Professor George Saintsbury

George Edward Bateman Saintsbury (1845-1933) was a leading literary critic of the early twentieth century, contributing to all the major magazines and encyclopedias. He wrote histories of literature and criticism, and studies of Dryden, Marlborough, Scott, Arnold, and Thackeray. From 1895 to 1915, he was professor of rhetoric and English Literature at Edinburgh.

Today, Saintsbury is best-known in wine circles for his Notes on a Cellar Book — described as “the classic equivalent of modern day tasting-notes… [He]… kept a meticulous wine diary where he marked down prices, his unabashed impressions, dinner menus and both serious and amusing anecdotes. …An unsurpassed pleasure to read.”

A delightful taste of Professor Saintsbury’s writing style is offered by the founder of the Baker Street Irregulars, Christopher Morley, whose Modern Essays (1921) presented Saintsbury’s chapter on “Beer and Cider.”