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David.   Elizabeth     - With a small letter from E.D. with her signature.
Summer Cooking
SUMMER COOKING by ELIZABETH DAVID. LONDON MUSEUM PRESS. (With a 1" vignette of carafe and glass of wine.)
FIRST EDITION. 1955. 1fep. Half-title. [1] Title page. [1] 1pp Contents. [1] 7-10 Introduction and Acknowledgments. 11-244. 245-256 Index. 1fep. Light green cloth binding with gilt lines and lettering on spine. Internally as new. With Adrian Daintrey illustrations through out. A touch faded at the spine ends. With the rare original Adrian Daintrey d/j with slight chipping at spine ends and cover folds with little loss. Protected by a plastic cover. Also enclosed is a letter addressed to Richard C. Laade from E.D. postmarked 2.11.88. Inside the letter is a small square of paper stating 'You Must have quite a collection E.D.', also dated 2.11.88. (A little research on the web revealed that Richard Laade is/was an inveterate collector of signatures. This helps to explain the rather cryptic message and size of the letter). Also rather interestingly and unusually, Elizabeth has signed her name in very small writing on the inside of the letter as well. A very nice scarce copy that gets elevated to rare with the original d/j and the signed letter.
- Born Elizabeth Gwynne, she was of mixed English and Irish ancestry, and came from a rather grand background, growing up with three sisters in the 17th century Sussex manor house, Wootton Manor. Her parents were Rupert Gwynne, Conservative MP for Eastbourne, and the Hon. Stella Ridley who came from a distinguished Northumberland family. Her uncle, Roland Gwynne, later became Mayor of Eastbourne and may have been a lover of suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams. She studied at the Sorbonne, living with a French family for two years, which led to a love of France and of food. At the age of 19, she was given her first cookery book, The Gentle Art of Cookery by Hilda Leyel, who wrote of her love with the food of the East. "If I had been given a standard Mrs Beeton instead of Mrs Leyel's wonderful recipes," she said, "I would probably never have learned to cook." Gwynne had an adventurous early life, leaving home to become an actress. She left England in 1939, when she was twenty-five, and bought a boat with her married lover Charles Gibson-Cowan intending to travel around the Mediterranean. The onset of World War II interrupted this plan, and they had to flee the German occupation of France. They left Antibes for Corsica and then on to Italy where the boat was impounded, having arrived on the day Italy declared war on Britain. They were eventually deported to Greece, then made their way to the Greek island of Syros living there for a period, where she learnt about Greek food and spent time with famous bohemians such as Lawrence Durrell. When the Germans invaded Greece they managed to flee to Crete where they were rescued by the British and evacuated to Egypt, where she lived firstly in Alexandria and eventually in Cairo. There Gwynne started work for the Ministry of Information, split from Gibson-Cowan, and eventually took on a marriage of convenience to Lieutenant-Colonel Tony David; this gave her a measure of respectability but David was a man whom she did not ultimately respect, and their relationship ended soon after an eight month posting in India. She had many lovers in the ensuing years. On her return to London in 1946, David began to write cookery articles and in 1949 the publisher John Lehmann offered her a hundred-pound advance for Mediterranean Food; the start of a dazzling writing career. David spent eight months researching Italian food in Venice, Tuscany and Capri. This resulted in Italian Food in 1954, with illustrations by Renato Guttuso, which was famously described by Evelyn Waugh in the Sunday Times as one of the two books which had given him the most pleasure that year. Many of the ingredients were unknown in England when the books were first published, and David had to suggest looking for olive oil in pharmacies where it was sold for treating earache. Within a decade, ingredients such as aubergines, saffron and pasta began to appear in shops, thanks in no small part to David's books. David gained fame, respect and high status and advised many chefs and companies. In November 1965, she opened her own shop devoted to cookery in Pimlico, London. She wrote articles for Vogue magazine, one of the first in the genre of food-travel. In 1963, when she was 49, she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, possibly related to her heavy drinking. Although she recovered, it affected her sense of taste and her libido. Her other books include: * Mediterranean Food, decorated by John Minton, published by John Lehmann (1950) * French Country Cooking, decorated by John Minton, published by John Lehmann (1951) * Italian Food (1954) * French Provincial Cooking (1960) * Spices, Salt and Aromatics in the English Kitchen (1970) * An Omelette and a Glass of Wine (1984) * English Bread and Yeast Cookery (1977) * Harvest of the Cold Months (1994) * Many various booklets for companies and her shop .

