# Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails
**URL:** https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459
**Category:** Bars & Bartenders
**Tags:** writers
**Created:** [February 5, 2022, 5:09pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459 "2022-02-05T17:09:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Splificator](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/Splificator)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2022, 5:09pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459/1 "2022-02-05T17:09:11Z")
Taken collectively, the dozen editions of his _ABC of Mixing Cocktails_ that Harry McElhone published between the early 1920s and the early 1950s are among the most influential cocktail books of all time. They mark the earliest appearances of many important drinks and are a window into the internationalization of cocktail culture as it occurred. Unfortunately, none of those editions are dated (only McElhone’s self-published 1927 Barflies and Cocktails, an illustrated version of the ABC book, bears a date).
In the spirit of this old thread:
> [@The Floridita/Bar La Florida Booklets from Cuba](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/the-floridita-bar-la-florida-booklets-from-cuba/138):
>
> I’m trying to untangle the dating of the later Floridita booklets, specifically these two (the only date both carry is 1939, found in an article reprinted at the beginning of each): It’s tricky to date both, but I’m wondering if the second is post-Revolution, from either before or right after the Cuban government nationalized Bacardi (the book has a Bacardi ad and one for Cerveza Hatuey, Bacardi-owned). Unlike every other Floridita book I’ve seen, it h…
I’d like to see if we can arrive at a more or less firm chronology of the editions.
For the first three, it’s easy: they appear in the annual _English Catalogue of Books_, which lists every book published in England.
That gives us this:
First Edition: December, 1923. 292 numbered drinks.
Second Edition (more accurately, a second printing, with different ads): February, 1923. 292 numbered drinks.
Third Edition: March, 1925. ? numbered drinks.
After this, Harry moved to Paris and the books stopped being published in England, although they were still edited and printed there. That was not enough to keep them in the _ECB_. This means that we have to rely on internal evidence, inscriptions, or press mentions to date the rest.
I haven’t been able to examine the fourth, sixth and seventh editions (or, for that matter, the third). I do know that, like the eighth and ninth, the sixth was called not an “edition” but an “impression,” which suggests it had no new material. As for the seventh, I don’t even know if it existed at all; there appears to be no record of it.
Internal and other evidence gives these dates for the remaining editions:
Fifth Edition: 1926 (dated from the inclusion of the I.B.F. and a Bols ad giving how long they had been in business). 324 numbered drinks.
Eight Impression: 1930-1931 (Dated from the Tunnel Cocktail, invented at the end of December, 1929, and a signature from 1931 in one surviving copy). 339 numbered drinks.
Ninth Impression: 1931-1932 (Dated from its place between the Eighth Impression and the Tenth Edition). 339 numbered drinks.
Tenth Edition: 1933-1934 (Dated from Dean & Son’s new address, occupied in August, 1933, and a June, 1934 newspaper mention). 374 numbered drinks.
Eleventh Edition: 1937-1939 (Dated from the Coronation 1937 cocktail and the outbreak of World War II). 390 numbered drinks.
New Edition: 1952-1953 (Dated from a Canadian Club ad, which mentions the “late” King George VI but not the new Queen). 411 numbered drinks.
Here, then, are my questions, for which any information at all would be greatly appreciated.
Has anybody seen a copy of the seventh edition/impression?
How many numbered drinks are in the third, fourth, sixth, and seventh editions/impressions?
Does anybody have any information that can date the fourth, sixth, or seventh editions/impressions, or narrow down the dates for the eighth-eleventh and New ones?
The fifth edition has 32 new drinks reflecting Harry’s move to Paris. Were they in the third or fourth editions? Likewise, were the fifteen extra drinks the eighth impression has compared to the fifth edition added in the sixth or seventh?
Was the missing seventh edition/impression actually _Barflies and Cocktails_? (The fact that they were from different publishers in different countries–Harry self-published _BaC_ in Paris–somewhat militates against this.)
Which edition/impression was the main drinks section of _Barflies and Cocktails_ based on?
What else am I missing?
If we can nail down the editions, we can nail down the drinks they contain. Then we’d be getting somewhere.
---
### Author:  [@fernando](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/fernando)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2022, 11:19pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459/2 "2022-02-07T23:19:00Z")
I tried to answer to this in 2009, by compiling informations from my books, and those of Jeff Masson and Mauro Mahjoub.
Here is what I had (including the printer if necessary)
1st Edition : Dec 1922
292 drinks — Odhams Press, London
(little misspelling on ‘1923’)
Interesting to precise Vermeire was printed first in 1922 (regarding the informations related to the Sidecar).
