You hold in your hands (well, virtually) Rabelais Catalogue 2. It’s been a long time coming, almost three years now since its predecessor. We’ve tried to fill the time in between with short lists, some printed special items, like our cocktail brochure for Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans, and more than a few appearances at book fairs. But there’s nothing like a real catalogue to force a bookseller to get down to work, to take stock of what he or she has purchased that might be worthy of a print, and to get around to doing the research, writing and photography that are the building blocks of this ephemeral, and admittedly commercial, endeavor.

This July, we head to New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail, the annual international conference for drink history and craft cocktail creation. We'll be displaying hundreds of rare books on cocktails, drink history, distilling, wine, soda fountains and more. As a little tease, we've created this short catalogue with just a few of our offerings. See you in the Big Easy!