(Viticulture) — Pierre Viala | A comprehensive, extensively illustrated survey of grape varieties worldwide

(Viticulture) — Pierre Viala 

Traité général de viticulture. Ampélographie. Paris: Protat frères for Masson & Cie, 1901–1910

7 vols, folio (343 x 248 mm). 570 lithographed plates, including 500 in color and 70 in black and white, 840 text illustrations. Contemporary half brown morocco and cloth, spines with raised bands, gilt lettering in second and fourth compartments; light rubbing.

A landmark ampelographic undertaking, the work brings together detailed descriptions and high-quality chromolithographic plates representing the principal cultivated grape varieties known at the turn of the twentieth century.

As Viala explains in his preface, the project differed from earlier surveys in its reliance on reports from leading viticulturists, wine growers, and agricultural specialists across Europe, North Africa, the Americas, Russia, and other vine-growing regions, each contributing observations on the varieties with which they were most familiar. Their material forms the basis of volumes II–VI, each plate illustrating the variety under discussion. Volume I provides Viala’s historical introduction to the field and a survey of the development and classification of grape varieties, while volume VII offers an extensive dictionary of known types, a seasonal grouping of principal varieties, and a substantial bibliography.

REFERENCES

Cagle, A Matter of Taste (1990) 432; Nissen BBI 2059; Oberlé, Une bibliothèque bachique 276; Simon, Bibliotheca Vinaria 60