“Beer drinkers lead a dreary and gaseous life … Whiskey enthusiasts are … confined to a three-lane highway - straight, soda, or just plain water. But the cocktail contriver … has the whole world of nature at command…” So declares Crosby Gaige’s Cocktail Guide and Ladies’ Companion, published in 1941.

Crosby Gaige (1882-1949), a book publisher and book collector, had help from fellow travelers in the world of potent potables: Lucius Beebe provided a foreword; Alexander Lawton Mackall an afterword or “final insult.”

And, lucky for Emdashes, the center for all things Irvinian, Gaige employed the talents of Rea Irvin, who “richly embellished” the book “with drawings almost from life.” Check out Lady Brett’s post on her copy of the book.