The Gun Club Drink Book - Charles Browne
1939 - Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York - First Edition
Brilliant art-deco illustrations by Leonard Holton. One of the classics in the field of mixology, now extremely scarce in first edition. The author was a physician, mayor of Princeton, New Jersey, one-term Congressman, sportsman, founder and president of the Nassau Gun Club, and a noted gourmet and bon vivant.
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Bohemian San Francisco; It’s Restaurants and their most Famous Recipes. The Elegant Art of Dining - Clarence E. Edwords
1914 - Paul Elder and Company, San Francisco - First Edition
The frontis illustration is from a photograph of the interior of the old Cobweb Palace at Meigg's Wharf. A wonderful period book covering San Francisco's finest restaurants, cocktails, and recipes of the early 1900’s.
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Crosby Gaige’s Cocktail Guide and Ladies’ Companion. - Crosby Gaige
1941 - Published for Hussies and Homebodies by M. Barrows and Company, New York - First Edition
Delightful illustrations by Rea Irvin. Crosby Gaige (18812-1949) was a Broadway producer, founding member of the New York Wine and Food Society and a celebrated gourmet and bon vivant. This book offers a nostalgic view of the sybaritic drinking habits of wealthy Manhattanites in the 1930’s, and is now quite scarce.
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Hand-book of Wines - Thomas McMullen
1852 - D. Appleton & Company, New York - First Edition
Probably the first consumer-oriented book on wine published. It describes the character and quality of major wines in the world, from Portugal to Persia. It has chapters on the purchase, cellaring and appreciation of wines, as well as a tabular listing (sixty-three pages) of all known wines, spirits and liquers. Simon notes that it is more of a compilation of previous more scholarly works, some transcribed, and lacks originality, but it appears that this was what McMullen had in mind.
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The Bar-Tender's Guide or How to Mix All Kinds of Plain and Fancy Drinks - Jerry Thomas
1887 - Dick & Fitzgerald, New York
By the great Professor Jerry Thomas, referred to as ‘The Best Bartender of the Past’ by Harry Craddock in the Savoy Cocktail Book. In original pictorial cloth. An "Entirely New and Enlarged Edition" of Jerry Thomas' classic guide, first published in 1862, versions of which are still in print today. A very scarce near fine copy, with browning to front end papers.
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