Merrydown cider

On the back of the book it says:

There's just a pretty picture on the back of the book

Whiteways Cyder by E,V,M. Whiteway

Title: Whiteways Cyder A Company History

Author: E,V,M. Whiteway

Year: 1990

Format: Hardback

Page Count: 176

Price new: £10.00   *(Amazon)

Price used:  £7.17 *(Amazon)

*accurate at the time of posting

Description: (TLDR)

The history of Whiteways of Whimple as told be an ex-chairman of the company from the beginning until 1986

On the back of the book it says:

"Life on a Devon cyder farm

A family business spanning three generations

An evocative look at the cyder-making process

The successes and the failures

A wealth of illustrations

Written by a former chairman of Whiteway's"

The Good Cider Guide by David Kitton

Title: The Good Cider Guide
Author: David Kitton
Year: 1990
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 244
Price used: £0.01 (Amazon)*
*accurate at the time of posting

Description: (TLDR)
David Kitton's pretty comprehensive 1990 Guide to real cider producers and outles with 31 pages of additional articles spread throughout the guide including one on Spanish cider.

On the back of the book it says:
"Good cider is a time-honoured traditional drink. At it's best it is made by crushing apples, fermenting the juice and maturing it. As with good beer, traditional cider has a fascinating profusion of rich tastes. 
But much of the drink called cider sold in pubs is far from traditional - a cold fizzy and pastuerised apology for the real thing. So follow in David Kitton's footsteps and savour the superb real ciders provided by craftsmen and women who are dedicated to nurturing and fostering one of the great drinks of Britain."

Traditional Cider Drinks by Francis Beswick

Title: Traditional Cider Drinks

Author: Francis Beswick

Year: 1994

Format: Booklet

Page Count: 29

Price used: Unrealistically expensive- hard to find (Amazon)*
*accurate at the time of posting

Description:

The first two thirds of the booklet contains a brief history of cider and details of how to make it. The last third contains details of how to make various cider based drinks such as Bishops, Cider Royal and Cyser amongst others.

Apple Games and Customs by Beatrice Mayfield

Title: Apple Games and Customs

Author: Beatrice Mayfield

Year: 1994

Format: Paperback

Page Count: 121

Price new: £0.01 (Amazon)*

Price used: £5.95 (Amazon)*

*accurate at the time of posting

Description: (TLDR)

Apples games customs superstitions and more from Common Ground in this approx. A6 sized book. (If we judged the value of books by their size and weight this one would be an instant fail). Www.commonground.org.uk/

On the back of the book it says:

"Apple pie beds, crabbing the parson, longest peel, gifting, fork apple, worsling, dookin' for apples, bite apple, griggling, a'scraggling, dubbing apples, souling, pothering and ponking, a cattin', going a gooding, pigface Sunday, whistle wassail night, clemmening, apple tree man, worsting, howling and youling, taking round the calennig.........

This book will help you sip from a huge wassail bowl of games, customs, sayings and stories, which remind us of the importance and meaning which the apple has in our culture. We hope it will inspire you to carry on the traditions of your own locality and help to build Apple Day on Oct. 21st into a new calendar custom."

Guide To Real Cider by Ted Bruning

Title: Guide To Real Cider

Author: Ted Bruning

Year: 1996

Format: Paperback

Page Count: 255

Price used: £2.86 (Amazon)*

*accurate at the time of posting

Description: (TLDR)

CAMRA's 1996 guide to cidermakers and outlets, 14 pages of associated articles and information including a couple of pages from Kevin Minchew.

On the back of the book it says:

"Cider is making a major comeback in popularity but Real Cider is still difficult to find. The aim of this guide is to help you find one of Britain's oldest, tastiest and most fascinating drinks. Cider has been made in Britain since before Roman times. But most cider you find in pubs today has been pasteurised with carbon dioxide added. The resulting drink bears little resemblance to the full flavoured taste of traditional Real Cider.

This book lists more than 2000 pubs selling the real stuff plus many farmhouse producers from all over the country, many of whom will sell you cider - and it's equally drinkable cousin perry - if you bring a container. Some will even sell you a container.

Ted Bruning is the editor of the Cider Press, a quarterly supplement to What's Brewing, CAMRA's national newspaper. He has collated information from all over the country to give you a taste of this fine traditional drink. So why not join him and savour a wealth of different flavours.

Somerset Cider The Complete Story

Title: Somerset Cider The Complete Story

Author: Philippa Legg & Hilary Binding

Year: 1998

Format: Paperback

Page Count: 79

Price used: £3.60 (Amazon)*

*accurate at the time of posting

Description: (TLDR)

A more complete version of 'So merry let us be' including a list of Somerset cider apple varieties.

On the back of the book it says:

"Somerset and cider are inextricably linked and have been for centuries, although the origins of cidermaking in the county  - as in the rest of Britain - are lost in the mists of time. From upper-class beverage to labourers perk to fashionable drink once again, the story of cider is a long and fascinating one. This book covers in depth and with humour the history and techniques of making cider. It also considers the present day passion for collecting and preserving varieties of apples, and the widely shared enthusiasm for a precious and vulnerable aspect of Somerset's traditional landscape and way of life."