BULLOCK, Tom. The Ideal Bartender. First bartender’s book published by an African American author. 

BULLOCK, Tom. (ca 1872-1964). The Ideal Bartender. [St. Louis: Buxton & Skinner,] 1917. Small 8vo. Introduction by George Herbert Walker (1875-1953, grandfather and great-grandfather to Presidents Bush, both named in his honor). Original gilt pictorial red cloth.

FIRST EDITION. The first bartender’s book ever published by an African American author. Tom Bullock, born in Louisville, Kentucky, worked at several clubs, notably the St. Louis Country Club. The book is introduced by an excerpt from a 1913 St. Louis Post Dispatch article regarding Theodore Roosevelt’s reputation for sobriety and temperance. He claims to have only sipped part of one of Bullock’s mint juleps. The skeptical author responds, “Who was ever known to drink just a part of one of Tom’s? Tom, than whom there is no greater mixologist of any race, color or condition of servitude...To believe that a red-blooded man, and a true Colonel at that, ever stopped with just a part of one of those refreshments ...is to strain credulity too far...When the Colonel says that he consumed just a part of one he doubtless meant that he did not swallow the mint itself, munch the ice and devour the very cup.” Bullock’s julep recipes are shared, with both a “Kentucky Style” and an “Overall Julep - St. Louis Style” included. Published in 1917, The Ideal Bartender has become a treasured resource for pre-Prohibition cocktails and ingredients. Very scarce with very few copies ever coming to the market. OCLC notes only 12 copies in libraries.