An Innkeeper's Diary

London England: Faber & Faber. Paperback. An Inkeeper's Diary. Message to previous owner to inside cover. Foxing to end inside covers and edge. With a Foreword by Hilary Rubinstein. John Fothergill, who called himself 'Pioneer Amateur Innkeeper' in Who's Who, has an honoured place in the pantheon of hoteliers. he was the first to make the profession of innkeeping smart as well as respectable. In its heyday, the Spreadeagle in Thames, near Oxford, became a mecca for glitterati: writers like Shaw, Wells, Evelyn Waugh, the Sitwells, and G. K. Chesterton; artists like Augustus John, Tonks and Steer; actors and actresses; even heads of state such as General Smuts, were proud to be numbered among his guests. But Fothergill was not only an illustrious innkeeper - an outstanding chef, a connoisseur of wine, an early campaigner for Real Food - he was also an intriguing, volatile, and provocative personality. He firmly believed that the customer was not always right. And he was an irresistible raconteur. This book, first published in 1931, was an instant bestseller and continued to be reprinted throughout the next two decades. Since then it has been dramatized on television and radio, but the book itself has been out of print for more than thirty years. It is one of the great bedside books, and its reissue has been long overdue. Illustrated. 294 pp. (We carry a wide selection of titles in The Arts, Theology, History, Politics, Social and Physical Sciences. academic and scholarly books and Modern First Editions, Reference books ,and all types of Academic Literature.) . Very Good. Soft cover. Reprint. 1990.