Description: Volume 2 - An Exotic Drinking Book - Signed and Dated to good friend Clara LangVolume 1 - An Exotic Cookery Book - Signed and Dated to good friend Clara Lang1st Crown Edition - 1946Please see pictures for more detailCharles Henry Baker Jr. (December 25, 1895 – November 11, 1987) was an American author best known for his culinary and cocktail writings. These books have become highly collectible among cocktail aficionados and culinary historians. He was born on Christmas Day in 1895 in Zellwood, Florida to Jane Paul Baker (1859-1916) and Charles Henry Baker Sr. (1848-1924). Both of his parents were from Pennsylvania.[3] He later attended Trinity College. By 1918, he was working at Norton Abrasives as a grinder in Worcester, Massachusetts; he later worked as a district sales manager. He moved to New York City, where he worked as a magazine editor and submitted stories to small publications. In 1932, Baker met Pauline Elizabeth Paulsen, an heiress to the Paulsen mining fortune, on a world cruise where he had signed on as the cruise line's publicist. After they were married they had built for them an art deco house called Java Head in Coconut Grove, Florida in which they lived for thirty years. Baker spent much of his life traveling the world and chronicling food and drink recipes for magazines like Esquire, Town & Country, and Gourmet, for which he wrote a column during the 1940s called "Here's How". Baker collected many of those recipes in his two-volume set The Gentleman's Companion: Being an Exotic Cookery and Drinking Book, originally published in 1939 by Derrydale Press. John J. Poister in 1983 wrote, "Volume II of The Gentleman's Companion, by Charles H. Baker Jr., is the best book on exotic drinks I have ever encountered". Condé Nast contributing writer St. John Frizell wrote, "It's his prose, not his recipes, that deserves a place in the canon of culinary literature ... at times humorously grandiloquent, at times intimate and familiar, Baker fills his stories with colorful details about his environment and his drinking companions — Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner among them. See Wikipedia for more biography. *****Both volumes are in very good condition especially for its age (1946). Both volumes are signed, dated, inscribed at Charles Baker's home at Java Head in Florida. Above the inscriptions are additional inscriptions that may have been signed by Clara Lang? Both volumes on the top edge have some small spots. Volume 1 appears a bit faded when compared to volume 2. Volume 1 has a couple of very small spots on other edges. Very minor scuffing on boards. Although the books have been printed with beige paper, there appears to be light toning. Slipcase is worn - The slipcase has toning and discoloration on front, back, and inside. The slipcase is solid but does has some rubbing and small tears along the edges. Some scuffing. "Clara" is written in ink on front of slipcase. Also inside slipcase there is some spotting/staining. The two volumes are very tight and clean and there are no other writings (except for the inscriptions on 1st free end papers), no bookplates, no remainder marks, not ex-library, no underlining, etc. Please see pictures for more detail. These two volumes are truly a collector's item! Rare!! This item will be shipped with Signature Confirmation required. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have. I will be glad to take additional pictures. I tried to describe the book through words and pictures the best I can but if you are not 100% satisfied with the purchase, please know you can return the book for full refund. Boxed and packaged VERY carefully! Will ship within 1 business day of receiving payment. Thank you for looking!
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