Cooling Cups & Dainty Drinks

Terrington, William. Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks. George Routledge & Sons Ltd: London, [ca.1890]. 8vo (190x125mm) blue cloth, dark blue decorated bds,xv,[1],223,[1]pp. bds lightly soiled, t.e dusty; advt to paste-down; name in ink to p.[iii]

TERRINGTON, William

Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks: a collection of recipes for "Cups" and other compounded drinks and of general information on beverages of all kinds

London: George Routledge & Sons Ltd, Broadway, Ludgate Hill, Glasgow, Manchester and New York, [ca.1890]. Later Edition. Printed by Woodfall & Kinder, Printers, London.

Octavo (190x125mm) blue cloth, dark blue boards (decorated with a motif of pomegranates), xv,[1],223,[1]pp.

Boards lightly soiled, some flecking; spine faintly sunned, head and foot slightly worn, some fraying; endpapers/pastedowns offset toned; top edges dusty; pps 193-195 mistrimmed; advertisement to the front paste-down for Ivory Dust Jelly; owner name in ink to p.[iii] "Mr N Dyson 22nd Feb 1900". 


" Cocktails are compounds very much used by 'early birds' to fortify the inner man, and by those who like their consolations hot and strong.  "Cocktail" is not so ancient an institution as Juleps &c., but, with its next of kin "Crusta," promises to maintain its ground." (p.210)

Recipes include a gin cocktail made with ginger syrup, orange curaçao and bitters (now championed by Sipsmith), juleps, slings, crustas, cobblers, smashs and even an aptly named 'Tickle my Fancy'.

Published to enthusiastic reviews in the British press, Cooling Cups is a significant British landmark in the genre of mixology; being the first British book to contain cocktail recipes.  It provides a detailed insight into Victorian drinking habits and records the move from traditional wine cups and punches to American style 'cocktails' and iced drinks.  Nothing is known about William Terrington.  David Wondrich¹ suggests that he is a 'probably pseudonymous author' associated with the Wenham Lake Ice Co, a business much referred to in the reviews in the Naval and Military Gazette².  There is a sizeable chapter on ice in the book.   The publisher advertisements of the day allude to him being the House Steward for a member of society.

An unrecorded later imprint of Britain's first cocktail book.  Save that the head and tail piece and boards decorations have been changed, and the publisher's catalogue omitted, the text is exactly the same as the first edition.

§ No holdings recorded in OCLC or COPAC.
§ Not recorded in any of the usual bibliographies; cf Gabler G38730, Bitting, 458 for the first edition.


¹ The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails, Oxford, 2022 p.722
² Naval & Military Gazette and Weekly Chronicle of the United Service - Saturday 3 July, 1869 p.10 noting the Wenham Lake Ice Co forwarded the book for review; Saturday 10 July, 1869 p.14 in the detailed enthusiastic review.