Cooking

St Louis. MO, 1940. One page autographed letter signed, from Irma Rombauer, author of The Joy of Cooking, and a major figure in the history of American cooking. Addressed to Louise [Diallo],The last name was supplied by the seller and is not indicated on the letter itself. In black ink on cream colored stationery printed in brown, "Mrs. Edgar Rombauer - 5712 Cabanne Avenue - St. Louis - Mo. The letter contains regrets for not staying longer at an event and, most interesting, a full recipe. The recipe, for "Bran Biscuit," appears in very close form in the 1936 edition of the Joy of Cooking and in later editions, and contains both the ingredients list and the step-by-step instructions. With one fold, otherwise fine. Rombauer manuscript material is very rare, and we have not been able to locate another record of it entering the marketplace.

Amsterdam: De Spieghel, 1927. Portfolio (29 x 21 cm.), [48] pages, with twenty one hand-colored plates, all on a sturdy, thick card stock. FIRST EDITION, limited & signed, Roman numeral III of seven copies in portfolio form, signed by Bodenheim. There was also a state with 100 copies, in book form, bound in a Japanese style and printed on Japon Van Gelder. Rhymes by Lizzy Ansingh, with drawings by Nelly Bodenheim of anthropomorphic fruits, nuts and vegetables, including lemons, grapes, pears, radishes, red pepper, almonds, blackberries, apricots, cherries and leeks. The vignette on the folio and many of the plates appear not printed at all but rather were partially drawn, and entirely colored by hand. The illustrations are rich in color and originality, with a naive style and an accessible, wry humor. Bodenheim was a popular book illustrator in the Netherlands in the early twentieth century and she and Ansingh teamed up on numerous projects. Plates well preserved and clean. The folio ledger has light… Read more

U.S. Government Printing Office. Fine. 1963. Original Wraps. A one-of-a-kind historical document for serious collectors, on May 21, 1963 the U.S. State Department sponsored a luncheon for astronaut Gordon Cooper in honor of his successful 22-orbit flight in Faith-7 on May 15-16, 1963, this is the four-page program that was handed out at the event, it is signed by six of the seven original astronauts on the front, the second page contains a quote from President Kennedy and a list of the six Mercury flights, page three contains the luncheon menu and the back page has a photograph of Cooper, also included is the guest list which does not include astronaut John Glenn's name - proof that he wasn't there to sign it, this event took place in the Benjamin Franklin Room and this unique document was obtained by us from a former State Department employee who personally obtained the signatures, the program is printed on heavy-stock paper and is flawless, it is housed in a manila State Department envelope, the… Read more

New York: D. D. Smith, 1805. First Edition. Hardcover. Lacking the endpapers; small chip at the top of the spine. A clean, attractive, unsophisticated copy in original binding of a scarce and important book. Bound in original full sheep leather (3-3/8" x 5-3/8") with gilt rules on the spine; 180 pages. The second American cookbook, preceded by Amelia Simmons's much better known AMERICAN COOKERY, printed four times before the publication of this volume, which is much scarcer than the Simmons. It is also distinguished as the first American cookbook published in New York. In addition to the recipes for broiling, hashing, preserving, pickling, fricasees, soups, puddings, pies, etc., there are 20 pages devoted to the making of wine, quite early for an American book. Bitting page 581: "There are some unusual recipes, one for spinach, a forerunner for the spinach of today, cooking with no added water, garnished with poached eggs, and unusual for that period; oranges cut in quarters." Lowenstein 36 cites… Read more

Oppenheim: Par Iean Theodore dé Bry marchant libraire & bourgeois d'Oppenheim qui est sur le Rhin, 1619. Small quarto (19.5 x 14 cm.), [7], 8-72 pages, five plates engraved on copper, one folding. FIRST FRENCH LANGUAGE EDITION and FIRST SEPARATE EDITION. The first book on individual heating using stoves. A rare work on improvements in fireplaces and stoves, featuring five plates of ornate examples. It was published by the copper engraver and publisher Jean Theodore de Bry (1561-1623), born in Strasbourg, who settled in Oppenheim in 1609. The text was published by the same publisher the previous year in German as part of a larger work by the author and titled Holzsparkunst. Franz Keslar or Kessler (circa 1580 – circa 1630) a painter from Frankfurt, describes several models of heating previously unrecorded in France. Keslar's innovation was a response to the dwindling supply of wood for heating and cooking throughout the Continent, promoting a transition from the use of hearths to the more efficient… Read more

