The tale of John Barleycorn, or, From barley to beer: A traditional English ballad - Hardcover

Azarian, Mary

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0879234466 ISBN 13: 9780879234461

Publisher: D. R. Godine, 1982

Synopsis

The medieval English ballad of John Barleycorn, who after being ploughed under the ground grows up again in the spring to be harvested and ultimately turned into homebrewed ale.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

In 1981, we published the second book of the gifted artist Mary Azarian. It was the ancient and beloved British ballad that anthropomorphically tells the story of how barley was converted into beer. In the Middle Ages, this was not a boutique activity for the idle rich; it was central to survival. We were young and naive, saw it as a book for children, and inexplicably included fairly explicit instructions of how to brew beer in a bathtub. Not surprisingly, the sober review community was not amused. No doubt they envisioned a horde of America's children starting the fermentation process in their parents' bathtubs. We're pleased to report that, to the best of our knowledge, this degradation of our national character never occurred and the very youths who were exposed to, and bravely resisted, this temptation are now prime candidates to purchase this new edition. We have seen the error of our ways, and are reissuing this classic, newly hand colored by the artist herself and transformed, much as John Barleycorn was transformed in the story, into an adult title.

About the Author:

Mary Azarian grew up on a small farm in Virginia, where
she had horses, rabbits and chickens. After graduating from
Smith College, where she studied printmaking with Leonard
Baskin, she married and moved to a farm in northern Vermont.
There she taught for four years in one of the last one-room
schoolhouses in the state. A full-time printmaker since 1969,
her other books with Godine include A Farmer's Alphabet and
Donald Hall's The Man Who Lived Alone. In 1999, she was
awarded the Caldecott Medal for Snowflake Bentley.

About this edition

• Publisher: D. R. Godine
• Publication date: 1982
• ISBN 10: 0879234466
• ISBN 13: 9780879234461
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1