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Transcripts from the History of Brewing

I became interested in the idea of producing online transcripts after seeing various web-based archives of source material, notably the Internet History of Science Sourcebook and the History of Phrenology on the Web texts section.  Around this time I was beginning my first serious research in special collections libraries, and finding that, purely for my own purposes, making word-for-word transcriptions of source texts often turned out to be more efficient than compiling summary notes which might leave the need for further visits. 

It occurred to me that, following the tedious business of preparing a reasonably accurate transcript, it should be relatively simple to convert it into electronic form and make it universally available; and that, if those researchers already in the habit of transcribing non-copyright material into laptops were encouraged to do this as a matter of course, the result would be a general improvement in the accessibility of hitherto obscure texts only extant in a few fragile volumes held in restricted collections. 

Contents

• Accum, FC (1820), A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons, section “Adulteration of Beer” (69K).  The German-born chemist Accum, whose A Treatise on the Art of Brewing appeared around the same time, strongly opposed all forms of adulteration, decrying in print many beer additives which were implicitly or explicitly condoned in contemporary brewery manuals by other authors.  This piece gives useful indications of the changing nature of nineteenth-century porter. 
• ‘Bickerdyke, John’ (1886), The Curiosities of Ale & Beer: an Entertaining History, chapter “Porter and Stout” (32K).  Extract from the well-known pseudonymous cavalcade of anecdotes, poems and songs on beer-related matters.  Charming antiquarianism for the most part, but significant for containing probably the most sophisticated nineteenth-century version of the porter creation myth, and for its relatively serious anti-teetotalitarian rhetoric. 
• Child, Samuel (1794?), Every Man His Own Brewer, complete, UNVERIFIED (47K).  Pamphlet, one of few brewing guides from this period aimed solely at the truly small-scale brewer.  Child’s endorsement of various adulterative practices was singled out for criticism by Accum (see above).
• Cobbett, William (1850), Cottage Economy, sections relating to beer-brewing (78K).  From the seventeenth edition of the well-known text (originally published 1822) promoting self-sufficiency among cottagers.  Cobbett’s chief aim here is to revive the custom of small-scale domestic brewing: in contrast to those of Child, his instructions relate to traditional rural ale, rather than London-style porter.  The account also incorporates attacks on additives, the rate of taxation and (famously) tea-drinking. 
• Rees’ Cyclopaedia (1819), entry “Porter” (55K).  Includes a thorough and revealing description of operations at Whitbread’s colossal, steam-driven porter brewery.  Thanks to Martyn Cornell, I now have a scan of the plate accompanying this entry (129K).  It’s much larger than the average screen size, so you’ll probably need to make a print copy to refer to. 

Click here for a few notes on the transcripts, covering transcription policy and conventions used, the approach used in converting the texts to electronic form, and copyright issues.