1937 Café Royal Cocktail Book Coronation Edition

Preface O compile this book of Cocktails has been no easy task since it has entailed minutely examining over four thousand recipes, and to keep the book within reasonable bounds it has been only possible to give a selection of the most suitable cocktails. The majority of recipes are the originals of Members of the United Kingdom Bartenders' Guild, of which I have the honour to be President, and I can assure my readers that if they will follow these recipes carefully they will be able to enjoy many drinks with which they were hitherto unacquainted. Careful observation has shown that at the majority of Cocktail parties there is little variation in the cocktails offered, and each party is apt to have a monotonous repetition of Martini, Bronx, Manhattan, and White Lady Cocktails, all, I grant, very good cocktails indeed, but just as apt to be dull as continuous dinners at which the same soup, fish, meat and sweet are served. Therefore I ask my readers to try the modern cocktails. No Cocktail Book is considered complete without some mention of the history of the cocktail, but, unfortunately, the available records are of a very meagre description. Most of the history is a matter of conjecture, but there are a few outstanding facts upon which a fairly solid case can be built. It is impossible to trace the origin, but from the earliest