obsello absinthe verte , or simply obsello was a brand of absinthe .

obsello was an award-winning " verte " or green absinthe that was manufactured by distillation from eight herbs including grand wormwood .

obsello was distilled in california .

obsello absenta

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obsello absenta - the fée verte absinthe forum - the oldest , largest , most authoritative absinthe forum .
obsello is for a fan of up - front french absinthes , and dirty old goths who once loved their precious , rareified spanish absenta . only this is better . our obsello was provided by the good people at absinthesalon for the purposes of review .
note : this absinthe is sold internationally with two different labels , one which say ‘absinthe’ and the other which says ‘absenta’ ( absinthe in spanish ) . they are exactly the same product .
it was a great pleasure to see a stronger version of the nice segarra absenta . but that was quickly killed by the wrongful use of wormwood for coloring . that gives you a nasty bitterness . too bad .
many spanish distilleries also made their own absinthe , or absenta in spanish , and had done so since the peak of absinthe in the late 1800 ' s . several of these continued to do so well into the 70 ' s and 80 ' s . sadly they turned to cheaper methods to manufacture their absinthes as time passed and very few of the spanish absentas made after the 1970 ' s are actually any good . still today there are a lot of spanish absinthe available on the market , however only one - obsello absenta - is even close to the finer old spanish absentas such as escat , pre 1970 montana , argenti etc .
the obsello is the first traditional distilled absinthe from spain in decades . made by american distiller bryan davis in spain . it does present a little of the
spanish
touch with citrus and mint .
absinthe obsello is the only spanish absenta on the sad spanish market , that has not to actually offer any absinthe on swiss quality - level otherwise . obsello absinthe is distilled , not macerated . here are used 8 different herbs and another quality - characteristic the wine - alcohol , that is won from vineyards in the penedes . only very small ranks are produced in the alambiques . thanks to the traditional manufacture , a complex absinthe with a remarkable quantity is offered to the absinthe - connoisseurs at thujon ( max ) . 10 mg / kg . exclusively natural herbs are used ( in contrast to other artificial essences ) , and this absinthe is distilled twice .
obsello is worth trying imho , i ' m satisfied with the purchase . there is some mint , which probably is the most objectionable part for some , but after the initial recognition of it , it fades while some other unexpected characters come out - including a lovely mouthfeel and satisfying finish .
the colour is a beautiful crystalline peridot which louches to a lovely , thick impressionist sage green . the louche also amplifies the sweet floral character of the absinthe . interestingly my obsello passed the traditional absinthe nose test – i poured a glass , left the room and five minutes later i returned – and it has perfumed the entire room . not bad , pedro…
given the above , you can understand how excited i was when i found out that i was getting a bottle of obsello , the first premium , distilled absinthe verte to be produced in spain . if you are a crusty old fan of dodgy spanish absinthe , and remember sitting by candlelight , listening to bauhaus and waiting for the mailman to come – wait ’til you try this one .
obsello is distilled on a grape alcohol base , which supports the lighter , upper notes of fennel and hyssop , while the wormwood offers a nice counter - balance quite apparent in the finish and lingers for a good few minutes . the anethole is characteristic , however it’s not overpowering . i did get ‘dead man’s tongue’ as i like to call it ( the distinctive numb tongue caused by the anethole . go through half a bottle of pernod and you’ll dig what i’m talking about ) , although it was very subtle , and rather enjoyable .
although today , several different brands of absinthe are available on the u . s . market , it can still sometimes be hard to find . the best brands , i should add , also tend to be a little pricey . ( i personally like kübler , obsello , and vieux carré absinthe , as well as marteau , la clandestine , and lucid ; i ' ve heard good things about leopold brothers , vieux pontarlier , and st . george , but i ' ve never tried them . ) you can substitute pastis in place of the absinthe in most absinthe cocktails ; indeed , for nearly a century , bartenders had to do just that .
i was told that absinthe made today is not the same as historic 19th century absinthe . are your absinthes real ? do they contain wormwood ?
all of our absinthes are made to the highest 19th century protocols and all contain wormwood . levels of wormwood vary between absinthe recipes and brands . our studies of unopened bottles of the best quality vintage absinthe have confirmed that the techniques we use give us absinthes of historic quality , taste and strength , without having to modify them to conform to modern regulations , and which still fall within legal limits .
one must remember that there were also many poor quality absinthes in the past , made with oils , poorly made base alcohol and even poisonous dyes . it is certain that these attributed to absinthe ' s bad reputation and you can be assured we do not try to replicate them !
the thujone content ( measured in miligrams per liter ) has nothing to do with the quality of absinthe . recent studies have proved that the best vintage absinthes were actually much lower in thujone than previously believed and that thujone levels do not have any provable bearing on absinthe ' s perceived ' effects . '
if an absinthe is correctly distilled , using the same ingredients , including wormwood and methods of the best distilleries of the past , the end product will actually be relatively low in thujone . the thujone contents ( though slightly varied ) of all our absinthes are within the norms of the european union limits , i . e . less than 35 mg / liter , without any compromises to the original recipes or reduction in the quantity of wormwood used . that said , the quality and authenticity of our absinthes are not surpassed by any other absinthe on the market today , no matter what other promoters may try to convince you about thujone levels .
this is very difficult to answer , but it would depend on if you just want to try it once , or plan to develop your tastes and experiment with the different ranges and styles . we recommend to start with a ' lighter ' style absinthe such as one from the pernot un emile collection or a swiss ' la bleue ' type such as la ptite . the smaller , 20cl un emile flasks from pernot or the paul devoille fougerolles flasks are convenient for you to try both a green and clear absinthe to compare , before deciding to purchase a larger bottle .
whilst our absinthes are completely unsweetened they are in no way what should be considered unpleasantly ' bitter ' . the distillation process separates most of the bitter components from wormwood and leaves them in the still , only the aromatic compounds find their way into the final distillate . anise seed contributes to the ' body ' of absinthe which people can also perceive as sweetness .
some people just have a sweet tooth , in 19th century france it was common to add sugar to absinthe and other high - alcohol spirits and the ' sugar ritual ' became a part of the enjoyment of the drink . excess sugar can contribute ' body ' , mask high alcohol and also help hide defects in poorly made absinthes , which is why many absinthes have sugar added in the bottle . none of our absinthes have added sugar . in fact the addition of sugar changes the character of the drink considerably ; we recommend tasting our absinthes with and without sugar to appreciate the difference . you will be surprised !
absinthe was originally produced as a herbal tonic - high alcohol is the best method to hold and transmit the intense aromas and flavours and also preserves the chlorophyll which gives the greenish colour . when it is correctly diluted with water , absinthe can be no stronger than a glass of table wine .
absinthe is a high - proof alcoholic spirit and as such is not anywhere near as fragile as wine .
it will be best stored at cellar temperature ( + / - 55°f ) but ambient / room temperature is fine , as long as it is not too hot . absinthe should be kept out of direct sunlight and upright , as the high degree of alcohol can have an adverse effect on the cork . you can store it anywhere that you comfortably store other spirits .
absinthe should never be refrigerated as it contains anethole from anise , and anethole can start to crystallize at less than 68 °f - this crystallization is a major reason why absinthe turns white when cold water is added . if bottled absinthe becomes very cold , as in lengthy exposure to freezing temperatures , it can cause tiny ' flakes ' to appear and hamper its aromas and flavour . the flakes will normally dissolve once the absinthe warms up and they will not cause a permanent adverse effect .
aeration will improve the taste and aromas as it disperses the high alcohol vapors and allows other aromas to surface . an opened bottle can remain good for years , in fact in most cases it will improve . however , if you plan to keep it for more than six months , it is best that it not remain in a decanter or a half empty bottle with a great deal of surface exposure to air .
only if the cork is bad , or does not create a good seal .
absinthe was traditionally served as an aperitif . during the belle époque the time between 5 and 7 pm became known as ' lheure verte ' , or the green hour , because everyone would stop by their local café for an absinthe on their way home from work , or in preparation for the evening meal . you can enjoy absinthe at any time but always in moderation . don ' t drink and drive !
this ' ritual ' was created as a marketing stunt in the late 1990 ' s and has been unfortunately accepted by many as an historical fact , especially after being incorporated into some modern films about the belle epoque . it does not increase any ' absinthe effects ' and only serves to add an unpleasant burnt caramel taste to your drink . your glass may also break apart due to the heat , and send flaming alcohol across your table or down your arm - so be warned !
