D.W. Saxe

Third edition of this rare, great compendium of recipes, techniques and methods for soda fountain drinks hot and cold, fizzy and still, alcoholic and non-, including illustrations of soda jerks behind the bar.

• D.W. Saxe (American).
• Saxe's new guide, or hints to soda water dispensers. Complete and modern formulae for the manufacture and dispensing of all carbonated drinks, containing full and explicit directions for making all the leading popular drinks of the age, and giving my private formulae for fancy syrups and fancy mixed drinks [...]
• Chicago: The Saxe Guide Publishing Co. Publishers, 1894.
• 128 pages followed by advertisements.
• Illustrated in black and white, many full page, featuring soda fountain layouts and soda jerks mixing drinks.
• Bound in original gilt-lettered brown cloth, all edges gilt.

An authoritative and detailed text by a seventeen-year veteran of the soda trade, Saxe's New Guide includes the best formulations of popular and well-known drinks and a great number of original recipes "which if properly served and pushed will make you both money and reputation." There is Ambrosia, a straightforward mixture of St. Julien claret wine, raspberry and vanilla syrups, and gum foam; Honey Dew, calling for brandy, strawberry juice and essence of cloves, roses and mace; the morning Swizzle Fizz, incorporating Saxe's own Phospho-Guarana, "the finest Nerve Tonic in existence." From these simple beginnings, Saxe moves on to Fancy Drinks: the Egg Flip, Egg Calisaya, Orgeat a la Egg (containing Orgeat Syrup, ice and One Egg), Sherbet de Egg, Vichy Egg Shake and the eggless but very Fancy old Razzle-Dazzle, made with Pine Apple Syrup and raspberry vinegar, Saxe's own invention and "very popular with both sexes in Chicago last season." The manual's recipe groupings make no distinction between those drinks with alcohol and those without, or, indeed, those made with coca leaf derivatives and those without. Some, like the Coca-Calisaya, have both, while others, like the Hot Egg Lemonade, have neither, and seem much the worse for it.

Illustrated throughout with images of soda fountain layouts and, most interestingly, the specific actions and positions of the soda jerks behind the counters, Saxe's New Guide contains some two hundred recipes—one of the more complete such collections of recipes of this era. OCLC locates just seven holdings of this edition and only six of any other 19th-century edition. A handsome copy of a scarce text with intensely pre-Prohibition sensibilities, full of great treasures for the cocktail revivalist.