OP: The Modern Bartenders' and Hosts' Guide to Cocktails
H. E. Elfmont, 1954. Staplebound pamphlet. Very Good Minus.
Apparently offered as a vehicle for liquor store promotion, The Modern Bartenders’ & Hosts’ Guide to Cocktails by “Mr. Bib The Mythical Gourmet,” can be found with a variety of stores’ names on the front cover, or sometimes none at all.
This particular copy was printed for Young’s Liquor Store in Manhasset, Long Island, established in 1933 and still in operation. Otherwise free of overt marketing, the 4.25” x 6.5”, 64 page book includes cocktail recipes listed alphabetically from the Abbey Cocktail to the Zombie. Punches, hot drinks, and swizzles get their own sections toward the back.
The price list of all the spirits needed for a complete bar will make you weep for a time when a bottle of green Chartreuse was only $9.30 (and still the most expensive item on the list).
Our copy is Very Good, though exhibiting some splatters and damp staining, which has led to some sticky corners on the lower fore edge. A portion of the title page is torn at said corner where it stuck to the front cover.
