1883
by [Menu – Aztec Club (Mexico City); Church, W.C. (William Conant Church)]
Borden & Cain, 1883. Broadside menu (18.7 x 12 cm.), [1] page, affixed to a silk ribbon and with a separate panel indicating the honoree. All edges gilt. An elaborate menu for a dinner given by the Aztec Club, the second oldest American patriotic society following the Society of the Cincinnati. Founded in 1847, the Club's members were U.S. Army officers of the Mexican-American War. The sumptuous clubhouse was in Mexico City. The dinner honored William Conant Church, a journalist, founder of the Army and Navy Journal, and author of biographies of John Ericsson and of U.S. Grant. The dishes, are of a classic French inflected banquet type, with seven courses of wine, liquor or cigars. Some dishes lean a bit towards the cuisines of Mexico or Spain, including Sorbet a la mexicaine, and a Supreme de squabs aux olives. The printers of this menu, Borden & Cain, were New York-based printers specialized in the printing of daily menus, including elaborate special event menus such as this. Very light soil to surface of menu; one corner lightly creased; creases to the silk ribbon. Still, near fine. (Inventory #: 9643)
