(Drink History) — James Ashley | The trade card of the first celebrity mixologist

(Drink History) — James Ashley

James Ashley. Who at the London Punch House on Ludgatehill 1731 First Reduc’d the Price of PUNCH & rais’d its Reputation. [London: Thomas Worlidge, mid-18th century]

Engraved portrait of James Ashley in cartouche flanked by ornate pedestals supporting two punch bowls, with engraved caption as above, by Thomas Worlidge; very slight rubbing and discoloration.

Scarce trade card of the first celebrity mixologist.

James Ashley was the proprietor of the London Coffee House and Punch-House (1731-1776), and became “London’s leading purveyor of Punch in the eighteenth century” (Wondrich, Punch, p. 65) and “the world‘s first celebrity mixologist, the first man to become famous for compounding and selling a mixed drink” (ibid, p. 172). Ashley, a former cheese merchant, opened his Punch-House in 1731 in Ludgatehill, London. Extensive advertising in London papers as well as the distinct ornate pedestals surmounted by iron punch bowls, which flanked its entrance, made the London Punch-House one of the most well-known drinking establishments in the city. Clientele included Hogarth, Boswell, Oliver Goldsmith, and Benjamin Franklin. A large sign outside of the Punch-House echoes the caption on this trade card, “Pro bono publico. James Ashley in 1731 first reduced the price of punch, raised its reputation, and brought it into universal esteem.” Ashley did indeed reduce the price of punch — from 8 shillings for punch made from a quart of arrack to 6 shillings — but his great innovation was to offer punch in smaller portions, in servings as small as two ounces. These small servings, made to order for the customer, were the precursor to the modern cocktail. 

This trade card is engraved by Ashley's friend Thomas Worlidge (1700-1766, dubbed “the English Rembrandt”) who also engraved portraits of Ashley's wife and one Mrs. Graywood, the bar-keep at the London Punch-House.