A Compleat Body of Distilling, Explaining the Mysteries of the Science, in a most easy and familiar manner; Containing an Exact and Accurate Method of making all the Compound Cordial-Waters now in Use, with a particular Account of their several Virtues. As also a directory Consisting of All the Instructions necessary for learning the distiller's art; with a Computation of the original Cost of the several Ingredients, and the Profits arising in Sale. Adapted no less to the Use of private Families, than of Apothecaries and Distillers. In two parts

SMITH, George

Published by Bernard Lintot, London, 1725

About this Item

[vi], 150, [2] pp. Two parts in one volume, with a separate title-page to Part II. Bound to style in quarter calf and marbled paper boards, spine with red morocco lettering piece One of the most detailed early-18th-century English manuals of compound distilling, documenting the maturing commercial spirits trade alongside household and apothecary cordials. A practical handbook of early Georgian distilling, published at the cusp of Britain's "cordial" and gin-drinking age, this work explicates both the preparation of compound waters and the running of a distillery. Smith writes in a notably trade-facing manner, moving from recipes and process notes to shop-keeping and risk. The range is broad: household and apothecary cordials sit beside juniper-based "geneva" and fashionable waters such as usquebaugh (the term from which the modern day word "whiskey" is derived), ratafia, and Hungary-water, their methods paired with the period's customary claims for their "virtues." The result is not merely a recipe book but a snapshot of London's developing spirits economy, where domestic physic, retail practice, and commercial production meet. The present work belongs to a cohort of early eighteenth-century English distilling manuals that are frank about costs, yields, and retail customs. Its steady, didactic tone betrays its intended utility: a book to be used at the bench and the furnace as much as read in the parlour, preserving the procedures and priorities of a distillery in operation. It offers a richly detailed record of technique and belief at a moment when cordial waters were thought to be both profitable commodities and agents of health. ESTC T53928; Cagle 998; Maclean p.135.

Seller Inventory # 42376

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Compleat Body of Distilling, Explaining the Mysteries of the Science, in a most easy and familiar manner; Containing an Exact and Accurate Method of making all the Compound Cordial-Waters now in Use, with a particular Account of their several Virtues. As also a directory Consisting of All the Instructions necessary for learning the distiller's art; with a Computation of the original Cost of the several Ingredients, and the Profits arising in Sale. Adapted no less to the Use of private ...
• Publisher: Bernard Lintot, London
• Publication Date: 1725
• Binding: 8vo