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25th September 2009 |
Whisky Guru
Challenges Publishers Morals As Reprint
Goes On Sale
 Internationally acclaimed whisky writer
Jim Murray has today questioned the
moral and ethical rights of publisher
Prion to re-print, re name and publish a
twelve year old book that carries his
name.
Originally published in 1997 as ‘Jim
Murray's Complete Book of Whisky’, the
book which is now titled ‘The Classic
Whisky Guide by Jim Murray’ is claimed
to be up-to-date and reflecting the
current whisky industry. This is
blatantly not the case in that the ‘new’
book has not been re-written, revised or
amended by its creator. In fact Jim
Murray says that the first he knew about
his ‘new’ book was when he “stumbled
across it on-line!”
Having read the latest offering from
Prion, Murray points out that ‘The
Classic Whisky Guide’ is merely a
reprint of an abridged edition in new
clothing and that people buying it
believing it to be an updated version of
the original are likely to be very
disappointed! Murray comments “I have
major concerns over the moral and
ethical actions of the publisher in that
none of the promotional material
supporting the book makes clear its very
long history. It’s only when the reader
has bought the book that its status as a
reprint is revealed and the fact that it
is horribly out of date”.
“The reality is that the whisky industry
and its whiskies have changed
significantly since 1997, in some cases
almost unrecognisably so. Naturally, I
feel aggrieved on behalf of my readers
who may have already bought this book
believing it to be a new work by me,
either as a follow up to my hugely
successful ‘Jim Murray's Whisky Bible’,
or an accompaniment to it. I would fully
understand their disappointment and
anger to find the book already in their
libraries; and as such I need to
underline the point that I did not have
any hand in this”.
Believing that the Prion book could
damage his professional reputation, Jim
Murray asserts that “readers buying this
offering from Prion must not
automatically take what is contained
therein as my views on whisky today”.
For the current status of the whisky
industry Dram Good Books can confirm
that the 2010 edition of ‘Jim Murray’s
Whisky Bible’ will be launched on
October 5th 2009. “The fact that the
2010 ‘Whisky Bible’ features no less
than 946 new whiskies, all of which have
been tasted and catalogued, serves to
highlight the scale of the changes that
have occurred in the whisky industry
just in 2009, let alone the last
decade!” added Murray.
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Jim Murrays Statement On Amazon
|
Jim Murray has felt so strongly about
this reprint of what is an old Classic
so very appropriately named "The Classic
Whisky Guide", he has posted a statement
on Amazon expressing how he fells about
this re-release under a different title.
Read Jims statement here:
Jim Murray's Amazon Statement
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