Elixir of Life

The sole printing printed for John Jameson & Son Limited, Dublin in 1925. The BOOK is in near Fine condition. 8vo. Original black cloth backed lime green boards, paper label to upper cover with a fleuron border; pp. xx ; 5 full page illustrations and 4 vignettes printed in black, white and yellow. Some light spotting to the prelims and pastedowns. Slight toning to the page edges due to the quality of the paper stock used. The paper printed label is complete and clean. Free from inscriptions and erasures. The book is protected in a removable Mylar archival cover. A rare early work including dramatic illustrations from Harry Clarke. It was one of two promotional booklets issued by Irish whiskey distillers John Jameson, with the first title being 'Irish Whiskey, a history of the great house' published a year before.' Clarke said in a letter to a friend about these promotional books 'here is one of the books I did for Jameson - it was made in Dublin and if you ever had any experience of Dublin Printers you will know it was only produced with great difficulty' '(A7 Steenson). Despite his pains, the illustrations in this book are of high quality, for example of a doctor prescribing her patient Irish whiskey for a longer life and an illustration, called 'Two distilleries on the same hill' that illustrates how two distillers using the same location, equipment and water supply, could produce wildly different spirits. An extremely scarce book with less than a handful of copies having appeared at auction and JSIC listing only 3 copies held in institutions. The nicest copy we have handled to date. More images available on request. Ashton Rare Books welcomes direct contact.…