COCKTAILS - WHEELER, Charles Van Cise.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Life and Letters of Henry William Thomas, Mixologist. First edition, one of a presumably small number produced by Wheeler and his wife as a Christmas gift for friends; a second edition of 1,000 was published in 1929. This edition is scarce in commerce and institutions.This work, privately published at the height of American prohibition, contains cocktail recipes, drinking songs, and imaginary toasts from Henry William Thomas, whom H.L. Mencken considered a bartender of the "highest skill and most delicate prudence" (quoted in Brown). Charles Wheeler (c.1866-1941) was a frequent customer of Thomas and a collector of antiquities; his collection of over 1000 items boasted Chinese Pottery, Japanese swords, carvings, and Greek and Roman coins. This work appears in the libraries of the University of Denver, Duke University, the Los Angeles Public Library, Virginia Historical Society Library, and the Enoch Pratt Free Library.

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