Absinthe Books and Publications

Absinthe; History in a Bottle
Barnaby Conrad III
ISBN: 0-8118-1650-8
An excellent book that covers almost every aspect of the history of Absinthe. Anything from the rumours and myths to the true facts about thujone and what absinthe is today. This one is a must have.

Wormwood; A Drama of Paris
Marie Corelli
This one was written by Marie Corelli in 1890. It was written to scare the British from enjoying absinthe! Absinthe never quite found it's way into England as did it in France. However, while reading the book, at some points you start wondering if not Corelli too, was an absinthiste. Or, maybe she was just plain crazy. To me it doesn't matter, it's a very good book, and she has a wonderful way of picturing the main characters encounters with absinthe.

Absinthe; A Myth always Green
Benoît Noël, Peter Verte, Artemis
ISBN: 2-84405-200-2
A very good book that of course covers the history of absinthe from it's birth up until today. With chapters and sections about more or less known people and their relation to absinthe combined with photos of modern and vintage absinthe related items from various collections it is a pure pleasure reading this book. Along with that is a very good guide to web sites, restaurants and bars, stores, antique dealers and flea markets that to some extent have anything to do with absinthe. Also a very extensive list of films including absinthe and last but not least interviews with well known individuals on various aspects of absinthe. This book is a must have.

Order Absinthe: A Myth Always Green here.

Petit traité de l'Absinthe, Le mythe ressuscité
Marie-Claude Delahaye
ISBN: 2-84135-339-7
Marie-Claude Delahaye is well known for her many books on the subject as well as the Absinthe Museum in Auvers, Sur-Oise outside Paris. This particular book is a sort of run down on all the others, and is a very good book that covers most of it. Of course the history of it all is covered and it includes a lot of photos from the museum and various collections of vintage absinthe items. Anything from spoons to publicity posters and fountains. It is written in French, and no English translation is available, but with a good dictionary at hand, anyone will love this book.

Absinthe; Sip of Seduction
Bettina Wittels & Robert Hermesch (edited by T.A Breaux)
ISBN: 0-9725776-1-0
The one I've got is the limited edition hardcover. It is a really nice book with colorful photos and good stories. It tells the history of absinthe - of course, but also some personal stories from the authors. Along this a section of restaurants and shops around the world, offering absinthe. There is a chapter regarding modern famous absinthe drinkers such as Dita, Johnny Depp and Marilyn Manson. At the end of the book there's a bunch of modern absinthe reviews that give a fairly good look into what the various types of modern absinthe are like. Certainly a nice book, but if you want something more in-depth, there are better ones. But the items pictured in the book are great and it's well worth every dime.
You can go here for more information and to buy this book. (http://www.absinthesipofseduction.com/)

Pernod 200 Years, 1805 - 2005
Marie-Claude Delahaye
ISBN: 2-9515316-6-4
If you are at all interested in the history of absinthe this book is a must have and must read. It covers everything from the beginning up to this day. With detailed dissection of everything Pernod and all the various Pernod brands from "back in the days" this gives a very good view of who did what when and why.

As always in Mdm Delahaye's books there is a large amount of great photos from various collections all relating to each bit of the amazing Pernod history that is being told throughout the book. This book is available both in French and in English.

A comme Absinthe Z comme Zola
Benoît Noël
The latest book by well known art-historian and author Benoît Noël. With a wide range of books on the subject of absinthe this is more or less the A-Z dictionary on anything absinthe related.

A nice selection of pictures of absinthe artifacts and a lot of interesting reading along with a comprehensive list of the best absinthe related websites, online vendors, collectors and retail stores and restaurants.

Quite simply this book is a must have. Even though it is in French it is well written and can easily be enjoyed even with only little knowledge in French with the aid of a regular dictionary.

Absinthe - Sanning och Myt
Dag Tomas Lindmark
ISBN: 978-91-85329-53-3
The very first Swedish book on absinthe. A book I was very curious about when I heard it was about to be released and was quick to buy when it finally hit the stores. I had high hopes for it given the background of the author and his presentation of the subject. So, I got home and finished the book in a matter of hours.

How was it then? To be honest it was one of the worst books about absinthe I have ever read, seriously. Not only does it contain age-old outdated and contradicted "facts" but it also contains a lot of factual errors made by the author himself and also cited from others but obviously with not enough fact checking. It also repeats the same old thujone stories and misconceptions as we've seen so many times before, which doesn't exactly make the book any better to me.

It appears as if the book was actually written in the mid to late 1990's but wasn't published at that time and then, now, when a publisher decided to publish it, the author didn't bother checking what had happened in the world of absinthe since he last touched the subject. So, I guess it is clear that this isn't the very best book on the subject.

For those of you who understand and read Swedish, you can download and read a full review with corrections and list of reference here as a PDF.
- Absinthe - Sanning och Myt, recension

- Tomas Lindmarks genmäle på ovanstående recension med svar och ytterligare kommentarer av Markus Hartsmar.