2nd Edition : 1923 (February)
292 drinks — Dean & Son, London
3rd Edition : 1925
317 drinks — Dean & Son, London
4th Edition : 1927 (Bols ad updated 1575+352 years) - early 1927 ?
322 drinks — Dean & Son, London
5th Edition : 1927 (Bols ad updated 1575+352 years) - late 1927
324 drinks — Dean & Son, London
(Interesting to note the Lea & Perrins ad, with no mention of Tomato Cocktail or Bloody Mary until the new edition in 1952…)
6th Impression : 1928 (Bols ad updated 1575+353 years)
324 drinks — Dean & Son, London
7th Edition/Impression
never seen so it could definitely be ‘Barflies and Cocktails’,
Barflies and Cocktails : 1927
[1927 copyright but it could have been printed in 1928, like World’s Drinks from Boothby \> copyright 1907 but printed in 1908]
drinks not numbered [to be counted]— Lecram Press, Paris
Formulario del Cocktelero : estimated 1928
Translation of the 5th Edition of the ABC of Mixing Drinks from 1927
322 drinks [same as 4th Edition] — B. Bauza, Barcelona
8th Impression : estimated 1929-30
339 drinks — Dean & Son, London
9th Impression : 1930 (in the British Library catalogue)
339 drinks — Dean & Son, London
10th Edition : agree with 1933-1934
374 drinks — Dean & Son, London
11th Edition : agree with 1937-1939
390 drinks — Dean & Son, London
New Edition : agree with 1952-1953
391 drinks [no 411 drinks in mine, the title page mentions ‘nearly 400’] — no mention of publisher
The last edition [New Edition] is very important edition, because we have the first mention, after 11 edition… for a ‘Bloody Mary’ recipe under the name ‘Red Mary’ for a drink… Strange?
Great topic, as always here!
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### Author:  [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2022, 12:21am UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459/3 "2022-02-08T00:21:49Z")
My records pretty much concur with @fernando. I have the 4th Edition in my notes as being maybe 1925–1926, although that Bols ad is hard to argue with.
I just manually recounted Barflies, and found 349 recipes in the main section and roughly 30 recipes in the Arthur Moss bit at the back.
The 7th edition of _ABC_ does not appear to exist.
There’s a version printed by Harry Portman in Kansas City c. 1933 that supposedly has 324 recipes in a mere 91 pages. I haven’t verified that.
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### Author:  [@Splificator](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/Splificator)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2022, 5:19pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459/4 "2022-02-08T17:19:20Z")
Thank you both for chipping in!
The first edition is definitely from December, 1922–that’s when the _English Catalogue of Books_ lists it as being published, and that’s when the first reviews of it are from, all mentioning it as a new book (the earliest I have is from the _Leeds Mercury_ from December 19). (The agreement between the reviews and the _Catalogue_ mean that we can probably trust the _Catalogue_ when it says Robert Vermiere’s _Cocktails: How to Mix Them_ was published in May, 1922–a good seven months earlier.)
I left out the early edition of Harry’s book specially published for the London vintners, Christopher & Co. This consists of the plates for the first/second edition, with the introduction on bartending replaced by notes on wines and a few interpolated pages of additional drinks. It must be from 1923.
The fourth, fifth and sixth editions could be early 1926, late 1926, and 1927, respectively, if we include the founding year (1575) in Bols’s count of how many years it had been in business. I think this is more likely than 1927/1928, because of _Barflies and Cocktails_, which really does seem to be the seventh edition.
If a separate seventh edition/impression of Harry’s ABC was published, it is extremely unlikely that it would have evaded all the collectors and booksellers over the years. _Harry’s ABC_ has always been a popular book, and judging by the great many circulating copies, sales must have been fairly extensive.
_Barflies and Cocktails_ was reviewed in the Paris edition of the New York Herald in September, 1927, so that gives us a firm date. (I get the equivalent of 327 numbered drinks, lumping the “Various Continental Beverages” together as one like the other editions do; nine drinks are added to the 5th edition and seven subtracted from it, by my count; I will count again, though–if Martin says something, I wouldn’t bet against it).
Thanks for adding the _Formulario del cocktelero_, Fernando–I knew there was a Spanish edition, but I don’t have access to a copy and couldn’t remember when it was from. I’ve never seen a copy of the Harry Portman edition; if Virginia Tech and UC Davis indeed have copies, as Worldcat says, I’d be a little surprised.
I got to 411 numbered drinks in the New Edition by counting the ones shoehorned in as _x_-“bis” and “ter.”
