The Savoy Cocktail Book. by Craddock, Harry - 1930

New York: Richard R. Smith, 1930. First edition of this iconic, definitive text on cocktails. Octavo, original half black cloth, pictorial endpapers. Illustrations by Gilbert Rumbold. In near fine condition with a blurb on wines affixed opposite half-title, the final four pages with some manuscript cocktail recipes in a contemporary hand. An exceptional example. Savoy Cocktail Book features 750 of Harry Craddock’s most popular recipes. It is a fascinating record of the cocktails that set London alight at the time—and which are just as popular today. From Slings to Smashes, Fizzes to Flips, and featuring art deco illustrations, Harry Craddock was "the king of cocktail shakers," and The Savoy Cocktail Books contains humorous anecdotes on the origin of the cocktail and its purpose ("for the solace of man"), as well as "an elucidation of the Manners and Customs of people of quality in a period of some equality." "Behind every great bartender (literally) is a roughed-up, stained copy of The Savoy Cocktail Book...it's been an industry must-have since its first edition" (GQ).