How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion -
Jerry Thomas, Christian Shultz
1862 - Dick & Fitzgerald, New York - First Edition
An extremely rare first edition of the legendary first and seminal book on mixology and bartenders' guide to include cocktail recipes, by the great Professor Jerry Thomas, referred to as ‘The Best Bartender of the Past’ by Harry Craddock in the ‘Savoy Cocktail Book’ of 1930.
Illustrated and containing 236 recipes by Jerry Thomas and 463 recipes by Christian Schultz. In addition to listings of recipes for Punches, Sours, Slings, Cobblers, Shrubs, Toddies, Flips, and a variety of other types of mixed drinks were ten recipes for drinks referred to as ‘Cocktails’. A key ingredient which differentiated ‘cocktails’ from other drinks in this compendium was the use of bitters as an ingredient, although it is not used in many modern cocktail recipes. ‘‘Professor’ Jerry Thomas, principal baertender at the Metropolitan Hotel, New York and the Planter’s House, St. Louis, a pioneer cocktail exponent, who helped to spread the fashion for the mixed drink during the Victorian era. Thomas, at the height of his fame in the ‘Roaring Fifties’, toured Europe in 1859 with a set of sterling silver cups, standard mixing practice at the time, trailing a stream of liquid flame as he compounded his legendary Blue Blazer cocktail’ - a powerful concoction of whiskey and water ignited and passed between two glasses so that, "if well done this will have the appearance of a continued stream of liquid fire." ‘(for the novice, practice with cold water was recommended).’ – Simon Khachadourian, The Cocktail Shaker [2000]. Jerry Thomas’ New York Times obituary noted that he was "at one time better known to club men and men about town than any other bartender in this city, and he was popular among all classes." The introduction to the present volume characterizes Thomas, "his very name is synonymous, in the lexicon of mixed drinks, with all that is rare and original." That reputation endures today, more than a century after this guide first appeared in print.  More Details
Price: HK$ 140,000 |
