OP: Cocktail Wine and Digest
Paris-born Oscar Haimo (1904–1982) was one of the leading bar managers post-Prohibition. He traveled widely and did a stint at the Ritz in Paris and later became the head bartender and manager of the Pierre Hotel in New York City. A photo in this book shows him serving actor Edward G. Robinson there. In 1945 he founded the International Bar Managers’ Association.
In his determination to document the evolution of cocktail making in the modern era, Haimo began self-publishing Cocktail and Wine Digest in 1943 and continued to reissue it with updates every year through the late 1970s.
The pocket-sized volume covers not only the leading cocktail recipes of the day—indeed, there are 70 pages of them—but also glassware and bar tools, wine service, and Haimo’s various thoughts on the trade. He has also contributed his own amusing illustrations and lively poetry.
Our copy is a signed 1948 edition in red clothbound hardcover, issued without dust jacket. The copy shows signs of use with a moderately dampstained and rubbed case and a very few small stains to the book block. Printed on glossy stock with blue ink, the pages remain bright and crisp, though it appears some sharp-edged item was at one point held within the pages and caused a lateral 1-inch scratch that has cut through pages 16 and 17 and is deep enough to have affected about 10 pages of material. The cut is clean and shows no evidence of further damage with more delicate handling. A nice looking copy that can serve another generation of bar enthusiasts.