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

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

‘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 February 1928, in celebration of the Leap Year was the ‘Leave it to me Cocktail’. It is said ‘to have been responsible for more [marriage] proposals than any other cocktail that has ever been mixed’. Perhaps, this is not surprising with its lethal mix of brandy, Vermouth, Grenadine, and gin.

Craddock begins his foreword by stating, ‘If everyone knew even a little about the absorbing subject of absorbing alcohol there would be even less Prohibition in the United States of America than there is now.’ Craddock was obviously willing to tailor some recipes for his friends across the pond with a section dedicated to ‘Cocktails Suitable for a Prohibition Country’, but all of the recipes contain alcohol in some form with the ‘Special (Rough) Cocktail’ even containing ‘1 Dash of Absinthe’. Craddock claims, however, that the alcohol for these was easy enough to attain.

A wonderfully designed book evoking the spirit and gaiety of the 1930s; this copy remains particularly bright.

SKU: 2124671