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Modern category
ref number: 11013
David.   Elizabeth     - A rare E.D. Booklet.
THE USE OF WINE IN ITALIAN COOKING.
Drawn by J. Strickland-Goodall, R.I.). Author of Mediterranean Food (1950). French Country Cookery (1950). (JOHN LEHMANN).
170 x 130mm. On verso of Cover - 1p. Contents. (1) Index to Wines and Recipes. 1-19. [1]. Back page the publisher's vignette by Saccone & Speed Ltd. Front cover - delicate fine illustration of an Italian country scene. Dark cream coloured thick paper. Fine condition. Housed in a slip inside a handsome folder with marbled paper and label.
- Elizabeth David's written output was phenomenal. She published many items besides her cookery books. Including also the new stock catalogues for her shop that she did on a regular basis, many booklets (see item #11180 on this site), similar to this one about Italian wine. There is her inspired ring bound 'Cooking with Le Creuset' and her many articles published in magazines. Waking people up in the 50's and 60's to the wonderful cuisines and produce of Italy, the Mediterranean and France, she wowed people with her captivating writing style. Besides being books about cookery they were also eye-opening travelogues. Due to the dull foodstuffs available in Britain after the war, her writing was singularly, one of the most dynamic reasons people, cooks and chefs started demanding better produce be made available from those countries she wrote about. Elizabeth David was a writer who inspired deep devotion and affection. Many well known self-taught chefs and cooks started by first finding and reading her books and being inspired. Her writing should be part of the curriculum of all catering colleges for aspiring new young chefs .

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Modern category
ref number: 11014
David.   Elizabeth    
Italian Food
ELIZABETH DAVID BARRIE & JENKINS LONDON.
3rd Edition. 1987. Large 4to. Light grey paste-down and endpapers. Half-title. [1] Title page. [1] 1p Contents. On the verso, a re-print of Kitchen scenes from Bartolomeo Scappi's Opera. 7-16 Introduction by E.D. p16 Acknowledgements. On verso; A painting of a Kitchen. 19-224. 225-239(1) Index. Light grey paste-down and endpapers. Light grey cloth binding with silver writing on the spine and very slight fading to edges. D/J slightly rubbed at top and bottom of the spine. Internally very clean. As new.
- A very scarce edition. This is a revised reprint of the the 1954 first edition of Italian Food. In the introduction by E.D. in this copy, she states that "this 1987 edition differs from its predecessors chiefly in that revisions made over many years in the form of footnotes to recipes have now been incorporated into the main body of the text". Printed 5 years before her death, this book is not commonly known to have been published and to be directly attributable to E.D. Very scarce.

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Modern category
ref number: 11126
David.   Elizabeth     - With E.D's signature.
English Bread and Yeast Book
Elizabeth David English Bread and Yeast Cookery With illustrations by Wendy Jones - Allen Lane (with illustrated drawings of bread loaves)
FIRST EDITION. 1977. 8vo. Front and back paste-down and endpapers with illustrated drawings. [1] 1fep. Title page. [1] 1p Dedication Page to Jill Norman with a planche signed by the author and dated 2.11.1988. [1] (1)viii-x Contents. xi-xiv Acknowledgements. xv-xvi List of Plates. xvii-xxii Introduction. 1p History and Background. [1] 3-547. [1] (1)550-556 Bibliography. 557-591 Index. 10feps. Very good D/W. Dark Grey cloth boards and spine with gilt writing. Condition, as new. A very desirable copy, especially with the E.D. signature.
- Elizabeth David practised bread making for 15 years. In the book the first part is dedicated to flour milling and its history, on bread ovens, Assize Laws on weight, price and content of loaves. She crucially defines different types of flours available and explains distinctions between them. The second half of the book is devoted to recipes. She finally concurs with the author who wrote - 'the great thing about baking with yeast is the difficulty of failure'. It can also be said; the greatest thing about reading this book is the difficulty of not enjoying.!

