Fizzle, not fizz, for book with Dr Pepper recipe

Tattered ledger from Texas birthplace of soft drink failed to sell at auction

Donna Mcwilliam / AP

This photo shows a recipe titled "D Peppers Pepsin Bitters" in a ledger book from the Waco, Texas, drugstore where Dr Pepper was invented. It recently was up for auction but failed to meet the $25,000 minimum reserve.

updated 5/14/2009 9:50:27 AM ET

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DALLAS — A tattered old ledger book from the Texas drugstore where Dr Pepper was invented has failed to sell at auction.

Heritage Auction Galleries said Wednesday that the bidding for the book containing a recipe titled “D Peppers Pepsin Bitters” failed to meet the $25,000 minimum reserve.

Spokesman Noah Fleisher says the gallery is working on a possible private sale of the book.

Bill Waters of Tulsa, Okla., put the ledger book filled with formulas up for auction after discovering it in a Texas antiques store.

The book contains various references to the Old Corner Drug Store in Waco, where pharmacist Charles Alderton invented Dr Pepper in 1885.

As for the recipe titled “D Peppers Pepsin Bitters,” Dr Pepper Snapple Group has said it isn't a formula for a soft drink and likely is a recipe for a bitter digestive that bears the Dr Pepper name.