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urltoken
from the famed combier distillery , recognized as a historical landmark in france , jade liqueurs ® brings forth its globally acclaimed absinthes and artisanal spirits .
the absinthes produced by jade liqueurs ® are uniquely crafted using only the original equipment and methods employed by the artisans of the past , without compromises or shortcuts . these absinthes are carefully constructed using the full compliment of selected herbs , including artemisia absinthium ( grande absinthe ) , and are absolutely authentic down to exacting details . to ' refine ' or modernize our absinthes in the typical industrial fashion would be to negate their authenticity , which is unfair to the discriminating connoisseur , and equally unacceptable to us .
upon savoring the bouquet and flavor of the absinthes offered by jade liqueurs ® , the connoisseur is taken back to a time where artisanship and quality were honorable traditions . at jade liqueurs ® , uncompromised historical accuracy and authenticity is our only recipe .
are distilled directly from select botanicals , and are never fabricated from assembled distillates , commercial flavorings , or synthetic dyes . of critical importance to the production of historically authentic absinthes is the type and quality of the botanicals employed . plants vary widely in quality and essential oil characteristics depending on cultivation methods , terroir , climate , and harvesting techniques . most herbs in commerce today are unacceptable for our purposes .
jade liqueurs ® employs rigorous scrutiny and quality control methods in selecting only the most fragrant plants of the correct original variety , regional origin , and essential oil characteristics . our attention to these details raises our materials costs substantially , but the difference in quality speaks for itself . in fact , our standards are so demanding that the availability of our absinthes is always limited by the availability of suitable botanicals .
to ensure an ongoing supply of botanicals of correct variety , our team cultivates the most critical plants in the loire , including two distinctly different , historically significant cultivars of grande wormwood .
while modern absinthes are almost always made using inexpensive alcohols , jade liqueurs utilizes only the most historically correct base spirits to create its vintage - style absinthes . the most renowned original absinthes were crafted using a specific class of spirits derived from certain wine producing regions of france , and were oftentimes transported by rail over a considerable distance from the vineyards to the distilleries . unfortunately however , the few wine spirits in commerce today tend to differ substantially in construction and content from the spirits in commerce in the 19th century , and are therefore unacceptable to us .
the absinthes offered by jade liqueurs ® are crafted only with spirits prepared from a proprietary french eau de vie that adheres strictly to our specifications , and are derived only from specific grape varietals and terroir . our selectivity with respect to spirits raises our costs dramatically , but the use of anything less would compromise the historical accuracy and supple nature of the jade absinthes . as such , it can be said that the origin of jade absinthe lies in the ancient vineyards of the loire .
the delicate process of fine absinthe distillation demands considerable knowledge , expertise , and attention to detail . for various reasons that are not obvious to the casual enthusiast , a historically accurate absinthe cannot be realistically recreated from a paragraph or two of ' recipes ' or other generic information lifted from literature , the internet , or otherwise . the absinthes offered by jade liqueurs
are uniquely derived from actual full , sealed bottles of the finest original absinthes , and represent the results of a decade of careful analyses .
alembics that were acquired a century ago from what was perhaps the most famous original absinthe distillery in pontarlier , france .
these beautiful antique absinthe stills are quite a prize , having been purpose built entirely by hand circa 1870s , and feature full hydro - rectification to ensure an incomparably smooth product . these fabulous icons of the absinthe era have been returned to their full glory , producing the finest absinthes today just as they did during the 19th century .
in the spirit of the finest originals , jade liqueurs ' ® absinthes are never adulterated with sugar , commercial flavorings , non - traditional herbs , or chemical dyes . the authentic , natural tint of the jade absinthes is derived solely from a traditional , delicate process that is conducted entirely by hand , using only original materials and methods . this expensive step is the only way to obtain the correct tint and final flavoring , and perfecting this antique process on a historical scale is no small feat .
are never packaged in screw - cap bottles . following a settling period that averages at least three years , the jade absinthes are properly bottled and corked by hand in quality heavy glass . like a fine wine , age brings to these fine absinthes a certain mellowing and marrying of flavors that can only be achieved through the passage of time . fine absinthe , like fine wine , deserves to be bottled and stored properly . the delicate natural coloring of these absinthes must be bottled in dark green glass in order to preserve the delicate natural color from oxidation . each bottle is topped by hand in the traditional wax , and each receives the jade liqueurs
• not poisonous , and never was ? • not hallucinogenic , and never was ? • legal in the usa since the 1960s ? • not just a novelty ? there are fine absinthes , just like fine wine , whisky , and cognac . read more here :
properly preparing a glass of absinthe isn ' t as complicated as you may think .
absinthe enthusiasts often refer to absinthe preparation as the
absinthe ritual
, but it ' s not very different from making a cup of tea .
do you know how to tell a great absinthe from a so - so absinthe ? what does one look for , or demand , in a glass of absinthe ? just as with fine wine , fine absinthe has a whole language and system for evaluation and tasting .
i remember a time , not that long ago , when carfax and i would place an order to an online bottle shop in spain , and sit in our respective living rooms for about two weeks clock - watching and praying that we would get a lazy customs person this time , or that they wouldn’t realise that the booze in their hand was illegal to import into australia , or that they didn’t know what absinthe was . just let it get through ! most of the time it did . some of the time , however , it did not . it was the latter scenario which prompted us to investigate the prohibition on absinthe active in australia at the time , and led to an interesting discovery… but that’s another story .
what i was getting at is that i have very fond memories of my first spanish absinthe experiences , even though they were all oil mixes and of questionable connoisseurial value . though i do still say that serpis is one of my all - time favourites . it’s red , for f * cks sake .
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urltoken
musset didn ' t write the way he did because he drank absinthe , instead he drank for the same reason for which he wrote just like that : namely out of despair .
many writers
of old
wrote poems or passages about absinthe . some drank it , some didn ' t . find some of them here as well as reviews and notes on modern books about absinthe .
the absinthe poetry section has seen several updates the past days . poems and information about more authors ; antonin artaud , arthur symons , francis saltus saltus , florence folsom and robert loveman . open your mind and have a drink while you enjoy their lyrics . read more . . .
it ' s the new bistro , the new bar in town . a good place to meet when meeting in real life isn ' t always an option . meet me on facebook for more updates from the absinthe world .
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absinthe libertine 72 intense 0 . 7l / 23 . 6 fl oz i recommended it . this absinthe is an interesting concoction
23 , 90 eur 47 , 80 eur per liter 19 % vat incl . excl . shipping costs
35 , 50 eur 71 , 00 eur per liter 19 % vat incl . excl . shipping costs
40 , 50 eur 81 , 00 eur per liter 19 % vat incl . excl . shipping costs
34 , 50 eur 69 , 00 eur per liter 19 % vat incl . excl . shipping costs
35 , 90 eur 71 , 80 eur per liter 19 % vat incl . excl . shipping costs
36 , 50 eur 52 , 14 eur per liter 19 % vat incl . excl . shipping costs
abtshof magdeburg akveld ' s artisanale absinth . . bairnsfather / sebor baumgärtner / eabsinth blackmint , kübler & wy . . breaux , t . a . / combier jade bugnon , c . a . / artemisia cami cannax devoille , paul guy , distillerie / pontarli . . hill ' s huguet / lohmann l ' or special drinks lemercier frères licores sinc liqueurs de france / timber . . matter - luginbühl / erlebni . . monforte del cid , destil . montana perucchi neuzeller klosterbrennerei penedés , destilerías del pernot , les fils d ' émile provence , dest . et domaines provence , liquoristerie de rauter , felix rochère , la schnapsmuseum , alt - wiener segarra , julian ulex vallesana , la valote / bovet valote , la wild , familie / eichelberge . . žusy
the fée verte absinthe forum - the oldest , largest , most authoritative absinthe forum . > absinthe & absinthiana > absinthe brands discussion
informed imbiber group : members posts : 801 joined : 29 - april 08 member no . : 3318
just got a bottle of this yesterday , review will go up on ws before too long . has anyone else tried it ? i had a good time tasting it , some things caught me off guard , but overall i enjoyed it .