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Modern category
ref number: 11140
David.   Elizabeth     - A very scarce set.
4 Recipe Booklets.
1. Syllabubs and Fruit Fools. 2. English Potted Meats and Fish Pates. 3. Dried Herbs, Aromatics and Condiments. 4. The Baking of an English Loaf.
All booklets 150x112 mm. #1. A Second edition of 1971. 20p with a blue water stain running thro' all the pages, not too bad. #2. A first edition n/d but copyrighted 1968. 20p and unblemished. #3. A first edition n/d but copyrighted 1969. 20p. A nice copy with a very small stain dot on the front cover. #4. A first edition n/d but copyrighted 1969. 24p. A nice clean copy. Overall four very nice items and very scarce as a full set.
- Elizabeth David CBE (born Elizabeth Gwynne, 26 December 1913 – 22 May 1992) was a British cookery writer who, in the mid-20th century, strongly influenced the revitalisation of the art of home cookery with articles and books about European cuisines and traditional British dishes. Her prose style was at once imperious, informative, passionate and above all evocative. Her books have truly inspired generations to step into the kitchen heat and find that passion for themselves. She wrote in Vogue in 1960 after visiting Cavaillon, in Provence, on market day. "Here you can buy everything for a picnic lunch beautiful sprawling ripe tomatoes, a Banon cheese wrapped in chestnut leaves, Arles sausages, pate, black olives, butter cut from a towering monolith". David opened a kitchen utensil shop with friends (with whom she later, inevitably, fell out) at 64 Bourne St, London SW1, selling the artisan cooking pots and equipment she loved and that everyone else later copied. Its launch in 1965 was headline news. She was responsible for Le Creuset introducing its traditional orange coloured cast-iron pans in blue - inspired by the colour of her Gauloise cigarette packet. These four booklets were published at various dates during the 60's and 70's and sold at Bourne St. The shop continued to trade under her name after she left it in 1973. Also at the same time, working with the food photographer Anthony Denney, she changed the way recipes were presented in magazines. No studio shots of mashed potato masquerading as ice-cream as was the practice then; the photographs are simply of what she had cooked. Her life was remarkable and her legacy astonishing. Her brilliant writing was the outcome of racketing around the Mediterranean, travelling, drinking and eating alone in Italy, and holing herself up in Ross-on-Wye with another man while her husband was in India. By all accounts she could be disagreeable, but that shouldn't put anyone off her books. And now that we know how extraordinarily racy her life was there's even more reason not to forget her.

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Ephemera category
ref number: 11172
David.   Elizabeth     - A rare collection of E.D. signed ephemera.
TWENTY-FIVE ITEMS; BOOKS, BOOKLETS, CATALOGUES AND MAGAZINES.
