"The Fine Art Of Mixing Drinks" 1949 EMBURY, David A. (SOLD)

EMBURY, David A.

David Augustus Embury (November 3, 1886 –July 6, 1960) was an American tax attorney, mixologist and author of The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks (1948), an encyclopedia of the 20th century cocktail.

[372] pp.

Doubleday & Company, Inc.

1949

7 3/4" x 4 3/4"

Embury decided to pursue his love of bartending in the late 1940s, authoring the book The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks in 1948. The book is noteworthy for its highly opinionated, witty and conversational tone, as well as its categorization of cocktails and its categorization of ingredients. It also contains sections on glassware, bar equipment, a discussion of several different types of bitters, and much other minutiae. He includes in the book a recipe for a cocktail called an "Acacia", referencing the Acacia fraternity.

Embury had "never been engaged in any of the manifold branches of the liquor business" and was experienced "entirely as a consumer and as a shaker-upper of drinks for the delectation of my guests"