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OLD WALDORF-ASTORIA BAR BOOK
had treated from other standpoints in another volume,
PEACOCKS ON PARADE,
earlier published. When
OLD WAL–
DORF BAR DA
Ys came out, few Americans dreamed that
repeal was hardly more than two years off. And so, while
I "translated" and more or less codified and put into alpha–
betical order the contents of that battered, dog-eared lit–
tle album, its pages stained with many samples of liquors,
and which would probably show under a microscope the
thumb prints of many barmen who had had to consult it,
I had no idea of turning out a guide of any sort. I merely
incorporated it as something that might interest the re–
searcher into American
mores,
who, I felt sure, would find
much material therein, and so permitted myself very little
elaboration.
However, the book attracted wide and favorable com–
ment. As Repeal Day approached, critics and connoisseurs
who knew good liquors and particularly what cocktails
used to be like, found that, by virtue of having been long
in actual daily use, here was an authoritative compendium
of the authentic cocktails of a by-gone day. True, its
availability was handicapped by being tacked on, as it
were, to a quasi-historical narrative and exposition, so that
those who merely saw the book and the title did not read–
ily guess, as a rule, that it contained a collection of cock–
tail recipes. B<"r:ause of the book's history, it stood alone.
It should be improved, amplified as much as necessary, and
made thoroughly understandable and useful.
This was emphasized by Mr. Howard
L.
Lewis, Secre–
tary of Dodd, Mead and Company. So that the author,
encouraged and stimulated by the interest of a publishing
firm of such high reputation and standing, gladly under–
took the work of revision.