Care to join us for a drink? Today in the studio we’re taking a look at one of the very first books on cocktails, punches, and—of course—nogs. Considered the father of American mixology, Jerry Thomas published his Bar-Tender's Guide in 1862. Thomas’s libations range from the familiar (a nice mint julep) to the antiquated (you never see White Tiger’s Milk on the menu anymore) to the alarmingly flammable (if you must mix yourself a Blue Blazer, please make it your first drink of the night); he also includes general bartending advice and recipes for temperance drinks (mocktails today). We’ll discuss Thomas’s flashy, fascinating career, other collectable cocktail guides, and a little bit of ice history on this intoxicating new #brattlecast.
Brattlecast #173 - Trends in Collecting
Today we’re talking about trends in book collecting and the ways that they reflect larger cultural changes. Newly nostalgic millennials aren’t shopping for their parents’ rare books—Horatio Alger is out, and Harry Potter is in. Books on science and space exploration have seen their prices skyrocket thanks to an influx of tech-money collectors. Works of LGBTQ+ history, poetry by Black authors, and environmentalist classics like Silent Spring are becoming more valuable, while the prices of Confederacy-adjacent collectables plummet. Join us for a trendy #brattlecast on what’s new in novels.
Brattlecast #85 - Brattle on the MTA
Boston’s MBTA—iconic, idiosyncratic, and frequently vexing—features the oldest subway system in the United States, and probably the only one to have inspired a hit folk song about its fare hikes. Today we’ll take a look at MBTA ephemera, a big box of which has just arrived in the shop, and at train-related collecting in general. Collectors seek out antique subway signs, lovely frameable maps, evocative timetables of the vanished bus lines of their youth, and much more. Plus we’ll ask, in a time of looming climate change and increased social unrest around fare evasion, should public transportation be free?