amateur d ' absinthe group : absinthe mafia posts : 3061 joined : 24 - september 03 from : san francisco member no . : 34
mthuilli says eet ees sheeet ! hartsmar sent me a sample and i didn ' t think it was too bad . definitely a huge step up from the other spanish absentas .
da froggy group : admin posts : 2445 joined : 6 - september 05 from : ( french ) west coast member no . : 1711
the sample i ' ve tasted was bad indeed . was it the sample ? the soiree ?
anyway , was too minty and far from absinthe , we were 3 - 4 drunkards thinking the same .
i ' d rather drink the segarra 45 if it wasn ' t so fookin ' expensive .
segarra definitely has to be considered apart from all other absentas . it is unique . i don ' t know if i would like it now or not . i bought a bottle back in like 2000 , when the only other ones i had tasted were mari mayans , deva , and serpis , and i didn ' t like it at all . but at that time i guess i had never tasted
real
absinthe . i never bought another bottle . i still wonder about it , but not enough to pay the price for another bottle . i loved peter ' s story about going to see julien . search for it if you haven ' t read it .
tasted it again last year in nico ' s den at boveresse and i still like it . as a change .
vaginafly trap group : absinthe mafia posts : 4682 joined : 13 - august 07 member no . : 2953
i think many things may be worth trying . far fewer may be worth purchasing . your advocating putting down hard cash for this one ?
when i wake up , i try to convince myself that my arm isn ' t there - - to retain my sanity . then i try to convince myself that it is . frank bidart
if you ' re in the u . s . i would wait until it is available stateside ( which it should be soon ) . i ordered mine from spain and i would probably not advise paying the courier fees incurred by los monos del vuelo . i think it ' s worth the money to buy it domestically if you are not going to flip out about the mint . or a sample may be an option if you ' re in the u . s .
absinthusiast group : members posts : 211 joined : 25 - june 07 from : brescia , in the north of italy member no . : 2889
i tasted marc sample too and disliked it… it wasn ' t actually soooo bad , but definitely unpleasant . i used to like segarra 45 , but the last time i tasted it ( 5 - 6 month ago ) i didn ' t like it very much… nico ' s den doesn ' t count , there you would like almost everything that is not a la bleue !
elitist bastard group : members posts : 1889 joined : 22 - june 06 member no . : 2181
i ' m liking this stuff more and more by the day . if there ' s a
dessert absinthe
i think this would be it .
absinthusiast group : absinthe mafia posts : 308 joined : 1 - july 04 from : germania inferior / ducatus cliviae member no . : 834
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production leveling by volume or by product type or mix - leveling by volume . . . if for a family of products that use the same production process there is a demand that varies between 800 and 1 , 200 units then it might seem a good idea to produce the amount . . . toyota ' s view is that production systems that vary in the required output suffer from mura and muri with capacity being ' forced ' in some periods . . . and carry an inventory proportional to the variability of demand , stability of the production process and the frequency of shipments . . .
capital , volume i - part three : the production of absolute surplus - value . . . in part three of capital volume i , karl marx explores the production of absolute surplus value . . . to understand this one must first understand the labor process itself . . . according to marx , the production of absolute surplus value arises directly out of the labor process . . .
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the only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it .
so many stories , myths and rumours are heard and told about absinthe . the question is how much truth lies in it . to get to the bottom of that we need to go more than 200 years back in time and travel to the jura mountains in switzerland and france where absinthe as we know it started its journey .
generally when we think or speak of absinthe , we think of the glittering parisian theatres , the moulin rouge , the artists , the cafés and all the icons of the belle epoque .
however , its origin is far more subtle than that . absinthe was first produced near couvet in switzerland , and nearby pontarlier in the doubs region of france . to many this rural part of france is still considered the home of absinthe .
supposedly it was dr . pierre ordinaire who invented absinthe in 1792 . it was shortly after the french revolution that he produced the first commercial absinthe , or more accurately it was actually a medicine , meant to cure just about anything . it was recommended for the treatment of epilepsy , gout , kidney stones , colic , headaches and worms .
dr ordinaire travelled the countryside with his medicine and sold it as a cure - all to the people there . the medicine included typical herbs for the region as well as other herbs known for their medicinal properties . local wormwood , roman wormwood , fennel and several other ingredients made up the first version of what was to become france ' s most popular drink .
another man , major henri daniel dubied was very interested in the invention by dr . ordinaire . not as a medicine but rather as an aperitif . the recipe had changed slightly and the previously medicinal concoction had instead become quite potable and people started to like it , not only for its supposed medicinal qualities . dubied allegedly purchased what was reputed to be ordinaire’s original formula from two sisters named henriod at the beginning of the 19th century and started a larger scale production . their distillery was located in the little town of couvet in val - de - travers , switzerland .
french demand for the new drink from couvet across the border in switzerland - absinthe - became so great that a factory was built in pontarlier , france and started production there in 1805 . this eliminated previous problems with taxes and trade between the two countries . the company was run by dubied ' s son - in - law , henri - louis pernod . it was to become one of the largest and most successful companies in france . little did they know that the pernod absinthe would be such a success that others would try to copy not only the drink and the recipe but also the name .
the french troop fighting in algeria in the 1840 ' s used absinthe as a fever preventative , and upon their return to france , they brought the taste for absinthe with them . it became an instant success . the bars and bistros where crowded by people drinking absinthe , and every day at around 5 pm . it was
l ' heure verte
- the green hour .
of course , since absinthe was such a success , and so was the pernod company , more wanted a piece of it all . there was a multitude of brands that more or less copied the name pernod , and many of them became truly successful as well .
absinthe hit its peak during the years from 1880 - 1910 . it was a quintessential part of belle epoque french society . the french consumed far more absinthe than any other country , and absinthe drinking was one of the special marks of paris in the 1890s and early 1900’s . absinthe was a symbol of inspiration and daring , and became indelibly associated with the bohemian artists and writers who were revolutionising art and literature . many famous works of art were directly inspired by the drink , including some of degas’ and van gogh greatest masterpieces , and the very first cubist paintings by picasso and braque .
everyone drank absinthe – society ladies , gentlemen - about - town , businessmen and politicians , artists , musicians , ordinary working - men . in 1874 alone , france consumed 700 , 000 litres of absinthe , but by 1910 , this figure had exploded to 36 , 000 , 000 litres of absinthe per year . that sounds like a whole lot , but it actually accounted for only 3 % of the total french alcohol consumption , whilst wine had 72 % of the total . the french drank a lot !
what is important to keep in mind though is that the majority of the binge - drinking of absinthe took place in the larger cultural capitols of france such as paris and marseille for example . in the countryside absinthe was just another drink you quietly enjoyed like any other drink be it wine or brandy .
it was also in the major cities that the problems with adulterated cheaper artificial absinthes emerged . companies with little scruples but with a hunger for profit saw their chance to produce cheaper absinthes to the lower classes of society . much of absinthes trouble to come was due to these faux products and of course the rising problem of a steadily increasing consumption of alcohol in general .
leading up to the ban of absinthe in several - but certainly not all - countries in the world was a series of incidents and a whole lot of lobbying from the anti - alcohol - league as well as the wine industry .
seeing how the french people drank more and more much was done to prevent this and absinthe was hit hardest . being a high - proof spirit and , at least in the major cities , fairly cheap it was the perfect target .
on the one side there was the anti - alcohol - league providing scientific studies that proved absinthe to be a terrible poison . on the other side was their opponents providing studies contradicting those
findings
. one of the most well known , and cited , scientists in this field was dr . magnan . he made several studies on the effect of absinthe . reading them today they ' re really not that scientific and would be heavily questioned , but at the time it made out the creme - de - la - creme of studies .
he did find a component in absinthe which was previously unknown , the so called active ingredient of wormwood - thujone . his studies on the effects of thujone was used to ban absinthe .
thujone is a terpene and is related to menthol , which of course is known for its healing and restorative qualities . thujone is a naturally occurring substance in wormwood and is also found in the bark of the thuja , or white cedar and in other herbs besides wormwood - including tansy and the common sage used in cooking . aside from absinthe , other popular liquors , including chartreuse and benedictine , also contain small amounts of thujone .
dr . magnans studies proved that thujone was indeed a poison , and giving a laboratory rat a certain amount of ordinary drinking alcohol and then later the same amount of concentrated thujone oil - which killed the animal - he
proved
that since absinthe contained thujone and thujone killed the rat , absinthe was a poison . not taking into account of course the actual levels of thujone found in absinthe , which are well below the lethal dose for humans .
