NewYorkFirst.com: Classic Cocktail Books

Bar Association..

The scholarly and considered art of absorbing alcohol has engaged the genius and attentions of many of the best minds in all the ages. To none does this more urgently apply than to the persons responsible for these artistic and historic cocktail books. Messers Beebe, Craddock, and Crockett were never known to shirk their duty when ice in the shaker is called to arms. Offered here are not merely compilations of cocktail recipes, but their wise and witty discussions on the philosophy of drinking, on the arts of sociability and conviviality, and a picture of the fads, fancies, and foibles that reflect the origins of cocktail culture.

Perfect Manhattan.
It's the cocktail book to end all cocktail books. “The Stork Club Bar Book” is a truly unique collection of bar recipes all bound together by a witty and engaging commentary by Lucius Beebe. The author originated the phrase "saloon society," and was first introduced to the Stork Club back in 1930, in the brave old 58th Street days. First re-printing since 1946.

Shaking Things Up at the Waldorf.
The bible of the Old School of American Bartending. Its collection of pre-Prohibition drink recipes is based on the bar manual of the legendary Waldorf-Astoria bar. For each drink, you are treated with a delightful and humorous anecdote that makes great cocktail conversation. For historians, there is a brief explanation of the origin and meaning of names given to each drink. Originally published in 1935 by Albert Stevens Crockett.

Quintessential Mixology.
During the decadent 1920s and 1930s, the place to drink was The American Bar at London's Savoy Hotel. Harry Craddock, Head Bartender in The American Bar, compiled recipes for "The Savoy Cocktail Book," helping to enrich the supreme gentility, extraordinary fun, and style of the times. 286 pages. (Illustrations by Mr. Gilbert Rumbold).