9 BOOKLETS - 1. Green Pepper Berries (very rare). 2. English Potted Meats & Fish Pastes. 3. Syllabubs & Fruit Fools. 4. The Baking of an English Loaf. 5. Dried Herbs, Aromatics & Condiments. 6. The Use of Wine in Italian Cooking. 7. Entertaining with Grand Marnier. 8. 1st Edition 1963. 16 pages. 'Cooking with Le Creuset' (very rare). 9. Later & enlarged edition. Ring bound 38 pages. Cooking with Le Creuset. 1. BOOK. Classic Indian Vegetarian Cooking by Julie Sahni. 621 pages. With a letter from the publisher, Maria Guarnaschelli of William Morrow & Co. of New York. Asking E.D. to read the book and give her opinion. E.D. numbered the pages and wrote the 24 substantial points of critique on the back of the letter in ink. E.D. must have typed out her critical points and sent them to Maria Guarnaschelli. The points were sent Julie Sahni who responded back to E.D. as there is a further typed reply from E.D. (not signed). It also appears in the reply that E.D. appreciated and rated Sahni's book very highly. 1. AUCTION CATALOGUE. To be sold by Auction at Phillips of Bayswater on Tuesday, February 22nd, 1994 at 12 noon. This was a very well attended sell-off of E.D's house contents after her death in 1992. 1. Beautifully designed 4 page thick paper E.D. Memorial Service booklet. The front and back covers are a reprint of John Minton's dust wrapper for French Country Cooking. With the full service schedule and list of appreciations. 2. E.D. SHOP CATALOGUES. 1967-8. 1 finished equipment catalogue of 20 Pages. 2. E.D's working catalogue copy with all the extensive notations and changes in her hand. (very rare) 4. E.D. SHOP CATALOGUES & ONE ENVELOPE. 1. Kitchen Utensils. Price List 1968-9. E.D's own copy with all the new prices stuck on. 2. Summer Cooking 1968: A large A3 glossy catalogue folded into 8 pages of Kitchen Utensils and Prices. 3. Another glossy working catalogue of 20 pages of equipment and prices. Some pages empty. 4. In a brown envelope addressed to the shop form the Printer. A note in green ink in E.D's own hand informing its E.D's own copy. 1. WINE & FOOD MAGAZINE. February/March 1969. (E.D's Members copy.) With a 4 page article by E.D. specifically with recipes for Lemons. A further 2 page article about Kitchen knives that were sold in E. D's shop at 46 Bourne St. London S.W.1. An interesting read. 1. SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE. October 31st 1965. A 2 page article about E.D's shop opening the next day on November 1st. There is also a large 2 page photograph of E.D's kitchen in her house. 1. LARGE FORMAT 1st DRAFT WORKING COPY. Of equipment lists with annotations in E.D's hand. 9 BOOKLETS - 1. Green Pepper Berries (very rare). 2. English Potted Meats & Fish Pastes. 3. Syllabubs & Fruit Fools. 4. The Baking of an English Loaf. 5. Dried Herbs, Aromatics & Condiments. 6. The Use of Wine in Italian Cooking. 7. Entertaining with Grand Marnier. 8. 1st Edition 1963. 16 pages. Cooking with Le Creuset. (very rare). 9. Later & enlarged edition. Ring bound 38 pages. Cooking with Le Creuset. 1. BOOK. Classic Indian Vegetarian Cooking by Julie Sahni. 621 pages. With a letter from the publisher, Maria Guarnaschelli of William Morrow & Co. of New York. Asking E.D. to read the book and give her opinion. E.D. numbered the pages and wrote the 24 substantial points of critique on the back of the letter in ink. E.D. must have typed out her critical points and sent them to Maria Guarnaschelli. The points were sent Julie Sahni who responded back to E.D. as there is a further typed reply from E.D. (not signed). It also appears in the reply that E.D. appreciated and rated Sahni's book very highly. 1. AUCTION CATALOGUE. To be sold by Auction at Phillips of Bayswater on Tuesday, February 22nd, 1994 at 12 noon. This was a very well attended sell-off of E.D's house contents after her death in 1992. 1. Beautifully designed 4 page thick paper E.D. Memorial Service booklet. The front and back covers are a reprint of John Minton's dust wrapper for French Country Cooking. With the full service schedule and list of appreciations. 2. E.D. SHOP CATALOGUES. 1967-8. 1 finished equipment catalogue of 20 Pages. 2. E.D's working catalogue copy with all the extensive notations and changes in her hand. (very rare) 4. E.D. SHOP CATALOGUES & ONE ENVELOPE. 1. Kitchen Utensils. Price List 1968-9. E.D's own copy with all the new prices stuck on. 2. Summer Cooking 1968: A large A3 glossy catalogue folded into 8 pages of Kitchen Utensils and Prices. 3. Another glossy working catalogue of 20 pages of equipment and prices. Some pages empty. 4. In a brown envelope addressed to the shop from the Printer. A note in green ink in E.D's own hand informing its E.D's own copy. 1. WINE & FOOD MAGAZINE. February/March 1969. (E.D's Members copy.) With a 4 page article by E.D. specifically with recipes for Lemons. A further 2 page article about Kitchen knives that were sold in E. D's shop at 46 Bourne St. London S.W.1. An interesting read. 1. SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE. October 31st 1965. A 2 page article about E.D's shop opening the next day on November 1st. There is also a large 2 page photograph of E.D's kitchen in her house. 1. LARGE FORMAT 1st DRAFT WORKING COPY. Of equipment lists with annotations in E.D's hand.
