The Flowing Bowl
London, Stanley Paul & Co, 1925. Spencer, Edward. The Flowing Bowl. (6th Ed) Stanley Paul & Co: London, 1925. 8vo (195x125mm) grey illust printed cloth bds, xiv,242pp. VG-/- lacks dj; bds lightly soiled, sm holes, spine lightly sunned, cnrs bruised; ffeps offset toned; internally fine
Second-hand hardcover
SPENCER, EDWARD [Edward Spencer Mott, aka 'Nathaniel Gubbins' (1844-1910)]
The Flowing Bowl: a treatise on drinks of all kinds and of all periods, interspersed with sundry anecdotes and reminiscences.
London : Stanley Paul & Co, Ltd 1925. Sixth edition. First published 1899. Printed by Miller, Son, and Co, Fakenham and London. Boards illustration by Phil May.
Sextodecimo (195x125mm) grey illustrated printed cloth boards, xiv,242pp : [A]¹⁶, B-H¹⁶. Lacks dust jacket; boards lightly soiled, small holes to joints, spine lightly sunned, corners bruised; end-papers offset toned; internally fine
¶ Written as a companion volume to Spencer's earlier work Cakes & Ale, The Flowing Bowl in twenty chapters, examines drinks and drinking culture in Victorian London taking various detours into the history of British drinking. Droll, entertaining, witty, replete with cocktail and drinks recipes (usefully listed in the index), and helpful, if dry, observations on wine vintages, beverages, hangover cures and as a final chapter, temperance.
"This is scarcely a volume that one would recommend to be used text-book in schools or to be placed unreservedly in the hands of rising generation. The author .... gives the reader a number of recipes which only a person armed with a cast-iron constitution and liver encased in triple brass would venture upon making up for his own delectation. Some of the punches, cobblers, cocktails, and pick-me-ups here mentioned positively terrify the imagination." ¹
Spencer was a soldier, actor, stage writer, roving journalist, tipster and loafer. After a somewhat irregular career, in 1877 he began writing for The Sporting Times. Phil May (1864-1903) was a noted British political cartoonist and caricaturist.
Amusing. Uncommon in this grey cloth variant (usually red). A useful and good copy for the bar in one's library.
§ OCLC records 24 holdings this edition; in Australasia, SLV, SLSA and U Adelaide.
§ Noling p.387; Gabler G40022; cf Bitting p.445;
¹ The Daily Telegraph & Courier (London) Friday, 17 March 1899, p.6
Item #10352
Price: $100.00 AUD