Harry; Gilbert RUMBOLD ( illustrator ). The Savoy Cocktail Book.

by CRADDOCK

£2,250 · Offered by Henry Sotheran Ltd

‘THE ABSORBING SUBJECT OF ABSORBING ALCOHOL’ CRADDOCK, Harry; Gilbert RUMBOLD ( illustrator ). The Savoy Cocktail Book. London: Constable Company . 1930. 8vo. Original cloth-backed boards, lettered in gilt to spine, attractive Art Deco design to the upper cover in green, black, silver and grey, decorative end papers; pp. 288 (the first issue with pagination beginning from preliminaries), with the recipe for ‘Bacardi Cocktail’ tipped in to p. 25 as issued, Art Deco coloured illustrations throughout by Gilbert Rumbold; wear to edges of boards, minor wear to cloth at hinges of spine, a little rubbing to gilt lettering, but otherwise boards are uncommonly bright and clean; very light spotting to edges, some minor spotting to preliminaries and endpapers; near fine. The true first edition of this celebrated cocktail book in unusually bright condition. Sought after by collectors for both its recipes and the fine Art Deco design, some cocktails included are the ‘Corpse Reviver’, ‘four of these taken in swift succession will unrevive the corpse again’. This drink was intended to be ‘taken before 11a.m., or whenever steam and energy are needed’. The ‘Earthquake Cocktail’, whose greatest quality is that ‘if there should happen to be an earthquake on when you are drinking it, it won’t matter’. The ‘Rattlesnake Cocktail’, ‘so called because it will either cure Rattlesnake bite, or kill Rattlesnakes, or make you see them’. One cocktail invented by Harry Craddock at the Savoy Hotel on 29th

• Binding: Hardcover

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