25nd 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It’s only when the reader has bought the book that its status as a reprint is revealed and the fact that it is horribly out of date”.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.
~Ends~
For more information please contact:

Mark Hunt
Director of Communications
Dram Good Books Ltd
Email: mark@whiskybible.com
Tel:  07768 145583

http://www.dramgoodbooks.com/