All the above in fine condition and housed in a specially made box with leather spine, gilt tooling and morocco leather labels.
- Further to Elizabeth David's famous published cookery books, she continued to produce many small specialized recipe booklets, written multi-media articles etc. She also owned a kitchen equipment shop in Pimlico. The items assembled here over many years is a comprehensive collection of all aspects of her phenomenal output besides her books.

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Ephemera category
ref number: 11180
David.   Elizabeth     - With a 2-page recipe typed and written by ED.
THE HARVEST OF THE COLD MONTHS.
The Social History of Ice and Ices. ELIZABETH DAVID. Edited by Jill Norman (A small publisher's device of a mermaid) MICHAEL JOSEPH. LONDON.
FIRST EDITION 1994. 240 X 165 X 35 mm. 1fep. Half-title. [1] Title Page. Verso Publisher's details. v - vi Contents. vii - vii Editor's Preface. ix - x Acknowledgements. xi - xvii Introduction. [1] 1 - 401. 402 - 403 Index. [1] 1fep. ENCLOSED: A two-page typed letter on thin paper with a large added note at the end hand-written by ED. Also enclosed is a single hand-written letter to me from Jill Norman the editor of the book and executor of ED's estate and papers. The letter confirming the recipe as ED's. Also enclosed is a folded card with a photograph of ED's grave-stone in the grounds of St. Peter's Church, Folkington, Sussex. Hard bound in dark blue cloth with silver text to spine with a fine dust-wrapper. Condition as new.
- Elizabeth David CBE, was a phenomenal writer of cookery books and able with her prose to evoke the very smells of the countries and their cuisine's. This gift inspired legions of admirers and cooks. Her books should have been called 'Great culinary travelogues with recipes'. This book about the winter months is a dense academic cum research work that still retains the interest and is also a very enjoyable read. Jill Norman has done a fantastic job to bring her friend's writing to print two years after her demise in 1992.

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Modern category
ref number: 11283
David.   Elizabeth     From the Elizabeth David auction of her kitchenware.
A fine collection of 17th to 19th century sugar crushers.
Seven fine crystal and glass antique sugar crushers with the auction labels still attached.
Wrapped in tissue paper and stored in a cardboard black box with 2 maroon morocco labels and gilt text. A unique set.
- Elizabeth David [ED] (born Elizabeth Gwynne, 26 December 1913) passed away at the Royal Cornwall Hospital following a short illness, aged 84 years. She died in the early hours of 22 May 1992 having suffered a stroke followed two days later by another, which was fatal; She was buried on 28 May at the family church of St Peter ad Vincula, Folkington. A memorial service was held at St Martin-in-the-Fields on 10 September. After her death her four nephews decided they could not hold on to her kitchenware. It was decided that Phillips of Bayswater would handle the sale. On February 1994, ED's possessions were put up for auction, but nothing prepared auctioneers for the interest generated by the prospect of owning the utensils that helped revolutionise British cookery. A Phillip's spokesman declared "We expected to realise about UK£15,000, maybe £20,000, but we finally achieved £49,000. There was even an exclamation about the cook who spent £200 on one glass sugar-crusher. This collection of sugar crushers assembled by ED. were important 17 to 19th century home kitchen tools. Because sugar at that time was transported in dense sugar loafs that had to be managed in the households, broken down into small hard lumps, the crushers were essential. Now not used, needed nor produced, ED. was well aware of their uniqueness. From Alimentarium's online site, the history of sugar is explained well: "People have always known honey and, for a long time, it was the only sweetener used. Originally from New Guinea, sugar cane very soon migrated to Southwest Asia and aroused keen interest among the people who discovered it. In the 6th century BC, the Persians invaded India and marvelled at this ‘reed which gives honey without the need for bees. In the reign of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC, sugar cane reached the Middle East. During Antiquity and the Middle Ages, sugar was a rare and expensive commodity, as with spices such as saffron and nutmeg. From the late 15th century, shortly after Christopher Columbus’ first voyage to America, sugar cane plantations developed in the West Indies, then South America, particularly in Brazil. Sugar became the top colonial commodity. It was at the root of the evil ‘triangular trade’, where European shipowners exchanged trinkets for African men, who were then sold as slaves in America. The ships then returned to Europe with products from the colonies, including precious sugar. In the early 19th century, in response to the English blockade on sugar from the West Indies, Napoleon ordered sugar beet to be grown on French soil. Andreas Sigismund Marggraf, a German chemist, had discovered the sweetening aspect of the beet