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Re: Verne drinking Vin Mariani?

From: <jmmargot~at~mindspring.com>
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 11:04:38 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>

-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Harold <haroldmania~at~yahoo.se>
Sent: Mar 31, 2004 8:36 AM
To: jvf~at~Gilead.org.il
Subject: Verne drinking Vin Mariani?

Hello!

This topic could offend some people, but I don't
understand this better then to give you my question
(and information).

I cut this information from:
http://www.clubdates.net/articles/cocaine_for_your_hair_sir.asp

This is a cut from the article:

----------------

Vin Mariani
The real soaraway success in Europe was Vin Mariani.
Launched in 1863, it was an extremely palatable coca
wine developed by the Corsican entrepreneur, Angelo
Mariani (1838-1914). Mariani first tried his new tonic
on a depressed actress. The results were spectacular.
She soon told all her friends. Mariani himself wrote a
book eulogising coca; and he gathered artefacts of,
and material on, the coca-loving Incas. At home, he
collected coke-taking paraphernalia. He also took up
amateur horticulture and cultivated the coca plant in
his garden.
Coca wine made Mariani famous. Vin Mariani rapidly
became the world's most popular prescription. Writers
loved it. Anatole France, Henrik Ibsen, JULES VERNE,
Alexander Dumas, Robert Louis Stephenson, Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle, and other literary luminaries all
indulged freely. Composers such as Massenet, Gounod
and Fauré gratefully honoured the Corsican druggist in
their music. Vin Mariani was celebrated by royalty as
well: by Queen Victoria; King George 1 of Greece; King
Alphonse XIII of Spain; the Shah of Persia; and by
William McKinley, President of the United States.
A devotion to Vin Mariani transcended petty
differences of religious dogma. The Grand Rabbi of
France, Zadoc Kahn, was moved to write: "My conversion
is complete. Praise be to Mariani's wine!" Pope Pius X
was an enthusiast, as was Pope Leo XIII. He gave coca
wine an official seal of approval by awarding Angelo
Mariani a special gold medal. In recent years,
however, the Vatican has felt unable to reiterate its
original endorsement.

-------------

I found this when I search information about Zadoc
Kahn who was do ban Hetzel magazine because the
"Hector Servadac"-novel. By the way, if did found that
Zadoc Kahn was one of Nadars customers...

Well, about the story above; could someone explain
what it means? Jules Verne on dope...? Anyway, it
could be interesting to know more about the sources
for this article.

Bets regards
Peter harold

PS
Thanks for all of the answers I got from my previuos
questions. Still I think it could be nice to have a
list of all books that was included in Jules Vernes
personal library; if there ever was such a list?
DS

Peter, you are absolutely right. Angelo Mariani was a marketing genius. He invented the Mariani wine, in combining red wine with the active element of the coca plant, which was isolated one year earlier by a German researcher. To promote his wine, he offered several bottles of it to all the celebrities of his time. Your list above could be extended with the names of Thomas Edison, the pope Leon XIII (the same JV visited), the queen Victoria, and the prsident of the United States, William McKinley. Mariani received thankyou letters from all theses celebrities. He asked the brothers Uzanne to write two to four pages (short biography) on every celebrity. He added a photographic portrait and he had available from five to ten pages on every contemporary celebrity. Mariani published fourteen huge volumes with these texts (one image, a few pages of text and an autograph (the thank you letter). With around seventy portraits per volume you can imagine you many were, as you said, on dope! JV is mentioned in the third
volume. These volumes are very rare and it's almost impossible to find a complete collection. The Mariani wine invaded not only Europe, but also the United States, where Mariani's marketing brochures were translated and have several editions. All pharmacists in the US were honored to sel the "the French coca wine". In Atlanta, GA, was a pharmacist named Pemberton who was selling the "Pemberton French Coca Wine" when the state of Georgia introduced the prohibition, before it became federal. Pemberton had to take out the wine component and the remained mixture became the... Coca-Cola. That's why Coca-Cola comes from Corsica, Angelo mariani being from the "ile de beaute".

All the details, and the text about Jules Verne, as well as his letter to Mariani, can be found in my recently published book "Jules Verne en son temps", Amiens, Encrage, 2004, 256 pages.

Jean-Michel Margot
Received on Thu 01 Apr 2004 - 18:04:52 IST

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