JAMESON WHISKEY. The History of a Great House. Origin of John Jameson Whiskey. Containing some interesting observations thereon together with The Causes of its Present Scarcity. With drawings by Harry Clarke.

Dublin: Printed for John Jameson & Son Ltd., Bow Street Distillery, Dublin and 7 Mark Lane, London E.C. by Maunsel & Roberts Limited, [c.1925]. First edition. pp. 20. A very good copy in green wrappers with cream label lettered in black.

Steenson A6.b
Clarke devoted a lot of thought to the design and illustration of this booklet, which “seemed at the outset an impossible task”. He worked on it in February and March 1924 and it was printed at the end of April, to a hectic deadline. He was not happy with the printing and felt he had been stupidly modest in only charging £100 for all rights as well as the originals. It was a most inspired commission by the Whiskey Distillers, John Jameson & Son Ltd, to be used as part of an advertising scheme they were mounting for the vast International Advertising Convention at the British Empire Exhibition at Olympia, from July to October 1924.
The booklet and its later sequel, The Elixir of Life, used to be given away to clients and visitors to both the Studios and Jameson’s Distillery in Dublin. It contains many of the highly decorated galleons which are a recurring feature in the Art Deco decorative vocabulary and a favourite motif of Clarke.