further
proving
the dangers of absinthe due to its containing thujone he stated absinthe to contain around 250 - 260 mg / kg of thujone . the numbers were mere calculations based on the amount of wormwood used in a standard absinthe recipe and the amount of thujone found in wormwood . again , not taking into account that not all of this follow in the distillation of absinthe , which makes the actual level of thujone found in the finished drink much lower . however , not even the 250mg / kg would actually kill a man drinking that absinthe .
extremely high doses of thujone are however dangerous , and have been shown to cause convulsions in laboratory animals , but the concentration of thujone actually found in absinthe is many thousands of times lower than this . thujone ' s mechanism of action on the brain is not fully understood although certain structural similarities between thujone and tetrahydrocannabinol ( the active component in marijuana ) have led some to hypothesize that both substances have the same site of action in the brain . more recent scientific research however has completely discredited this idea . more important , thujone is rather irrelevant to absinthe itself .
read more on thujone , the effects of thujone and a number of scientific studies on the subject here , on urltoken .
absinthe was originally fairly expensive , and largely a drink of the upper - middle classes . however , by the second half of the nineteenth century it had fallen dramatically in price , both because of increasing economies of scale in its production , and because most producers had switched from grape alcohol to far cheaper grain and beet alcohols . at the same time the number of brands exploded , with many catering for the very cheapest end of the market .
it is quite a long story to tell , but to keep it simple , it goes something like this ; it was a man named lanfray . he killed his entire family with a shotgun , his wife who was four months pregnant and his four year old daughter . he tried to take his own life , but failed .
since he was quite the drinker , it was said that it was absinthe that drove him to commit this hideous crime . no one took any notice to the fact that lanfray during that day had more alcohol than anyone would consider healthy . and not only absinthe . absinthe actually accounted only for a very small part of it all . in the morning he started off with two absinthes , before he went to work . on the way there , he , his father and his brother stopped at a café where he had a crème de menthe and a cognac . at lunch break at his work in the vineyards , he had no less than six glasses of
piquette
, a heady local wine . in the afternoon , just before he ended work , he had another glass of wine . at their way back from work , they again stopped at a café , and had a cup of coffee laced with brandy . in the evening lanfray and his father each had another liter of
piquette
. and that wasn ' t enough . lanfray poured himself some coffee and laced it with his own powerful homemade brandy .
he got into an argument with his wife and asked her to polish his shoes for him . when she refused lanfray went to get his rifle and shot her once in the head , killing her instantly . his father fled and his four year old daughter , rose , heard the noise and entered the room . he then shot rose and her two year old sister . he shot himself in the jaw and was arrested by police which had been notified by lanfray ' s father .
after recovering from his selfinflicted injury he was put on trial for the murders of his own family . his attorneys argued that it was the two ounces of absinthe he had consumed before that was to blame for his actions . a leading swiss psycholigist , dr . alber mahaim also testified that jean lanfray suffered from a
classic case of absinthe madness
.
however , prosecuter alfred obrist , argued that the two ounces of absinthe he had ingested were minor in relation to the large amounts of other alcoholic beverages he had consumed during that day .
some producers opened up distilleries or hired distilleries across the border to spain to continue producing absinthe there , as it was never banned there . some of these include edouard pernod and pernod fils . the two eventually merged and pernod absinthe , although the recipe changed slightly over time , was continually produced in tarragona all the way up to around 1965 .
the stock that was left in france at the time of the ban in 1915 was allowed to be sold off and much of it was exported . eventually the government bought up large stocks and actually used it to manufacture explosives for the war .
absinthe is an anise - flavored spirit that was originally 136 proof and made with grande wormwood . it is typically made by distilling neutral grain spirits with herbs , predominately anise , florence fennel and grande wormwood . other herbs such as angelica root , coriander , dittany leaves , hyssop , juniper , nutmeg , melissa , star anise , sweet flag , and veronica are also used .
the color of the distillate is clear and is often bottled this way in a style known as blanche or la bleue or as a bright green .
the coloring is added , either through the chlorophyll from steeping herbs like hyssop , melissa and petite wormwood in the liquor or adding artificial coloring . other absinthes are available in red or blue hues .
this potent liqueur was outlawed in many countries for years following multiple instances of harmful effects and even deaths of its drinkers , most of which were due to over indulgence of the green spirit . since the 95 year absinthe ban was lifted in the united states in 2007 , many brands have been released with lower thujone levels . during the bans homemade absinthe kits became popular , however this can be dangerous . for instance too much wormwood or the use of wormwood extract can be poisonous .
there have been a number of famous absinthe drinkers throughout time , most notably among artists and other creatives in the 19th century . pablo picasso , edgar allen poe , arthur rimbaud , ernest hemingway , and oscar wilde made this list and absinthe is often found or has influenced their work .
possibly the best known absinthe imbiber was vincent van gogh , who drank it for years ( presumably addicted to it ) , painted still lifes of absinthe , and some believe he was under its influence when he cut off his ear .
absinthe brands range in alcohol content , though you will rarely find one below 90 proof . most absinthe falls in the 90 - 148 proof ( 45 - 74 % abv ) range .
abisante , anisette , pernod and herbsaint are often used to replace absinthe in cocktail recipes .
absinthe is commonly classified as a liqueur , however it does not contain any sugar and is actually a liquor .
since the shift of legality regarding absinthe we have seen many brands become available throughout the world . these are just a few :
it is not recommended to drink absinthe straight because of its potency and pungent taste . consider it fair warning that if you do take a straight shot of absinthe , you may not taste anything else for a day or two .
a better way to drink absinthe is to use the preparation often called the absinthe ritual . it is a far more gentile option that involves water , a sugar cube and specially designed spoons and glasses .
there are many great absinthe cocktails available . when mixing with absinthe it is important to remember that the anise is a strong flavor and it is recommended to measure its portion according to the recipe . also , be sure to properly clean any bar tools that have contained absinthe as the flavor and smell can remain for quite some time and taint other , non - absinthe drinks .
get easy - to - follow , delicious recipes delivered right to your inbox .
i’m not an expert on the subject of absinthe , but i’ve had the good fortune of being able to drink quite a few different ones over the past three years , and i believe that knowledge base may be of some use to some people who are considering a purchase in the near future . while i’ve taken notes on almost everything i’ve ever sampled , and even published a number of reviews online , that would be a lot of unnecessarily detailed information to force someone to wade through before dropping a pair of benjamins on a couple of bottles of good absinthe . consider the numbers below to be the cliff’s notes version , minus the notes .
i’ll continue to add new scores to this list as i sample more absinthes . perhaps at some later date , i’ll also add in three or seven descriptors to provide a little extra insight and detail ( and yes , it has to be three or seven ; not only are they prime numbers , but they are magic ones as well , and i’ve got to justify that title up there somehow , gentle reader ) . for now , though , the numbers below represent the final score ( which is given first ) , and then in parenthesis i have given the score for each of the two categories that i wrote about previously in this post – namely , appearance and aroma , as well as flavor and finish .
as one or two of you may have noted in the comments section of one of my previous blog posts , i recently purchased a sealed bottle of vintage pernod fils tarragona . while the tarragona operation in spain was originally started by the edouard pernod distillery around 1910 in order to escape the swiss and ( soon to come ) french ban on absinthe , the operation was absorbed by the larger pernod group sometime around 1938 . at this time , the recipe appears to have changed from that of the spicier edouard pernod , to the more floral and somewhat “feminine” pernod fils recipe , and continued on in that vein until 1960 , when a new master distiller and new recipe resulted in a drink which more closely resembled pastis .


melville house publishing is an independent publisher of literary fiction , non-fiction , and poetry .

the company was founded in 2001 by the husband and wife team of dennis loy johnson and valerie merians in hoboken , new jersey , a location johnson jokingly called " the left bank " of new york city .

in 2007 , they were named by the association of american publishers as the winner of the 2007 miriam bass award for creativity in independent publishing , popularly known as the " indie publisher of the year " award .