[Santa Barbara; Cambridge, 2003. A convolute of correspondence, photographs, and other materials documenting the relationship between American icon Julia Child, and Beverly Jackson, reporter, novelist, collector, and a legend of the social circles of Santa Barbara. The two were long-time friends, and neighbors in Santa Barbara's Montecito. ~ Contents: Fifteen original note cards or postcards, typed or handwritten, signed by Julia Child; one TLS; one fax, and one TLS in photocopy. Some on Child's Montecito Shores, Santa Barbara stationery, some on notecards of Julia Child Productions (SB), and some on notecards from the Irving Street, Cambridge home. Most of the correspondence is short, polite "thank yous" and quick inquiries, for visits, meals shared, etc. ~ Eight original photographs (various sizes & dates), including black and white press print by Alan Berliner (of Julia with Robert Mondavi and Robert Balzer); Julia with Reginald Faletti (1978) by Jackson; color snapshots of Julia in her kitchen,… Read more

New York: Knopf, 1976. First Edition; Early Printing. Hardcover. Very Good+ in boards. Vol. 1 27th printing, Vol. 2 3rd printing. 1 inch open tear at Vol. 1 spine crown. Staining on top of Vol. 2 text block edge.; Signed by Julia Child, and Paul Child on Vol.1 half title page.; Signed by Author.

A Paris, chez Paulus-Du-Mesnil, 1739.
2 volumes 12mo [165 x 95 mm] of : I/ (1) bl.l., viii pp., (2) ll., 456 pp., (12) ll., 8 folding plates; II/ (18) ll., 386 pp., (1) bl.l. Bound in full marbled calf, spines ribbed and gilt, red edges. Some waterstaining in the margins of a few ll. in the second volume not touching the text. Contemporary binding.
Very scarce first edition of the first treatise on gastronomy by Menon.
Vicaire, 588.
This treatise was published anonymously, but the name of the author, Menon, appears in the privilege placed at the end of the first part: on August 26th 1738, Menon gave up this privilege to the widow of Prudhomme who would give it up to Michel-Etienne David and Pauls du Mesnil.
The 8 folding plates placed in the first part represent tables set for 24, 16, 50, 30, 14, 18, 20, and 80 place settings.
" No culinary author obtained more re-issues of his works. His works are indisputably those we consult the most". (Michaud)
We know nothing about the life of Menon.
" Marin had… Read more

Washington, D.C.: Corporate Press, 1958. First Edition. Good. First edition, first printing. Signed and inscribed by Sue Bailey Thurman and warmly inscribed to a former owner. Original publisher's stiff orange wraps printed in black, with black plastic comb binding. Good with soiling and wear to wraps, paint stains to front cover and plastic comb. One tooth is broken on the comb binding, and the wraps are detached edges at several teeth. Pages toned and with occasional creases. Instead of being arranged by course for the chef, recipes are instead arranged according to the calendar year, linking dishes with famous people and African American traditions, celebrating black culture, and foreshadowing the notion of "black pride" for up-and-coming authors. A project by the National Council of Negro Women whose mission was to "encourage and effect the participation of Negro women in civic, political and economic, and educational activities and institutions." The NCNW compiled the favorite recipes of… Read more

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1961. Decorative Cloth. Near Fine/Very Good +. Paul Child. The 1961 AND the 1970 stated 1st editions. WARMLY INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR SIMONE BECK along the half-title of Vol. II. Both volumes clean, tight and Near Fine in bright, price-intact ($10.00 and $12.50 respectively), very sharp examples of the 1st issue dustjackets, with mild fading along the spine of Vol. II. Thick, uniform quartos, nicely illustrated throughout by Sidonie Coryn, "based on photographs by Paul Child". A very impressive example of this landmark set, in its original incarnation, accompanied by the appreciably less common signature/inscription of co-author Simone Beck.

