# Theophile (“Theodore”) Proulx
**URL:** https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/theophile-theodore-proulx/49
**Category:** Cocktail Kingdom Library
**Created:** [April 2, 2019, 10:24pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/theophile-theodore-proulx/49 "2019-04-02T22:24:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2019, 10:24pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/theophile-theodore-proulx/49/1 "2019-04-02T22:24:13Z")
Punch magazine published [this nice piece](https://punchdrink.com/articles/who-are-you-theodore-proulx-bartender-old-fashioned-recipe/) by Robert Simonson on March 18 about the author of one of our rarest holdings: the second edition of Theodore Proulx’s _Bartender’s Manual_, from 1888.
> **[Who Are You, Theodore Proulx? | PUNCH](https://punchdrink.com/articles/who-are-you-theodore-proulx-bartender-old-fashioned-recipe/)**
>
> The Golden Age bartender wrote one of history’s most important drink manuals, and published the first Old-Fashioned recipe, yet few have ever heard of him.
Nice detective work!
This 1888 edition is quite slim, but was nicely put together with a rigid card stock-like cover:
The first edition—ostensibly from 1884—was probably more a pamphlet than a book, and until one turns up, we presume it lost to time.
---
### Author:  [@RobertHess](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/RobertHess)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2019, 9:54pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/theophile-theodore-proulx/49/2 "2019-04-03T21:54:45Z")
Sounds like the type of thing that would be nice to have a digital scan of available… hint… hint…
---
### Author:  [@RobertSimonson](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/RobertSimonson)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2019, 3:30pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/theophile-theodore-proulx/49/3 "2019-04-04T15:30:27Z")
At Cocktail Kingdom, they’ve made a Xerox of the book, as the original is off limits for handling now. I’ve suggested to Greg Boehm that he reproduce the book several times.
---
### Author:  [@cocktaildoodle](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/cocktaildoodle)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2019, 1:33pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/theophile-theodore-proulx/49/4 "2019-04-08T13:33:31Z")
> [@RobertHess](#):
>
> would be nice to have a digital scan of available
100% agree. After reading the PUNCH article last week I tried to do some digging on Mr. Proulx and the guy is a ghost. I would like to see more about him and his take on cocktails.
---
### Author:  [@Splificator](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/Splificator)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2019, 7:44pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/theophile-theodore-proulx/49/5 "2019-04-12T19:44:43Z")
Very nice article–well done. One of the reasons Proulx is so hard to track is that his given name appears to have been Theophile, not Theodore, although he used the latter name professionally.
He died August 4, 1918. Here’s his death notice:
I don’t know the cause. He had been crippled August, 1904, when one E. F. Daigneau, “a dangerous character,” shot him in the hip in an argument over a kidnapping.
A question: does anyone know if the Langtry Punch appears in his book? Here’s the recipe, from a June 1888 article in the Chicago Morning News (the article is from June 27, p. 3; it mentions his book):
---
### Author:  [@RobertSimonson](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/RobertSimonson)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2019, 10:04pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/theophile-theodore-proulx/49/6 "2019-04-12T22:04:32Z")
Thank you for this missing piece in the puzzle. And, yes, the Langtry Punch is in his book. It does not match that recipe though. Proulx’s is rum and whiskey based. It does call for a claret float and fruit, however. I’ll post an image of the recipe if I can figure out how to do so. 😉
---
### Author:  [@Splificator](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/Splificator)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2019, 10:11pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/theophile-theodore-proulx/49/7 "2019-04-12T22:11:02Z")
Well, thank you for the missing piece in my own Proulx puzzle: I suspected that the bartender and the lawyer were one and the same, and collected some information about the lawyer on that basis, but the only picture I found didn’t look much like the one from the book and I had no other direct link. The one you found is a much closer match.
---
### Author:  [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2019, 4:39pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/theophile-theodore-proulx/49/8 "2019-05-04T16:39:10Z")
Welp, here’s your PDF! (Not of the CK copy, but it’s the same book.)
