Jack & Charlie's 21 Wine Card

Maxwell A. KRIENDLER   |      |   Jack KRIENDLER   |   Charlie BERNS

Item#: 113880 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Jack & Charlie's 21 Wine Card
Jack & Charlie's 21 Wine Card

"TO LUCIUS BEEBE… A GENTLEMAN, A SCHOLAR, A BON VIVANT AND A JUDGE OF GOOD LIQUOR": THE 21 CLUB'S 1944 WINE CARD, INSCRIBED AND PRESENTED BY "THE BARON OF '21'" TO THE AUTHOR OF THE STORK CLUB BAR BOOK

(KRIENDLER, Jack and BERNS, Charlie). Jack & Charlie's 21 Wine Card. (New York: Jack and Charlie's "Twenty-One", August, 1944). Slim folio, original gilt-stamped burgundy cloth.

First edition of the internationally famous 21 Club's wine card from 1944, presentation/association copy inscribed on the title page, "To Lucius Beebe and Chuck Clegg, a Gentleman, a scholar, a Bon Vivant and a Judge of Good Liquor—and to a most memorable nite in San Francisco when we were put out of The Palace Hotel, a Great Guy, Sincerely, Two Trigger 'Jack,' the baron of '21,' 9/4/45." Recipient Lucius Beebe was once dubbed "the orchidaceous oracle of café society"—his cocktail primer The Stork Club Bar Book remains a comprehensive and witty classic.

New York's 21 Club has long been a meeting place for famous New Yorkers, from socialites to movie stars. Perhaps best known for its Prohibition-era wine cellar, 21 has always had a reputation as the place to go for the finest and most difficult to obtain wines from around the globe. This printing of 21's wine list shows the remarkable range (and expense) of the restaurant's wines, liquors, cognacs, and liqueurs—among them 1865 and 1876 Lafite, 1869 Mouton, 1874 Latour (listed without prices). A 1934 Chateau Cheval Blanc cost $9.00 per bottle, while a 1934 Margaux could be had for $12.50. Also included are listings of cigars, cigarettes, and tobaccos. Additionally inscribed on the title page, possibly by Charlie Berns, "To Lucius, I knew you when—Leave you to you—to an old friend, Best always, [signature illegible] 4/9/45." Charles "Chuck" Clegg was Beebe's lifelong partner.

Text block neatly recased in original cloth and endpapers. A near-fine inscribed presentation copy with an excellent association.

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