Sjömansbiblioteket

This idiosyncratic book takes the reader on a fascinating journey, from high-end grooming and care, including open razors, strops and Belgian waterstone; silver-tipped badger shaving brushes, shaving soaps and D R Harris's Pick-me-up, loofahs and sponges, through colognes and scents, including history, constituents, triggers and individual colognes, then into dressing accessories, such as slippers, watches, cufflinks and shirt studs, and tie pins, even how to assess precious stones as well as a fascinating account, from primary sources, of the evolution of the dinner jacket-Tuxedo. Moreover, if you want to know not just how to mix drinks but something of their history, as well as the history of beer, cider and mead; sweets of all kinds, chocolate, tea and coffee; matching food and drink (and not just food and wine) and then every essential fact about tobacco, pipes, Havana cigars, cigarettes and snuff, it's all here, as well as where to buy the products that are mentioned.

But it does not stop there. The journey continues on to a consideration of some of London's fascinating venues, including pubs, clubs, restaurants, hotels and bars; some nice points of conduct and the author's reflections on such things as feminine wiles (what women really look for) and even how to stop a fight. There is a chapter on selecting and buying gifts for the lady in your life, a dictionary of Anglo-American sartorial terms and it ends, as it begins, with thoughts of England as home. The author has submitted the book in draft to the scrutiny of leading world experts on the various topics and so, as well as being entertaining, it is backed by authority.