1885 · Danbury, CT
by Fleischman, Joseph
Danbury, CT: Behrens Publishing Co., 1885. 68,[7]pp. Original blue-green publisher's cloth, stamped in black and gilt. Cancel title-leaf slightly pulled from stub toward top, otherwise a brilliant copy, about fine. A variant issue of this how-to-guide for the mixing of liquors in order to increase one's profit margin. The sheets (including adverts) from the New York Dick & Fitzgerald edition have been equipped with a cancel title bearing the Behrens imprint. OCLC locates only two copies with this imprint, but with alteration made by a label and not by a cancel title leaf -- the entry speculates that those copies may be a 20th century re-issue of the original sheets. The author writes: "Very few persons, outside of those engaged in the wholesale trade, understand what is meant by blending and compounding liquors. The moment a barrel of liquor leaves the bonded warehouse, the first thing thought of, and done, is to reduce its cost. The blender knows how to make the bonded liquor produce a profit of 25 to 50 per cent. on the amount he paid for it, and frequently a great deal more ... The object of this work is to give the dispenser of liquors thorough and practical information, by which he will be enabled to compound and blend liquors for his own purposes, and thus secure the additional profit, and at the same time produce as good an article as the market affords - if not better ...." The book is full of recipes for adulterating various liquors and wines, complete with cost equivalents for the end-product. Not in Singerman or Brown & Brown. GABLER G20370 (NY Imprint). OCLC: 35654246. (Inventory #: WRCLIT79361)
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