The Stork Club Bar Book -
Lucius Beebe
1946 - Rinehart &, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition of one of the greatest and most entertaining of mixology works. In a highly presentable example of the delicate dust jacket. With recipes, humour, stories about the rich and famous who frequented this elegant club, and sly essays on such subjects as the mint julep and the zombie. A famous oasis after the ravages of Prohibition, the Stork Club was the place for celebrities to see and be seen.
Providing a historical glimpse into the high life in New York City at this legendary spot, and divided into sections for drinks consumed by Stork Club patrons at morning, noon, and night. Uncommon in such a nice dust jacket and binding, all designed together with the stylised typography by Paul Rand.
Legendary wit and bon vivant Lucius Morris Beebe (1902-1966) was born into a wealthy Boston mercantile and banking family and, flying in the face of a hopelessly proletarian 20th Century, he lived his life in the opulence and splendour of an earlier age. As an undergraduate at both Harvard and Yale, he was an outstanding student and a rake-hell of formidable accomplishment. It was his custom to appear for class Monday morning in full evening dress, wearing a monocle and carrying a gold-headed cane. He also had a roulette wheel and a fully equipped bar in his room. At the same time, he earned distinction as an undergraduate poet and won his Master’s degree with a thesis on the poetry of Edwin Arlington Robinson. From the preface - "Gene Fowler once remarked 'The history of Greece is written in its temples, that of the United States in its hotels.' And to carry the parallel even farther, a good deal of the history of New York has been written in its restaurants, saloons, night clubs, cafes, cabarets, bars, lounges, dining rooms, ordinaries, fish and chips, chophouses, dives, deadfalls, beer stubes, dramshops and all the allied institutions dedicated to the stoking and sluicing of customers of many tastes and means."
To the rear is an alphabetical index and an index by ingredients. Published simultaneously with a limited deluxe edition.
Octavo (book size 21x14.6cm), pp. xiii [3] 17-136 [8]. In publisher’s red cloth, spine lettered in white and black, front board illustrated in red, black and white, top edge tinted pale green, pale green endpapers. Dust jacket priced 3.00 to upper corner of front flap. Condition: Near fine, two small spots to front board and one to edge of rear endpaper, in very good dust jacket, light wear to corners, front panel with 2mm chip to upper corner and short closed tear to lower edge. Ref: 111864 Price: HK$ 8,000
Providing a historical glimpse into the high life in New York City at this legendary spot, and divided into sections for drinks consumed by Stork Club patrons at morning, noon, and night. Uncommon in such a nice dust jacket and binding, all designed together with the stylised typography by Paul Rand.
Legendary wit and bon vivant Lucius Morris Beebe (1902-1966) was born into a wealthy Boston mercantile and banking family and, flying in the face of a hopelessly proletarian 20th Century, he lived his life in the opulence and splendour of an earlier age. As an undergraduate at both Harvard and Yale, he was an outstanding student and a rake-hell of formidable accomplishment. It was his custom to appear for class Monday morning in full evening dress, wearing a monocle and carrying a gold-headed cane. He also had a roulette wheel and a fully equipped bar in his room. At the same time, he earned distinction as an undergraduate poet and won his Master’s degree with a thesis on the poetry of Edwin Arlington Robinson. From the preface - "Gene Fowler once remarked 'The history of Greece is written in its temples, that of the United States in its hotels.' And to carry the parallel even farther, a good deal of the history of New York has been written in its restaurants, saloons, night clubs, cafes, cabarets, bars, lounges, dining rooms, ordinaries, fish and chips, chophouses, dives, deadfalls, beer stubes, dramshops and all the allied institutions dedicated to the stoking and sluicing of customers of many tastes and means."
To the rear is an alphabetical index and an index by ingredients. Published simultaneously with a limited deluxe edition.
Octavo (book size 21x14.6cm), pp. xiii [3] 17-136 [8]. In publisher’s red cloth, spine lettered in white and black, front board illustrated in red, black and white, top edge tinted pale green, pale green endpapers. Dust jacket priced 3.00 to upper corner of front flap. Condition: Near fine, two small spots to front board and one to edge of rear endpaper, in very good dust jacket, light wear to corners, front panel with 2mm chip to upper corner and short closed tear to lower edge. Ref: 111864 Price: HK$ 8,000