melville house publishing

brooklyn - based publisher melville house will open a british publishing company in london called melville house uk .
glassdoor gives you an inside look at what it ' s like to work at melville house publishing , including salaries , reviews , office photos , and more . this is the melville house publishing company profile . all content is posted anonymously by employees working at melville house publishing .
at melville house publishing ' s blog , an . . . - franklin park reading series | facebook
valerie merians and dennis johnson of melville house : successful small publishers in a conglomerate world .
the founders of the us independent publisher melville house are to open a london - based publishing business with the aim of forming a “distinctly british company” .
the founders of the us independent publisher melville house are to open a london - based publishing business with the aim of forming a “distinctly british . . .
melville house publishing is an independent publisher of literary fiction , non - fiction , and poetry . founded in 2001 by dennis loy johnson and valerie merians .
the head of a small publishing house in manhattan , mr . lynn reports , was even more blunt :
, which has done “sensationally well , ” as johnson says , and also became melville house’s first e - book .
creator of mobylives , one of the world’s first and most well - known book blogs , dennis johnson , put his fictional and journalistic careers on standby back in 2001 to launch melville house , an independent publishing house located in brooklyn , new york .
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dlj : if they can’t send money , buy melville house books , at an indie bookstore , or at a kgb bar event .
melville house publishing is an independent publisher of literary fiction , non - fiction , and poetry . they were founded in 2002 by dennis loy johnson and valerie merians , and are based in hoboken , new jersey . wikipedia *
that was a decade after johnson’s first spat with amazon , when melville house’s books were pulled from the site completely until johnson paid what he referred to as “a bribe . ” more recently , he and the team at melville house have spent plenty of time tweeting and blogging criticisms of amazon’s new physical bookstores , which they take issue with because they’re run algorithmically and don’t employ booksellers . at the london book fair in march , johnson live tweeted the pitiful traffic to amazon publishing’s booth , which some weirdo decided to set up directly across from melville house’s .
top : valerie merians and dennis johnson , founding proprietors of melville house , photographed by gaetano cavelli ; below , their bookshop and office in dumbo , brooklyn .
dlj : the next piece of fiction we’re publishing came from the slush pile .
publishing books of literary fiction , nonfiction , and poetry , and liking it .
this was not the first time amazon had used this stratagem . the retailer’s executives had previously cut off small firms such as ten speed press and melville house publishing for bucking their will . but the fight with macmillan was by far the most public of these showdowns .
“the publishing industry had its first opportunity to fight the trump administration and it failed miserably . ”
dennis johnson , co - founder and co - publisher of melville house books and one of the first book bloggers , is possibly best known for the fight he picked in the spring of 2014 .
that ' s what got people saying it ' s time to stand up to this and try to do something ,
says dennis johnson of melville house publishing . johnson , who has long been a vocal critic of amazon , characterizes the book industry as
a very timid industry .
dennis johnson co - founded the us company with valerie merians in 2001 , as an activist publishing effort aimed at opposing the bush administration . the duo will now open a uk publisher , with the intention of responding to demand for melville house titles in britain , as well as growing a new list .
ellie robins is a translator from spanish and has worked in publishing in the us and the uk .
“we’re just doing something that all the great , famous american publishing houses did at their beginnings . ”
melville house is now publishing about 60 books per year ; still , attempting to define what typifies a melville house book is a bit tricky for the couple . merians and johnson cited categories ranging from investigative journalism and politics to history and literary fiction . translations and repackaged public domain classics are also mainstays . the house even does some cookbooks . their list , they said , is a reflection of their “interests and tastes . ” the staff they have assembled includes two other editors , one person dedicated to indie bookseller outreach , and another dedicated solely to overseeing the company’s web site , which has morphed from johnson’s original blog into mhpbooks . com .
melville house celebrates this renegade art form and its practitioners with titles that are , in many instances , presented in book form for the first time . forty novellas are currently available—and can be yours for only $ 288 .
a new edition of bulgakov ' s blistering satire about the great russian director stanislavski , inventor of
method acting ,
part of melville house ' s reissue of the bulgakov backlist in michael glenny ' s celebrated translations .
in 2002 . babes in the tangled wood of modern publishing , they stumbled in and never left . when the
the results of a new survey to measure diversity in publishing , released last week by the children’s publisher lee & low , loudly concur with díaz’s point . but interestingly , publishing isn’t just white : it’s dominated by white women .
one good sign is that the melville house series has spawned some imitators - - most notably , penguin uk ' s
mini modern classics
series . these are clearly inspired by—if not a total ripoff of—the melville house editions . the series ' cover layout , streamlined design , and single - color covers are an obvious nod to its antecedent . surely , interest in mid - length stories from a major publisher is a sign of good things for the form .
the first issue of tin house magazine arrived in the spring of 1999 , the singular lovechild of an eclectic literary journal and a beautiful glossy magazine . n 2002 , tin house ventured into the world of book publishing as an imprint with bloomsbury . in 2005 , the independent press tin house books was launched , spearheaded by editorial director lee montgomery , tin house books publishes a dozen titles a year , and its authors have garnered attention from the new york times , the los angeles times , the wall street journal , and o , the oprah magazine .
one important aspect of melville house’s non - virtual books is that they look terrific . in the tradition of great paperback series such as the original penguins , mhp has created several uniform series with very simple but clear and clean designs—some , like their
kgb : you said that when you published what we do now , a collection of essays by literary voices and cultural figures on ways to respond to bush’s 2004 reelection , it made you realize that there is a place and a need for independent publishing . i’m wondering if that’s one of the reasons why you founded melville house , which grew out of your blog , moby lives . is publishing something that you had wanted to become involved in from the beginning ? dlj : it was all her idea .
the verge sat down with johnson and melville house’s director of marketing and publicity , julia fleischaker , to talk about amazon , trump , the internet’s warped idea of “censorship , ” and how to build a brand centered on , of all things , anger .
mr . lynn reports on a conversation with the head of one of the largest publishing houses in the u . s . :
yes , i would like to receive newsletters from penguin random house canada with promotions and the latest on books and authors .
“our goal is to feature hilarious , fascinating , off - beat , and quirky content…to present these classic titles in fresh new ways while embracing digital as a whole , demonstrating that digital and print can exist together . ” — dennis loy johnson , publisher , melville house
vm : i also think word has gotten out to foreign publishers that we’re publishing—we’re getting a lot of foreign projects pitched to us .
” ( key excerpts at link , full article by subscription ) barry lynn views the state of book publishing through a different lens .
mobylives was one of the world’s first and most well - known book blogs , founded by dennis johnson in 2000 and based upon his syndicated newspaper column about books ( the original mobylives ) . mobylives now resides on the melville house site covering all aspects of the book business .
urltoken is sponsored by the association of american publishers , the leading trade association for the u . s . book and journal publishing industry .
on the c - span networks : the melville house publishing has 8 videos in the c - span video library ; the first program was in a 2008 , [ i could tell you but then you would have to be destroyed by me ] . the year with the highest average number of views per program was 2015 with an average of 1 , 565 views per program . most appearances with dennis loy johnson ( 4 ) .
melville publishing is trying to develop a number of products to help booksellers . one of them is the
shelf talker ,
a digital display that helps customers browse through print books in a brick - and - mortar store but buy e - books from that store ' s website instead of amazon .
the knopf doubleday publishing group : alfred a . knopf , doubleday , nan a . talese , vintage , anchor , pantheon , schocken , everyman’s library
the coolest bit of online wizardry so far may be their hybridbooks series . these include some of mhp’s classic short stories and novellas , such as herman melville’s own
black , ceramic mugs sporting , on the front , the phrase that made bartleby the scrivener famous , and , on the back , the melville house logo . beautifully crafted and well - balanced with an ergonomically designed handle for maximum holding , this is the only 13 oz . mug you’ll ever need .
i’ve seen on tumblr that there are a lot of teenagers posting about the novella subscription series — i think because they’re so aesthetically appealing . and i noticed that you guys experimented a little bit with vine before it died . do you have a lot of young people who are interested in melville house ?
you’re pretty well known on twitter for the “fights” you pick with other publishing houses . can you tell me whose idea that was , how it started ?
still , melville house released their first five novellas , in print runs of 3 , 000 , in 2004 . henry james ' s
the lesson of the master ,
anton chekhov ' s
my life ,
leo tolstoy ' s
the devil ,
and a forgotten edith wharton gem called
the touchstone
were the first four . the fifth book was the herman melville classic
bartleby , the scrivener ,
available on its own for the first time .
