Right - I'm off to buy a lottery ticket...



On 19 Nov 2010, at 22:33, "David Trippel" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:



I was just about to post it to the website blog when I thought maybe I should let the listserve see this important and unique offering first.  I found it during a websearch and think it has been up for sale only a week or two.



Dave Trippel



PS. I have no connection with or previous knowledge of the book seller.



<http://www.justincroft.com/book/987/beer-trade-protection-society-minute-book-of-the-proceedings-of-the-committee-of-the-beer-trade-protection-society>http://www.justincroft.com/book/987/beer-trade-protection-society-minute-book-of-the-proceedings-of-the-committee-of-the-beer-trade-protection-society



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BEER TRADE PROTECTION SOCIETY. Minute Book of the Proceedings of the Committee of the Beer Trade Protection Society.

London:  1854-1866.

Manuscript on paper, with some printed insertions, folio (365 × 235 mm), pp. [xxvi], 571 (later pagination), with numerous additions of manuscript and printed material tipped in or loosely inserted, densely but legibly written throughout in several clerical hands, on bluish paper. Contemporary vellum, green morocco label (abraded). An impressive volume.

The minute book of a significant Victorian trade organisation, representing the interests of an estimated 41,000 “beershops” and 89,000 public houses in England. This is an extensive volume which provides much information on contemporary attitudes to public houses and the consumption of alchohol. The society was based in London (also calling itself the Metropolitan Beer Trade Protection Society) and was mainly concerned with the retailing of beer and ale within the capital. It acted as a political lobbying group, maintaining frequent contact with parliament and prominent politicians, working to forward the interests of this major part of the London economy. It also fulfilled several benevolent functions in caring for retired or indigent

inn-keepers and their widows. Licensing of the sale of alchoholic drinks was less uniform than it became later in the century (and is today). The Beerhouse Act of 1830 exempted the sale of beer from the requirement of a justices’ licenses, allowing a large rise in small retailers selling beer alone. The exemption was under constant pressure, not least from temperance groups, and was actively fought for by the Protection Society. It was revoked in 1869 (after our minute book ends) with the introduction of the Beerhouse Act of 1869. The volume contains several inserted copies of correspondence with government ministers, notably Sir George Gray, Home Secretary, together with correspondence with society members. Several inserted letters are from London inn-keepers requesting help in cases where they have been brought before magistrates’ courts. A letter to the secretary, of 5 December 1856 (p. 232), relates the case of one Thomas Tomlinson of the Surrey Hounds in Battersea, who had been summoned to answer a charge against him at Wandsworth police court that he “did on Sunday the 21st October last unlawfully open his house for sale of beer before one o’ck in the afternoon of that day”. Two witnesses swore “that they saw the servant of Mr Tomlinson let out 3 men one being drunk from her masters house about 1/4 past 12 o’clock on Sunday”. An attempt by the Committee to extend opening hours on the occasion of the signing of the peace treaty ending the Crimean War was rejected: in 1856, the secretary wrote to Sir Richard Mayne, Chief Commisioner of the Metropolitan Police, requesting that the beersellers be allowed to open their houses after midnight for the “accomodation of the public” in celebrating the peace. The printed insertions are mainly copies of minutes for meetings.



£2500.00    (equal to approx. US$4007.05* or €2941.18* for 19 November 2010)



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