Cecil Beaton's Cocktail Book

Cecil Beaton (1904–1980) is one of the most celebrated British Portrait photographers of the twentieth century and is renowned for his images of elegance, glamour and style. His influence on portrait photography was profound and lives on today in the work of many contemporary photographers.

In the 1920s and 30s Beaton used his camera, his ambition and his larger-than-life personality to mingle with a flamboyant and rebellious group of artists and writers, socialites and partygoers whose spirit and style cut a dramatic swathe through the epoch.

This miniature cocktail book presents a selection of dazzling and delectable infusions, inspired by the ‘Bright Young Things’ with whom Beaton mixed, illustrated with Beaton’s own unique, often humorous sketches and drawings. Featuring highballs, coolers, slings and fizzes fit to please any Lord, Lady or Viscountess, this book and its recipes bring to life a deliriously eccentric, glamorous and creative era.

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Accompanying a major new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, this souvenir book features a dazzling array of cocktail recipes inspired by the glittering friends, acquaintances and sitters of famed British photographer Cecil Beaton in the 1920s and 30s, illustrated with Beaton’s own witty and distinctive drawings which featured in Vogue.