> **[1888 Bartender's Manual by Theodore Proulx (Revised Edition)](https://euvs-vintage-cocktail-books.cld.bz/1888-Bartender-s-Manual-by-Theodore-Proulx-Revised-Edition)**
>
> EUVS Collection
>
> In 1888, Chicago’s Theodore Proulx (who worked at the Chapin & Gore bars) published his Bartender’s Manual, in which the name “Old Fashioned” was first coined for this cocktail
---
### Author:  [@cocktaildoodle](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/cocktaildoodle)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2019, 8:21pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/theophile-theodore-proulx/49/9 "2019-05-04T20:21:53Z")
Thanks a ton! Can’t wait to dig into this.
---
### Author:  [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2019, 1:03am UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/theophile-theodore-proulx/49/10 "2019-05-05T01:03:46Z")
I get no credit. Just passing along the link.
---
### Author:  [@AudreySaunders](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/AudreySaunders)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2019, 2:50am UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/theophile-theodore-proulx/49/11 "2019-05-06T02:50:36Z")
We are so fortunate to have euvs as a resource.
---
### Author:  [@Splificator](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/Splificator)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2019, 12:52am UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/theophile-theodore-proulx/49/12 "2019-05-09T00:52:27Z")
We’re fast closing in on complete availability of all old bartender’s guides. Of course, we’ve had such a thing for, say, 17th century English literature since the 60s, and it’s still a foreign country that few indeed understand. Unfortunately, getting the books is the first stage, not the last.
---
### Author:  [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2019, 1:50pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/theophile-theodore-proulx/49/13 "2019-05-09T13:50:23Z")
> [@Splificator](#):
>
> Unfortunately, getting the books is the first stage, not the last.
Or perhaps, fortunately? What is the second stage?
---
### Author:  [@RobertSimonson](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/RobertSimonson)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2019, 5:30pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/theophile-theodore-proulx/49/14 "2019-05-09T17:30:58Z")
This is very cool. First time I noticed the inscription “Property of August Goldback, Diamond City.” I assume that’s Wilkes-Barre, PA. Though it also says a hotel in Pittsburgh. Curious.
---
### Author:  [@RobertSimonson](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/RobertSimonson)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2023, 9:46pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/theophile-theodore-proulx/49/15 "2023-11-27T21:46:22Z")
I was in Chicago last weekend and managed to visit the Mount Carmel cemetery, where 19th century Chicago bartender and author Theophile Proulx is buried. Here is a picture of his gravesite. I believe that is the last piece in the puzzle of this mysterious yet influential, bartender’s lost history.
---
### Author:  [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2023, 12:10am UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/theophile-theodore-proulx/49/16 "2023-11-28T00:10:10Z")
Very cool. Very very cool.
Here’s [a map link](https://maps.app.goo.gl/VAH8hyfJSiKzST6t5) for the cemetery itself. Apparently, Proulx is to be found in Section P (see Robert’s [Substack newsletter](https://robertsimonson.substack.com/?r=17o9ie&utm_campaign=pub&utm_medium=web)).
---
### Author:  [@RobertSimonson](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/RobertSimonson)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2026, 5:48pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/theophile-theodore-proulx/49/17 "2026-09-13T17:48:50Z")
It’s not much, but I just spend a couple hours ascertaining exactly where the first Chapin & Gore saloon, where Theophile Proulx worked, was. The original address was 73-75 Monroe Street in Chicago. But in 1909, the city overhauled its street address system. East-west streets in the Loop area were divided at State Street, with streets becoming E. Monroe Street to the east and W. Monroe Street to the west, e.g. I found an old guide with corresponding old/new addresses after the change. 73-75 Monroe Street became 20-22 W. Monroe Street. That’s where the current Majestic Building now stands, which houses the Majestic Theater, just west of State Street.