Due opere in un volume in-4° (mm 226x163); pp. (6), 47, (1), LV. Bellissima illustrazione incisa su rame a testata della prima opera. Perfetto esemplare a pieni margini in cartonato rustico coevo. Excellent uncut copy, in its original 'cartonato rustico'.
Editiones principes of the Latin version and the Italian translation, here exceptionally combined in one volume.
The delightful engraving of the 'trifulau' (the truffle hunter, in Piedmontese dialect), with the indispensable dog, is curiously included in the first work only. This is undoubtedly one of the very first texts specifically dedicated to the precious tuber, confirming how already in the 18th century Piedmont was identified as the main, if not exclusive, land for its procurement and use in haute cuisine. A few years later, even the erudite traveller Jean-Michel de Borch, in his famous Lettre sur les truffes du Piemont, would declare that he had read Vigo's composition and found it valuable in its succinct culinary indications.
La deliziosa… Read more

San Francisco, CA: The Arion Press, 1994. First edition. Large hardcover. 356 pages. Number 152 from an edition of only 200 from a total edition of 226 with Neo Didot text, display text Bodoni Bold and printed on a French mould-made Lana Royale paper with two different weights for the text and illustration sheets. This is the forty fourth publication from the Arion Press. Features Brillat-Savarin's classic text translated by M.F.K. Fisher. Includes two hundred drawings and nine color lithographs by Wayne Thiebaud. A fine copy in cloth boards and in a fine cloth covered slipcase and with laid in very near fine example of the 16 page prospectus. Signed by Thiebaud on the limitation page. An exquisite version of this classic. Please note that this is a heavy and oversized book and will require extra shipping.

New York: Knopf, 1979. First Edition; Early Printing. Hardcover. Both volumes Near Fine in Very Good+ price clipped dust jackets. Volume 1 31st printing, Volume 2 14th printing.; Both volumes signed by Julia Child on half title page.; Signed by Author.

Paris: Maradan; Chaumerot, 1803. First Edition. Hardcover (Half Leather). Very Good Condition. A variety of contemporary and near contemporary bindings in leather and quarter leather. Well worn, a number of boards detached, a few along with the endpapers and frontis. Still, complete and very good or better internally. All first editions, rare as such, and published 1803-1812, each with a charming frontispiece engraving. viii, 247pp; (14), xviii, 20-282pp; xiv, 342pp; xx, 336pp; xx, 335pp; xiv, 362pp; xii, 332pp; xvi, 340pp; xiv, 359pp Cagle 224-231, Vicaire 424, Bitting 201-2, Oberle 133 Provenance: Various. Volume 1 is a Marcus Crahan copy with his bookplate (when his collection sold his copy of the Almanch was incomplete, missing vol 2)..Volume 2 with Maurice Edmond Sailland, Curnonsky, The Prince of Gastonomy's small bookplate that states mala culina derisa. Volume 3 with The Laird of Altyr;'s Arms ex libris. Volume 5 ex libris of Dr. L. Ch. Boisiniere. 4, and 6-8 with matching bindings, no… Read more

London, printed by Tho: Newcomb for Samuel Thomson, at the sign of the White Horse in Pauls Churchyard, 1655.. FIRST EDITION 1655, corrected and enlarged by Christopher Bennet, Doctor in Physick, and fellow of the College of Physitians in London. Small 4to, approximately 180 x 140 mm, 7¼ x 5½ inches, pages: [8] (preliminary leaves), last page numbered 8, the rest unnumbered, 1-296, with a preliminary imprimatur leaf facing title page, bound in original contemporary sheep with new spine, gilt lettering and rules to spine, new pale brown endpapers, 1 original endpaper remains at front with the signature of John Borthwick of Crookstown Esquire with a few other neat minor ink notes on food, 3 neat ink notes on food on recto and verso of imprimatur leaf, 2 small neat repairs to inner margin of 2 leaves, not affecting text, small hole to 1 margin, not affecting text, tiny tip missing from lower corner of title page, pale age-browning in places and occasional pale mark to margins, otherwise a very good… Read more