in 1757. In 1811, the first economically viable sugar beet processing plant was built in France. Sugar became widely consumed in the late 19th century, as a result of the farming of sugar beet". A sugarloaf (see image #5 below) was the usual form in which refined sugar was produced and sold until the late 19th century, when granulated and cube sugars were introduced. A tall cone with a rounded top was the end product of a process in which dark molasses, a rich raw sugar that was imported from sugar-growing regions such as the Caribbean and Brazil, was refined into white sugar. The earliest record to date appears to be 12th century in Jordan, though reference to a cone of sugar is found in al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar's 9th century Arabic 'Al-Akhbar al-Muwaffaqiyyat'. In Europe, the sugar loaves were made in Italy from 1470, Belgium 1508, England 1544, Holland 1566, Germany 1573 and France 1613. When refining from sugar beet began in mainland Europe in 1799, loaves were produced in the same way. Until the mid-19th century, the British government used a system of punitive taxes to make it impossible for its colonial producers in the Caribbean to refine their own sugar and supply Britain with finished sugarloaves. Previously the Amsterdam industry had been similarly protected from the importation of East India white sugar. Instead, a dark raw sugar or muscovado, produced on the plantations by an initial boiling of the fresh cane juice, and shipped in hogsheads to Europe on what was the third leg of the Triangular Trade. As a final side note; the famous Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is said to refer its resemblance to the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf sugar.

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Modern category
ref number: 11325
Davidson.   Alan (Editor)     - A unique set signed by Alan Davidson
Petits Propos Culinaires
Journals 1-73.
5 clamshell cases - each approx. 210x150x95mm. Each case in half bottle green morocco with green cloth covering. The spine with raised bands, gilt lines and a red morocco gilt lettered label. Each case with a light fawn felt cloth base. The cases are numbered; 1-15, 16-31, 32-48, 49-63, 64-73. Journal #1 is #345 of the first limited edition of 500. Numbers 1-59 and 61-63 are all signed by Alan Davidson. Number 60 is un-signed. Journals 63-73 are all signed by Tom Jaine. In journal #5, there is a letter of apology to Hugo Dunn-Meynell, for a printing mistake by A.D. in an article on Turabi Effendi. The letter is also signed by A.D. In journal #32 there is a page from Kidder's cookbook. In #49 there is a signed compliment slip signed by A.D, and two signed letters from Jenny Macarthur. All the journals as new. A very handsome set.
- Described by the editor Alan Davidson as 'a semi-academic periodical which comes out three times a year and deals with food, cookery and cookery books. Issues run approximately 64 to 72 pages, none occupied by advertisements, and contributors are a mixture of professional writers and amateurs. All issues are illustrated in black and white (reproductions of old engravings and woodcuts, etc.), plus drawings commissioned for PPC. PPC is not a collection of recipes, although most issues contain some of particular interest. These recipes have often been embodied in articles, e.g. by the late Elizabeth David and Richard Olney, both of whom played an important part in founding PPC. Extensive Book Reviews and an item called Notes and Queries are also regular features. The latter provides a forum for reports on research in progress and for posing questions which readers may be able to answer. This set on offer here are in a 'just published' condition. On the inside cover of journal # 1 is a typewritten note that has been tipped in. It states: "You may like to know that a new journal dealing with food, cookery and cookery books has been launched under the above title. The publishers are Prospect Books, a partnership including Elizabeth David, Alan and Jane Davidson, Jillian Norman and Richard Olney. The first edition was a limited edition of 500 copies, published in aid of the Anglo-American Jubilee Appeal of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. ---- The first issue sold out quickly. The second issue will appear in August. It will also be in aid of charity". It is quite possible that this lot of journals are unique. A.D. told me he had not signed a full set before with the exception of number 60 which is unsigned. This is because the full printed lot of #60 were destroyed in a fire. I was only able to obtain a published copy after A.D. passed away. Number 63 has a written dedication from Alan Davidson. It reads: "I have great pleasure in signing this, the last issue of PPC for which I and my wife were responsible, -- for Robert Hendry, who has been such a good friend to the journal. Alan Davidson". Journals 73 and onwards have been edited & published by Tom Jaine of Prospect Books, Totnes, Devon and they are also signed by him. A wonderful source of all kinds of gastronomic information and research by many enthusiasts and leading culinary writers of the day.