The Red Mary has to be balanced against the College Inn cocktail (tomato juice, spices and sherry) in the 10th edition (Chicago’s College Inn popularized the bottled Tomato Juice Cocktail, with the juice plus spices, in 1927, but there was also a popular College Inn bar in Paris), and this ad from the paris Edition of the New York Herald, January 3, 1931:
For what it’s worth, Harry’s Bar doesn’t appear to have been credited with the Bloody Mary until the 1967, and that was due to Petiot saying he came up with it there, not a statement from the bar itself. Eventually it embraced the claim.
So it looks like the most important editions, in terms of chronicling new drinks, are the 1st, 3rd (25 new drinks), 8th (15 new drinks from 6th), 10th (35 new drinks), 11th (16 new drinks), and the 1950s new edition (21 new drinks), plus Barflies & Cocktails.
Now to chart precisely what was added and when.
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### Author:  [@Splificator](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/Splificator)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2022, 5:07pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459/5 "2022-02-10T17:07:50Z")
Another bit of evidence for considering _Barflies and Cocktails_ as the seventh edition of _Harry’s ABC_, from Arthur Moss’s “Around the Town” column the Paris edition of the _New York Herald_, November 1, 1926, p. 5: 
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### Author:  [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2022, 9:05pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459/6 "2022-02-10T21:05:30Z")
> [@Splificator](#):
>
> Now to chart precisely what was added and when.
Alas, if it weren’t for the CK relocation, this would already be done. It’s been sitting on my to-do list. Still need to finish up doing the same thing with Haimo.
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### Author:  [@cocktailpost](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/cocktailpost)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2022, 11:04am UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459/7 "2022-08-25T11:04:57Z")
Thanks a lot Fernando (and David off course) I was seriously scratching my head trying to figure when that “Red Mary” recipe was published. This thing about the popularity of the Bloody Mary seems to be another succesful MKT ploy from vodka brands during the early 50’s. Not downplaying the relevance of the BM, but previous to that period seems to be only a scant couple mentions of it (called like that or by its other name) and apparently was odd enough to be highlighted only by the fact is 1) a hangover cure and 2) a vodka and tomato juice mix. From the mid-fifties forward the BM seems to be everywhere, coinciding with heavy advertising from vodka brands.
Saludos!
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### Author:  [@BillRoundy](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/BillRoundy)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2022, 5:43pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459/8 "2022-11-14T17:43:49Z")
Sorry to revive an old topic, but I’m trying to resolve an oddity in the _Harry’s_ 7th edition, “Barflies and Cocktails.”
The description of the Scofflaw cocktail describes its creation with a quote from the Chicago Tribune, January 27th, 1924:
> “Hardly has Boston added to the Gaiety of Nations by adding to Webster’s Dictionary the opprobrious term of “scoff-law” to
> indicate the chap who indicts the bootlegger, when Paris
> comes back with a “wet answer” - Jock, the genial bartender of Harry’s New York Bar, yesterday invented the
> Scoff-law Cocktail, and it has already become exceedingly
> popular among American prohibition dodgers.”
I have gone through all 154 pages of the Jan. 27, 1924 issue of the Chicago Tribune (it was the Sunday edition), and been unable to find this article. It’s possible that I just missed it, or that it appeared in an evening edition that didn’t get digitized. But maybe it was a mistake or a fabrication? Can anyone confirm its existence?
Also, I found a Jan. 21 article describing the Scofflaw cocktail, and attributing it not to Harry, but to Maxim’s bar in Paris:
So perhaps it started at Maxim’s, and spread to Harry’s? It was definitely at Harry’s by November, when a widely-published story notes that Harry’s New York Bar had a sign announcing “Try our Scofflaw Cocktail!”
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### Author:  [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2022, 8:53pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459/9 "2022-11-14T20:53:12Z")
> [@BillRoundy](#):
>
> Sorry to revive an old topic
Here, we are 100% for reviving old topics.
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### Author:  [@Splificator](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/Splificator)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2022, 10:53pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459/10 "2022-11-14T22:53:05Z")
Bill–The reason you couldn’t find it in the _Chicago Tribune_ was twofold. 1) It wasn’t in the Chicago _Chicago Tribune_, but rather in the Paris _Chicago Tribune_–the “European Edition,” as it was called. 2) It wasn’t printed on the 27th, as I learned after going through the edition for that day twice (it’s only six pages), but rather on the 21st (I fortunately remembered that many European 1s look like 7s and thought I’d take a look there).
