The Savoy Cocktail Book.

CRADDOCK, Harry.

Item Number: 121079

London: Constable & Company, 1930.

First edition of this iconic, definitive text on cocktails. Octavo, original half black cloth, pictorial endpapers. Illustrated by Gilbert Rumbold. Presentation copy, inscribed by Harry Craddock on the verso of the dedication page and first page of the Preface, “‘Here’s how’ Harry Craddock To Captain Anthony Farranse With best wishes of the author Harry Craddock” and inscribed by the illustrator Gilbert Rumbold, “If you happen to read this in the bath – watch your overhead!! Here’s How. Gilbert Rumbold.” Uncommon signed by not only Craddock, but both he and Rumbold.

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).