The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails

Terrington, William


Terrington, William , is the probably pseudonymous author of the 1869 work Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks, one of the pillars of British mixography. Widely and approvingly reviewed when it came out, the book is the best picture we have of what the United Kingdom was drinking in the high Victorian period, as it was moving from its native punches and cups to the American-style iced drinks that were on the cusp of sweeping the world. Unfortunately, we know nothing of its author: public records offer no obvious candidate. There is, however, a note in the Naval and Military Gazette that associates the book, and by extension its author, with the Wenham Lake Ice Co. Judging by the amount of attention the book pays to iced drinks, it is possible that it was sponsored by that company and that the author chose to perform his or her work for hire under a pseudonym.

See mixography.

“Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks.” Naval and Military Gazette, July 3, 1869, 10.

Terrington, William. Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks. London: Routledge, 1869.

By: David Wondrich