Note that Harry–aka “Jock”–thoughtfully wrote himself into the article when he transcribed it.
I think the Maxim’s attribution is a mistake, since that article is clearly derived from the Paris Tribune one, apparently via a radio broadcast; somebody seems to have mis-heard something.
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### Author:  [@BillRoundy](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/BillRoundy)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2022, 4:37pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459/11 "2022-11-15T16:37:18Z")
Well, that explains why I couldn’t find it. Thanks, David - I really appreciate you tracking it down in a different newspaper and a different day!
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### Author:  [@ColombiaCoctel](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/ColombiaCoctel)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2024, 5:37pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459/12 "2024-10-29T17:37:34Z")
Hola @fernando, escribo sobre «¡Un bulevar de París a Bogotá!» en mi blog de coctelería «[https://nuevamixologiacolombiana.blogspot.com/2021/05/boulevardier-cocteles-clasicos-cocteles.html](https://nuevamixologiacolombiana.blogspot.com/2021/05/boulevardier-cocteles-clasicos-cocteles.html)»y busco la referencia de edición del libro ABC de H. McElhone que menciona al boulevardier con wiski canadiense. ¡Gracias desde este lado de los Andes!
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### Author:  [@fernando](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/fernando)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2024, 10:00am UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459/13 "2024-10-30T10:00:23Z")
Hola @ColombiaCoctel!
Excelente artículo en tu blog, con mucha investigación!
Te refieres al “Old Pal” supongo, pero el problema es que hay 2 recetas diferentes, con vermú diferente (francés o italiano), según las ediciones (que no tienen fecha, como ya sabes)
**Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails - 4th edition (page 68)**
**OLD PAL v1 (French Vermouth)**
_Note : publication date 1927, based on the BOLS ad (page 66)_
**Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails - 5th edition (page 68)**
**OLD PAL v1 (French Vermouth)**
_Note : publication date also 1927, based on the same BOLS ad (page 66)_
**1927 - Barflies & Cocktails (page 82)**
**OLD PAL v2 (with ‘eyetalian’ [Italian] Vermouth)**
Saludos de Francia!
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### Author:  [@ColombiaCoctel](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/ColombiaCoctel)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2024, 11:01pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459/14 "2024-11-19T23:01:12Z")
Don @fernando, enormes gracias por la ayuda. De otro lado quiero dejarle una inferencia. Sobre la margarita« Quiero creer –pero no demostrar- que el vaso comunicante sean esto exiliados españoles en México» . [Nueva Mixologia Colombiana: Soliloquios al cóctel (entrada 269) La sal de la vida u otra forma de decirte que un margarita es un margarita. II](https://nuevamixologiacolombiana.blogspot.com/2022/02/soliloquios-al-coctel-entrada-269-la.html)
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### Author:  [@fernando](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/fernando)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2025, 8:40pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459/15 "2025-01-26T20:40:21Z")
Holà Antonio (@ColombiaCoctel) !
Disculpa por la respuesta ahora no mas, excelente articulo como siempre. Seguro que une Margaita sin sal no es 🙂
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### Author:  [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2025, 1:32pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459/16 "2025-02-03T13:32:11Z")
Here’s a question: which original drinks are we prepared to credit to McElhone?
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### Author:  [@Splificator](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/Splificator)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2025, 3:33pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459/17 "2025-02-03T15:33:09Z")
At least these, from early interviews:
Fourth Degree
Tipperary
Chorus Lady
Lawhill
Sir Walter
Reform
Monkey Gland
Plus these, from his books (some may be from his bar, but not him, and this list is far from complete):
Broken Spur
Bunny’s Hug
Cameron’s Kick
E. Nos
Harry’s Cocktail
Harry’s Pick Me Up
Scoff-law
Princess Mary
Volstead
White Lady #1
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### Author:  [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2025, 8:02pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459/18 "2025-02-03T20:02:34Z")
Thanks! Interesting that all of these, save the Scofflaw and Volstead are present in the 1922, and the latter are probably present in the 1925 (3rd), but I haven’t checked. So they are all pretty much from McElhone’s salad days at Ciro’s and predate the Paris bar.
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### Author:  [@Splificator](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/Splificator)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2025, 8:04pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459/19 "2025-02-03T20:04:24Z")
In Paris he was management, although he did work behind the bar, too.
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### Author:  [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2025, 12:41pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/harrys-abc-of-mixing-cocktails/459/20 "2025-03-26T12:41:43Z")
Perhaps we can tentatively credit the Brandy Alexander to McElhone?
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