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Modern category
ref number: 11088
Davidson.   Alan (Editor)     Very rare set signed by Alan Davidson & Elizabeth David.
Petits Propos Culinaires.
Journals 1 - 9. And Alan Davidson's 47 page Funeral booklet of essays and recipes.
Approx, 9 x 188 x 134 mm. All booklets as new. Also has the supplement to # 3. Housed in a red cloth covered slipcase with two black labels with gilt text and tooling. Also a fine mint copy of Alan Davidson's Funeral Cookbook. Consisting of 47 pages, and handed out to attendees at his Memorial Service, Chelsea Old Church, London, 19th February, 2004.
- Petits Propos Culinaires [PPC] was launched February 1979. It was described by the editor Alan Davidson [AD] as a semi-academic triannual periodical dealing with all things gastronomic. The initial partners with Elizabeth David [ED] and AD. were eight others. These nine booklets have the signatures of AD and ED. The first issued booklet is a limited edition of 100, of which this one is # 24. As well as being signed by AD. there is also an inscription "For the McKirdys with many thanks for their highly effective sales promotion". Mike and Tessa McKirdy were dealers of books on cookery and gastronomy. They also published much appreciated and anticipated regular catalogues. From AD's inscription we can see that the McKirdys had promoted the PPC publications. These nine booklets have originally come from the McKirdy's collection. Booklets 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 & 9 have signed complimentary slips by AD. inserted for Mike and Tessa. From one of the slips we see the McKirdys had a regular package of twenty of each of the published booklets to sell in their catalogue. Booklet 3 is signed by Elizabeth David [ED] on page nine over an essay titled 'The Harvest of Cold Months'. This was a preview of ED's large book of the same name first published 1994. Booklets 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 are also signed by ED. This set is very unique as I have another set of PPCs (see item # 11088 on this site) and none of them are signed by ED. but are all signed by AD. PPC is a wonderful source of information, essays, notes and bibliographical details by many famous expert contributors, on all the ages of cookery, gastronomy and the authors. Also included is a copy of AD's Funeral Cookbook. A booklet of essays and recipes composed by Davidson as a memento to be handed out to those attending his Memorial Service, Chelsea Old Church, London, 19th February, 2004. The cover depicts the design of the label for the marmalade Alan made every year from his family’s recipe. There is one illustration by Glen Baxter. Davidson came across the idea of the funeral cookbook custom in Thailand, where a person composes a small cookbook before her or his death so that it can be distributed to mourners attending the funeral. Davidson's version starts with a short essay on this subject, followed by recipes for marmalade, Greek chicken and fish, epicure's kidneys, fricased skate, Con's mince, toad in the hole, waterzooi, meat loaf, smothered cabbage, aubergine gratin, fried zucchini, Tabitha Tickletooth's bread and butter pudding, apple crumble tart, trifle, fluffy tapioca pudding, Susan's grape dessert (all these collected from a variety of sources). From a personal point of interest, this very unique set had a immediate impact on me when I found it, not only because of Elizabeth David and Alan Davidson, both of whom I greatly admired, but that of Mike McKirdy whom I considered a friend and now sadly has passed on as well. A treasured item.

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Modern category
ref number: 11282


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