(*NEW ARRIVAL*) (California - Los Angeles) Bohemian Life as Seen by Savarin St. Sure. Approx. 154 issues

Each issue is 4 pages. Illus. with drawings, incl. color. All together in maroon three-ring binder issued by Bohemian Life, with their title on cover. Los Angeles: Bohemian Distributing, Feb. 1941-May 1942, then Oct. 1948-Aug. 1957 (incomplete).

Collection of rare Bohemian Life newsletters from issue numbers 18 to 33, then numbers 110-154 (with a few months missing here and there). Includes the 1939 to 1951 indexes and the publisher’s three-ring binder for readers to store their copies. 

Published in Los Angeles by the Bohemian Distribution Company, Bohemian Life was possibly the first regularly issued food publication in California, and it tracks the evolution of the gastronomic sensibilities of the era not just in Southern California but beyond. Its editor, publishing under the nom de plume of “Savarin St. Sure”, was the polymath Phil Townsend Hanna, a founder of the Los Angeles Wine & Food Society, and the longtime editor of Westways magazine, who gave a young M.F.K. Fisher her first paid writing commission. Covering such diverse topics as wine; bibulatory etiquette; uniquely Californian ingredients and dishes; restaurants and hotels; book reviews; cocktail recipes; holiday celebrations; and much more; Bohemian Life is fascinating reading.

Some binder holes torn through, otherwise a very good, if incomplete, set, including coverage of the war years. The collector seemed particularly keen on issues related to beer and wine. An important archive.