Gustav Doebeli (1 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. First edition, early printing ("4. - 9. Tausend"), published in the year of issue. Near Fine - condition in a Near Fine original dust jacket illustrated by Georges Wicky of Lausanne. A remarkably well-preserved copy of this classic memoir by Gustav Doebeli, the celebrated longtime barkeeper of the Palace Bar in St. Moritz. One of the more desirable titles in twentieth-century bartending and hospitality literature, the work offers a firsthand account of luxury hotel life, international society, and bar culture during the golden age of European grand hotels, written in the original German. The book is Near Fine, clean, square, and sound, with a neat 1984 New York gift inscription. Faint, localized transfer of the dust jacket's olive-green color to the outer margins of the front and rear endpapers, a common occurrence with original mid-century jackets and indicative of long-term preservation in the original wrapper. The original dust jacket is Near Fine and exceptionally attractive, featuring Georges Wicky's striking olive-green pictorial design with stylized cocktail motifs and a whimsical mustached barkeeper in bow tie. Colors remain bright and fresh. Spine unfaded. Light rubbing limited to the fold lines, extreme edges, and corner tips. A very short closed tear, approximately 1/4 inch, at the upper edge of the rear panel; no loss. Unclipped, though no publisher's price was issued on the jacket. Copyright page states: "2. Auflage 1954" and "4. - 9. Tausend"; copyright 1954 by Thomas-Verlag, Zürich; printed in Switzerland by Buchdruckerei Berichthaus Zürich. Jacket credited: "Schutzumschlag gezeichnet von Georges Wicky, Lausanne." A scarce and increasingly collectible cocktail and bartending memoir, seldom encountered in such appealing condition and particularly uncommon with its original pictorial dust jacket intact. An outstanding copy for collectors of cocktail literature, hospitality history, Swiss cultural history, or mid-century European graphic design.