but that was just devastating to me the first time around . i ' m going up the
new york times
bestseller list and they don ' t have enough books . this time , the people of melville house have been extraordinary in their understanding of how you market a book and get people to buy it .
melville house co - publisher dennis johnson , a fierce and relentless amazon critic , wrote that nelson’s new job “was another one of those stories that take the wind out of your sails : a beloved book industry champion was going to work for the company doing so much damage to the industry and book culture at large . ”
johnson and merians spoke with me at length about the challenges of independent publishing , their fondness for french literature , and how they hope to revive an older , more sustainable model of publishing where authors perceive publishers as collaborators rather than enemies . johnson and merians are unlikely publishers - - he is a literary journalist and she an artist and poet ; neither had anticipated entering the book business before founding melville house . fueled by a passion for literature and steered by their keen taste , their recent successes reflect their vision and hard work and illustrate how backing books you believe in is still relevant and , to quote merians , “a lot more fun . ”
the press’s biggest hit , to date , is another translation : hans fallada’s every man dies alone . the novel , written by a german author who died in the late 1940s , was inspired by an actual couple who dispersed antifascist notes throughout berlin as the nazis were coming to power . the book had never before appeared in english , and it has sold over 100 , 000 copies in the u . s . ; melville house licensed the paperback rights to penguin . ( penguin has since swooped in to acquire a number of titles by fallada , though melville house has three others by the author on its list , all of which it recently reissued . )
now the beleaguered genre , at long last , has found a worthy and consistent champion : melville house publishing , whose
art of the novella
series is an ongoing celebration of the form . the brooklyn - based press offers 47—and counting—novellas from writers like cervantes , jane austen , anton chekhov , joseph conrad , mark twain , and virginia woolf . specifically drawing attention to the novella ' s brevity , diversity , and lineage of distinguished practitioners , the series is the first of its kind .
the future of the contemporary novella may lie with a melville house initiative called hybridbooks . these editions pair each short book with a generous collection of digital supplements , called illuminations , available through a qr code on the final page . take
bartleby ,
for instance : illuminations include correspondence related to the story , excerpts from the philosophy that melville cites , maps of early wall street , illustrations of 1850s new york , a contemporaneous ad for a scrivener , and so on—almost 300 pages of supplemental material .
dlj : it’s a lot more fun to be more involved with your book . once i asked stephen dixon how this is working out for him , how he thought about working with melville house . he said he loved it because it was the first time in his career that he’s been able to get the publisher on the phone .
in its early days , melville house not only bet against the prevailing wisdom that novellas can ' t sell—they wagered that novella sales could be the driving engine of their brand and business .
it was greeted as a really numbskull idea by our sales team ,
co - founder dennis loy johnson told me , in an interview .
i’ve been following your “publishing during wartime” series , because we’ve also had to cover some of these issues , particularly as it pertains to the alt - right and the strange , willful ignorance people have about what “censorship” and “free speech” actually mean . what do you think the publishing industry’s role is , going into the next four years ?
“it’s the one piece of the publishing puzzle that i haven’t yet done in my career , so it seemed like it was time to do it , ” she told me .
johnson likes to champion the long - shot , the underdog , the also - ran . his company is named for herman melville , the great american novelist who very nearly never was : moby - dick was first in a string of supreme critical failures , and melville died obscure and penniless . johnson ' s website mobylives . com , which has since been subsumed into mhpbooks . com , was one of the internet ' s first book blogs . its title suggests that hope springs eternal for literary culture .
the whale survived , unlike his detractors , who had harpoons ,
johnson wrote on the
about
page .
similarly , the literary arts will survive , are surviving , these confusing times .
this belief informs not only the novella series , but another melville house project , the neversink library ( die - hard melville fans will note another allusion here ) —a collection of lost , forgotten , and
foolishly ignored
books from around the world .
the next month , an amazon recruiter sent an e - mail to several editors at big publishing houses , looking for someone to launch a new new york - based publishing imprint . “the imprint will be supported with a large budget , and its success will directly impact the success of amazon’s overall business , ” read the e - mail , which was obtained by bloomberg businessweek .
although johnson is never short of quips about cash flow or amazon , he is as quick to talk about the joys of being able to publish the books he and merians love . melville house started , he pointed out , as “an art project . ” the true phenomenon is that , a decade , hundreds of books , and eight new employees later , it remains that way .
too short to be a novel , too long to be a short story , the novella is generally unrecognized by academics and publishers . nonetheless , it is a form beloved and practice by literature ' s greatest writers . in the art of the novella series , melville house celebrates this renegade art form and its practitioners with titles that are , in many instances , presented in book form for the first time .
as kait howard , a publicist at melville house , points out , male representation increases to 40 percent at the executive levels of publishing , suggesting that men and women are still being promoted at different rates . a publisher’s weekly survey last year also found that the pay gap persists , citing an average salary of $ 70 , 000 for men versus $ 51 , 000 for women . in other words , while white women have clearly amassed a great deal of power in publishing , that power is in many cases concentrated at the lower and middle levels of the ranks , suggesting it’s too soon to declare total hegemony . but the survey is an essential , depressing reminder of the extent to which the feminist movement has swept in new opportunities for primarily straight , white , and affluent women while excluding others , especially women of color .
just three months after random house’s announcement , amazon had all but declared war on the six unruly members of its book supply chain . jeff bezos had $ 6 billion in cash , the patience to absorb losses for years , and a former big six chief to lead the fight . the long - running behind - the - scenes battle for control of the publishing industry had finally broken into full public view .
melville house uk has recruited director of marketing zeljka marosevic to run the business , joining from fourth estate . johnson said the british arm would at first concentrate on marketing its 60 frontlist titles , as well as selected backlist , distributed in britain through turnaround . the intention is to appoint an editorial director by the end of the year , reporting to johnson and “responsible for crafting a list distinct from that of the us company” .
it seems overly sentimental , but they really do impressive and brave work as a press—publishing debut authors and challenging writers of all kinds , moving the needle on amazon discourse , and bringing a blunt and plainspoken style to an often - stuffy industry . they strongly advocate for the value of the book and the industry in ways few publishers do or can . additionally , the staff is composed of incredibly smart , hard - working people who genuinely care about what they do and are willing to work long hours for low pay to pull it off . they are what’s behind the melville house brand and they deserve the credit for the company’s success .
johnson admits that the contemporary series has been a harder sell . the market for new novellas is not large , and it ' s difficult for living authors to compete with the canonical writers in the classic series . also , because melville house must pay its contemporary authors—unlike the classics line authors , whose work is now public domain—the books are twice as expensive to produce . as of now , the old masters are subsidizing the upstarts .
when people fall in love with a book , johnson told me , they don ' t want the experience to stop—readers will drift from a story ' s final page to wikipedia , to further reading about the character , themes , and world . melville house wants extend the novella experience through a wealth of high - quality , curated materials ; though the series only includes six classic books now , it will continue to grow—eventually including its contemporary counterparts .
the survey comes just weeks after the much - lauded news that penguin random house’s uk office will no longer require job applicants to have a college degree—but , as salon reports , the us offices have followed a similar policy for years , with minimal effect on the company’s diversity . jennifer baker , creator of the minorities in publishing podcast , points out that “marginalized people with degrees” already have a disproportionately hard time getting a foot in the door .
despite the success of the series , contemporary novella writers still face an uphill battle . encouraged by the success of their classics line , melville house launched a sister series called
the contemporary art of the novella ,
in 2006 . showcasing mid - length works from living authors , this collection of 15 books demonstrates the form ' s current diversity and vibrancy with works from well - known practitioners like steve stern and lore segal and young guns like tao lin .
about them just before their first two books came out , the writer began it : “how’s this for a disaster in the making ? a writer and artist , living and working out of a third - floor walkup , decide to start their own publishing house . they have limited funds and almost no experience in the book business . to make matters even worse , the first two volumes they plan to issue seem to have almost no commercial potential . ”
david cay johnston : melville house press which is a little outfit in brooklyn and in london that do something - - when i did my very first book which you interviewed me about ,
temples of chance
back in 1992 , i complained back then that my publisher was doing everything on paper and they were slow and they ' re efficient , i said , somebody needs to make this modern and quick and modernize the book business , these folks did it .
and then melville house calls out of the blue and they asked , could we do the book in i think it was three weeks , i said no but i said i can do it by a date that was four weeks later , i wrote that book in 27 days . it was hell and i ' m frankly not sure i ' ve physically recovered at my age from doing it . i ' m certainly never going to do it again but 27 days .
i was upset about what was happening to the book business in this country . random house had just been taken over by bertelsmann , amazon was new and being really weird , so i just kind of started commenting on all that . i felt like nobody was really talking about these things in the mainstream media . it was just kind of sad to see what was happening to these great , historic publishing companies . we’ve been lucky to link up with people who share that attitude .
