1929 The Bon Vivant's Companion or How to Mix Drinks by Jerry Thomas

INTRODUCTION

to take a little of this and a little of that,shake them up and pour them down. I have been unable to find any record of how and when Professor Thomas passed to his reward, but I should not be surprised to learn that he expired of shock and horror when the final edition of his valuable contribution to American folk lore was placed in his hands. It is impos sible to believe that he acquiesced in the editorial mutila tions. The aim of the present editor has been to preserve the first edition intact, and to combine with it the best features of subsequent printings, for many important discoveries were made, and much valuable knowledge acquired, by the Professor before he was finally cut down by the Grim Reaper.This volume,therefore,is an attempt to preserve for posterity a specimen of Americana which in all likelihood will never be duplicated,for it is quite improbable that there will ever again be a legitimate bartender practicing under the protection of the Stars and Stripes.The work should thus be of considerable value to the scholar who wishes to study the manners and customs of the American people in the days before drinking became extinct, and the bartender a pariah. In this edition the contribution of Professor Schultz is omitted as unnecessary, since adequate directions for the manufacture of beers, wines, whiskeys,and cordials may be found in any of thestandard encyclopedias. When Professor Thomas prepared to write The Bon Vivant's Companion and spray his nectarian delights upon a parched and thirsty world, he was very full of his subject —I speak figuratively —and his enthusiasm took the form of appending brief but appropriate comment to certain of his most beloved recipes. Thus, when he had set down the sum total of human knowledge concerning the preparation of that blood brother to the cocktail, the brandy crusta, one snifter XXV II