So Red the Nose; or, Breath in the Afternoon. [First edition. First printing]
Dublin Core
Title
So Red the Nose; or, Breath in the Afternoon. [First edition. First printing]
Creator
Edited by Sterling North and Carl Kroch
Publisher
New York: Farrar & Rinehart
Date
1935
Caxton Club Member Contributions Item Type Metadata
Brief Notes on Book
[72] unnumbered pages + [1] p. ads.
Art deco illustration on front cover; illustrated throughout by Roy C. Nelson. A collection of 30 cocktails by leading authors of the day (e.g., Erskine Caldwell, Rockwell Kent, MacKinlay Kantor, and several others with Chicago ties). Each cocktail appears with recipe and a full-page narrative; a cartoon by Nelson depicting the contributor and relating to the recipe appears on the facing page.
Art deco illustration on front cover; illustrated throughout by Roy C. Nelson. A collection of 30 cocktails by leading authors of the day (e.g., Erskine Caldwell, Rockwell Kent, MacKinlay Kantor, and several others with Chicago ties). Each cocktail appears with recipe and a full-page narrative; a cartoon by Nelson depicting the contributor and relating to the recipe appears on the facing page.
Essay
So Red the Nose; or, Breath in the Afternoon enjoys a special place on my bookshelf not for its recipes but for several unrelated reasons, including Carl Kroch’s sixty-year membership in the Caxton Club. On a more personal level, the book fits nicely into my collection of mixology titles, 1862–ca. 1960. The literary figures with ties to Chicago (Ernest Hemingway, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Theodore Dreiser, Harriet Monroe, Dorothy Aldis, and Dorothy Ayer Barnes), who contributed their favorite libations, make the book an important piece of Chicagoiana. The illustrations by Roy Nelson, a noted cartoonist who built his career with Chicago newspapers before joining Walt Disney’s team developing Mickey Mouse, enhance the book’s place among Americana more broadly.
I first became aware of So Red the Nose in the mid-1980s while employed in Special Collections at Cornell University. When it was announced that Carl Kroch would visit his alma mater to discuss a possible gift to the University Libraries, a colleague alerted the University Librarian that two copies of So Red the Nose were housed in Special Collections. Arrangements were then made to discreetly place a copy on the coffee table in front of the chair Mr. Kroch would be offered when meeting with the University Librarian. When Mr. Kroch eventually noticed the book, he was delighted and commented that he had not seen a copy in many years. That visit ultimately led to his decision to make a major donation to enable Cornell to construct a special collections library, which today bears his name.
I first became aware of So Red the Nose in the mid-1980s while employed in Special Collections at Cornell University. When it was announced that Carl Kroch would visit his alma mater to discuss a possible gift to the University Libraries, a colleague alerted the University Librarian that two copies of So Red the Nose were housed in Special Collections. Arrangements were then made to discreetly place a copy on the coffee table in front of the chair Mr. Kroch would be offered when meeting with the University Librarian. When Mr. Kroch eventually noticed the book, he was delighted and commented that he had not seen a copy in many years. That visit ultimately led to his decision to make a major donation to enable Cornell to construct a special collections library, which today bears his name.
Contributor
Louis A. Pitschmann
Files
Citation
Edited by Sterling North and Carl Kroch, “So Red the Nose; or, Breath in the Afternoon. [First edition. First printing],” Caxton Club Exhibits, accessed April 28, 2024, https://caxtonclub.omeka.net/items/show/55.