, and got it into stores by early december—a miracle in itself because of the competition for shelf space at christmas . everyone was really excited . barnes and noble called to thank us ! ” besides political activism , one area where melville house has made its mark is in resurrecting minor classics and important writers in translation whose work has sunk out of sight ( full disclosure : last fall they republished my father michael glenny’s out - of - print translation from russian of soviet dissident georgii vladimov’s wonderful short novel
although johnson remains an outspoken figure on the difficulties of publishing , especially for indies , his successes are impressive . melville house , now located in a warehouse in brooklyn’s dumbo neighborhood ( after moving from hoboken ) has an additional staff of eight , and a handful of notable bestsellers . merians and johnson’s first real hit , bernard - henri lévy’s who killed daniel pearl ? , came together the way many of their books seem to : they sought out the author , ignored at the time by u . s . houses because of disappointing past sales , and told him they were fans . after first asking lévy’s french publisher about some backlist titles , they were told he was working on a new book and asked if they would be interested in that .
akashic books is a brooklyn - based independent company dedicated to publishing urban literary fiction and political nonfiction by authors who are either ignored by the mainstream , or who have no interest in working within the ever - consolidating ranks of the major corporate publishers .
the art of the novella
dates from 2002 , when johnson ' s own fledgling press—founded with his wife , valerie merians , in 2001—was still running on credit cards .
at that point , melville house was a company that valerie and i were running off our kitchen table from a 3rd - floor walkup in hoboken ,
johnson told me . their first book , poetry after 9 / 11 , had been a surprise hit , and the callow publishers were looking for their next big thing .
melville house is an independent publisher located in brooklyn , new york . it was founded in 2001 by sculptor valerie merians and fiction writer / journalist dennis johnson , in order to publish poetry after 9 / 11 , a book of material culled from johnson’s groundbreaking mobylives book blog . the material consisted of things sent in to the blog by writers and poets in response to the 9 / 11 attacks , and johnson and merians felt it better represented the spirit of new york than the call to war of the bush administration .
the den mother , also described in the article as “one of publishing’s most visible cheerleaders , ” soon landed on her feet as book editor at oprah’s o magazine . but four years later came another astonishing story , when nelson accepted a position as editorial director at urltoken books .
dj : we’re doing something that publishers used to do . we get a lot of credit for being very edgy , state - of - the - art , digital hipsters , and i feel like we’re just doing something that all the great , famous american publishing houses did at their beginnings , when they were all privately owned companies . when random house was owned by bennett cerf , when knopf was owned by alfred a . knopf , when simon & schuster was owned by two guys named simon and schuster . now those companies are completely different , they’re conglomerates and they have to be more concerned with their bottom line . not that i’m not concerned with our bottom line , but i do feel like the company should express its passion , and that makes for great publishing . that’s how all the publishers i admire started .
“that display space they have in the store is really one of the most valuable places that exists in this country for communicating to the consumer that a book is a big deal , ” said madeline mcintosh , president of sales , operations and digital for random house .
david cay johnston : well , because i have a pretty good sized twitter following . they - - melville house is very good at marketing and they were out telling people about the book . the initial orders we got from bookstores were just nothing because there are a bunch of trump books and my fear was what would happen to my last two bestsellers , they ran out of books . well , that happened . a lot of bookstores ran out of books first week in and then they ' ve started ordering lots of books . so it ' s now readily available .
these stories capture pretty well the state of book publishing : this appears to be no ordinary , cyclical crisis that future authors and publishers will shrug off . to understand how the book industry got into this predicament , however , a broader perspective may be needed . the cover story of february’s
even with a large budget , directly affecting the success of amazon’s overall business is a tall order for a new publishing imprint . amazon pulled in well north of $ 40 billion in revenue last year ( final numbers aren’t yet in ) , dwarfing the combined revenues of the big six publishers .
a strange object is an independent press based in austin , texas , dedicated to publishing surprising , heartbreaking fiction alongside thoughtful ephemera . we ' re talking about fiction that haunts and inspires us—big work that engulfs , that takes risks , that bucks form , that builds warm dwellings in dark places .
booksellers and publishers are worried that amazon is going to devour their industry . the giant online retailer seems to have its hands in all aspects of the business , from publishing books to selling them — and that has some in the book world wondering if there is any end to amazon ' s influence .
dlj : it’s no criticism of them , though . they are what they are . they have businesses and they need to make money , and they need to survive . but there are two publishing models , and in this model , the agent is another person with needs that don’t benefit their client . and they can’t admit that . if you need an agent to deal with melville house , then valerie and i are not doing our job . we have had many instances of writers , even well - known writers , bringing us a book project that no other publisher would do because it’s small or different or weird or out of their norm . and we’re happy to do it and excited to do it , and an agent will step in and say , “if you can’t give us an advance , you’re not getting that book . ” and we won’t get that book and so that book is never ever made .
and so i went to work when i was 10 years old . i went to work fulltime at 13 . i became a reported for some weekly papers at 17 and my work immediately got noticed because i did some simple things . if the school board said the average owner - - the owner - - the average $ 34 , 314 house in santa cruz next year will pay $ 42 . 11 more in property taxes , i thought that was useful , so with long division i said , you ' ll pay so much more per thousand in the value of your house .
dj : [ milo yiannopoulos’ book deal ] , that was kind of a crucial incident i was very sorry to see pass as it did . i feel like the publishing industry had its first opportunity to fight the trump administration and it failed miserably by essentially supporting yiannopoulos . i was shocked by that and extremely disappointed that such a great , historic publishing company like simon & schuster went there . but they did . i was unable to foment a boycott of them because apparently they also publish some good books and people felt like that was reason enough for them to be allowed to publish really heinous hate speech by a fascist .
write bloody publishes and promotes great books of poetry every year . they are a small press with a snappy look , dedicated to quality literature printed in the usa . they are not a printer , they are a sweet publishing house located on the outskirts of austin , texas . as of 2015 , they have launched 102 titles and 40 ebooks . they publish some of the top - selling , living poets in america . they are proud to be one of the few publishers that prints their books in the usa . they plant a tree in a needy forest for every book they print during first run printings .
we have received a few amazing entries and have some goods ones to show off . we were surprised to get one from a professional house . the others have been amateur . but we are really pleased and i actually like the one that nathan , our publicist , did with the cartoons and japanese fighters .
no one had done it before ,
johnson told me .
it was a new idea , and new ideas always meet resistance . the publishing industry , like anything else , is uncomfortable with change . if somebody hasn ' t done it before , the thinking goes , there must be a reason for it .
when i asked how people at harpercollins have reacted to her arrival from amazon , nelson laughed and said , “people are curious . i mean , nobody has sat me down and tried to deprogram me or something . i think that people think that i know something about publishing and bookselling from having been at amazon for four years . ”
lee & low sent its survey to 13 , 237 people at all levels of the publishing and book reviewing professions , from marketing assistants to senior editors . some major publishers , including penguin random house , participated , although it appears that others , including harpercollins and simon and schuster , did not . the overall response rate was 25 . 8 percent . of the respondents , 79 percent were white , 78 percent were cis women , and 88 percent were straight . the pool was 4 percent black , 7 percent asian / native hawaiian or other pacific islander , and 6 percent hispanic , latino , or mexican ; 8 percent of respondents reported being disabled .
melville house is also well - known for its fiction , with two nobel prize winners on its list : imre kertesz and heinrich boll . in particular , the company has developed a world - wide reputation for its rediscovery of forgotten international writers — its translation of a forgotten work by hans fallada , every man dies alone , launched a world - wide phenomenon . the company also takes pride in its discovery of many first - time writers — such as lars iyer ( spurious ) , tao lin ( shoplifting from american apparel ) , jeremy bushnell ( the weirdness ) and christopher boucher ( how to keep your volkswagen alive ) — all of whom have gone on to greater success .
it is and it isn’t . it is an original idea from melville house . consumers were not necessary beating down doors . for any indie bookseller that is selling e - books , we wanted to give printed matter a specific qr code , so if people are in the store , they can buy it right there in the bookstore . indie booksellers are always complaining that indie stores are just a display , then customers proceed to buy the e - books from amazon right in the store . we are trying to give booksellers the opportunity to keep those sales . we do think that there is value in shopping in an indie store ; you can do everything you want right there .
fair point . i actually give sara credit for staying each place for as much as four years–that indicates digging in deeply enough to learn how publishing looks from that perspective . and given how entrenched and distrustful it’s possible to get when an industry undergoes disruption , i appreciate someone willing to see the world from the other side of a divide .
what’s clear is that as long as publishing houses stay overwhelmingly white , so will the authors they select and the characters and stories that they put into the world . lee & low points out that the proportion of children’s books that contain “ multicultural content ” has hovered at around 10 percent for the past 18 years . adult publishing isn’t much better . that’s a problem for people of color , who deserve to tell their stories , and to read stories that reflect them . and it’s also a problem for society as a whole . “there’s a currently popular argument that books help us feel empathy , ” rebecca solnit wrote recently , “but if they do so they do it by helping us imagine that we are people we are not… which is a reminder that literature and art can also help us fail at empathy if it sequesters us in the boring old fortress of magnificent me . ” lee & low has quantified the extent to which publishing remains a boring old fortress . hopefully the survey will help to crack open the gates .
and then the next year , i went to the white house to get the president ' s tax returns and i said , there ' s nothing here about the new book , what is it and i think ( jodie ender from night river ) hollered out letters to buddy and socks and i go , yes , about the pets .
inadvertently , johnson said , melville house
had come up with a way of having a classics line that featured very famous names but lesser - known works in most cases .
the series quickly became profitable . because all the works were public domain , there weren ' t authors to pay—only translators , and not in all cases . they saved money on the simple design , which turned out to be a boon (
people really responded to not only what the books were , but the look of them ,
johnson said .
people liked the look enough to show them off .
) the end result was an eye - catching series of
new
and overlooked books by beloved authors , priced reasonably . customers snapped them up .
who killed daniel pearl ? , published in the u . s . on september 1 , 2003 , not only sold well—johnson said it has moved , in the u . s . , about 35 , 000 in hardcover and another 19 , 000 in paperback—it also generated a lot of news . it broke information about pakistan that mainstream journalists in the states had not been able to crack , drawing a notable amount of press for its author and , in turn , melville house . ( johnson recalled how he and merians , at the time of the book’s publication , would find themselves hanging out at the carlyle with the author , who was taking secret meetings with people like tom brokaw . “all the american journalists wanted information from [ lévy ] about pakistan , ” johnson said . )
david cay johnston : i was born in san francisco . i consider home to be santa cruz , california . my father was 100 percent disabled veteran of world war ii . my mother was a disowned heiress and i had the odd experience of growing up in a house on a cliff over the beach that my parents rented for maybe $ 400 on today ' s money , nothing .
there is so much , so many wild things…for example , letters that melville was writing around the time of bartelby and the philosophy he was trying to espouse , which then lead us to giving examples of that philosophy . we have examples of his friends writing back to him , and of course the de tocqueville criticism . we even found a newspaper ad about the book , maps from wall street of the day , a recipe for ginger nuts .
when we started the company , valerie and i knew nothing about publishing . so we were always going to people and asking for advice , and i remember everyone telling us that the way you sell books was through word of mouth . you could never see it , or know how to achieve it , but if a book sold well you would just assume you had it . nobody could tell you how to generate word of mouth .
on the same day the pair struck their deal with ipg , the new york times sent a reporter to profile johnson and merians . although the reporter , johnson said , was a fan of mobylives , his piece called the publishing endeavor , named after johnson’s web site , a “disaster in the making . ” ( the times journalist cited the pair’s “limited funds” and the fact that they had “almost no experience in the book business . ” )
vm : it was an art project kind of idea . kgb : i read that in the beginning you planned on doing six books a year , and it seems that number has already expanded . have you expanded because you are approached with more ideas , or is it because you have the capability to do more ? vm : as we were going along , we were learning more and more about the book publishing business , and how you can do it and make it work . our capabilities were growing and our interests kept expanding . we felt like we had this amazing staff—they’re all completely brilliant and we’re very thankful to have them . we feel like we can really do some exciting stuff here and really contribute to the culture in a concrete way . and one of the things we’ve been very interested in , throughout the short history of the company , is publishing european and foreign work .
but as to where the industry’s going , i think everything’s different . the media is suddenly very different , tuned differently . we’ve been doing a whole bunch of books , for the last year or so , what i call “crash books” — books that you make in a month or two as opposed to the normal 18 months . and it’s a really different kind of publishing . the business is not built up to support that kind of publishing . you’re supposed to have much more time for editing and production and salesmanship and pre - publicity , pre - marketing . we’re kind of changing everything for these books . the neat thing is that people really dig it . people in the industry are really responding to that , our sales team gets really excited . it makes their lives harder to do these books and they don’t have enough time , yet they’re very excited to handle books like that .
and the spokesman says , well , the clintons gave the copyright to a public charity which is the implicit advice to my story and i said , really , and the spokesman said , yes , and the white house wants to be on record , the clintons did not take their advice from the
new york times
which went everybody erupted to laughter because they obviously did that and it meant more money for charity and less for the government .
their decision to launch a line of classic novellas generated fierce opposition from advisers , and received outright disdain from colleagues in publishing . johnson remembers a famous publisher , whom he wouldn ' t name , vowing he would
eat his hat
if they could sell joyce ' s
the dead
as a standalone volume . thin - lipped sales reps promised that
the art of the novella ,
if greenlighted , would amount to a quixotic and very public form of suicide .
discusses amazon’s campaign to prevent other booksellers from securing a foothold in the booming e - book market and the company’s furious reaction to random house’s decision last march to adopt agency pricing for e - books , just as five of the other “big six” trade publishers had the previous year . ( before agency pricing , amazon could sell e - books from big six publishers at deep discounts , taking losses at a rate that barnes & noble could never afford to match . see
went on to sell 12 , 000 copies , small potatoes in general terms but a massive hit in the poetry world—“i think maybe only [ former poet laureate ] billy collins has sold more in recent years , ” johnson says proudly . johnson’s blog , which had a big readership , and where some of the poems in the collection had originally appeared , was a big source of publicity . incidentally , the blog , mobylives . com , was the inspiration behind the new company’s name , for obvious reasons—though they settled on melville house only as a last - minute fallback after trying “leviathan” and “runagate , ” both of which turned out to be taken . “we were in the process of incorporating the company , and our attorney was saying , ‘hey , guys , i have an hour to file these papers , ’” says johnson . “it ended up being a good choice , even though we weren’t crazy about it at the time”—perhaps its combination of weight and unobtrusiveness lends it an authoritative , established air .
over the years , i have found that the best way to publish is also the best way to write — from the heart . i was fortunate to approach the publishing industry without any experience . so i went with what i knew . i didn’t like books with introductions , so the novellas were stripped down without introductions . the illuminations represent the kind of research i would do after reading a classic . it gives you an opportunity to follow your passions after reading a book . it is a full experience .
social media is fantastic if that is your attitude about publishing because there’s so many more ways to get your passion out . we can’t make books fast enough to cover the kinds of things i think we need to cover . we get a lot more done by social media that we do , by the blogging in a very in - depth , particular way , but also by twitter , instagram , you name it . i’m delighted , really thrilled that we’ve got people here who are as into it as i am .
david cay johnston : i don ' t remember reading that shakespeare . maybe that ' s there . but fred trump was an incredibly industrious guy . he was really hardworking but he also was a guy who profiteered on gi housing after the war and president eisenhower , when he found that out that fred trump had $ 4 million of excess profits , threw a fit in the white house and the proof of that is a 100 federal investigators reported on fred trump and a few other developers .
the survey results suggest that instead of patting itself on the back for lowering superficial barriers , the literary world needs to actively recruit more staff who aren’t , well , straight white women . ( no bonus points allotted for straight white men . ) as quartz suggests , “pushing publishing companies to launch diversity initiatives may take things a step in the right direction . readers and writers can also be more vocal about what they’d like to read ; after all , publishers are businesses , and businesses need people to buy their product . ”