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ESCOFFIER. GEORGES AUGUSTE - Signed by Escoffier and photograph of his Kitchen brigade 1908.
A GUIDE TO MODERN COOKERY
BY A. ESCOFFIER OF THE CARLTON HOTEL WITH PORTRAIT NEW AND REVISED EDITION (with a printer's device and initials M.H.) LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN 1907.
FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. 165x250mm. 1fep with signature in black ink - "A. Escoffier" and a b/w photograph of Escoffier and his kitchen brigade on the roof of the Carlton Hotel 1908. [1] Half Title. Verso with Advertisements. [1] Frontispiece of 'Escoffier' with tissue guard with a 1/2" oil stain on the edge, not affecting the photograph. (the oil stain affects the edge of all to page 33. Does not affect the text). Title Page. [1] (1)vi-x Preface. (1)xii Contents. (1)xiv-xvi Glossary. (1)1-848. [1p Index] [1] (1)852-891 Index. 1p Advertisements. 1fep with light foxing. Original full green cloth binding with gilt writing and tooling on front cover, quite fresh. The sun-faded spine has also been expertly re-laid and strengthened. Internally very good with slight browning and foxing to the feps. With the signature, b/w photograph of Escoffier and the Carlton Hotel Kitchen Brigade, plus the original cover; A very unique and rare copy.
- The provenance of this book is quite interesting. The father of a Welsh family owned this book since 1950-51. He was part of a Family musical act called 'Seven de Guise Seymours'. They used to feature in the music halls from the mid 1920's till the outbreak of WW11. He was also a friend of Elton Hayes who was the lute player in the early Robin Hood films and known to the family as Uncle Bish. Hayes was in the habit of spending Christmas with the Welsh family. He always brought the family nice presents. One of them being this signed copy of Escoffier's 'Guide to Modern Cookery' with the unique photograph the Master with his kitchen brigade taken on the roof of the Carlton Hotel 1908. Altogether this amounts to a rare item.

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Modern category

ref number: 11108

Escoffier. Georges Auguste - A fine copy of Escoffier's first book
Les Fleurs en Cire
A. ESCOFFIER LES FLEURS EN CIRE (An elaborate printers floral device) BIBLIOTHEQUE DE L'ART CULINAIRE 4 Place Saint-Michel, - PARIS MDCCCCX Nouvelle Edition
Fourth Edition, Paris, 1910. 188x141mm. 1fep. Half-Title. On verso Headpiece & printer's details for all editions. [1] Frontispiece. Title page on thick photographer's card and tissue guard. [1] (1)10-92. 3p Index. [1] 1fep. Original publisher's printed cover, in good condition. Internally very clean. Illustrations: Halftone frontispiece portrait of Escoffier and halftone illustrations titled "Fleurs de Magnolia en Cire" and 40 photo engraved illustrations in the text. A very nice untrimmed copy with many uncut pages. A very scarce and sought after book.
- This slim volume was originally published under the title 'Traite sur l'Art de Travailler les Fleurs en Cire' Paris, 1884. During this period Escoffier married Delphine Daffis, the daughter of a publisher. Writing poetry herself, she contributed to this publication. Escoffier was a major writer of culinary classics and is still consulted as an authority. Besides 'Les Fleurs en Cire', his other best known writings are --- 1903 - 'Le Guide Culinaire'; 1907 - 'A Guide to Modern Cookery', 1st english edition; 1910 - 'Les Fleurs en Cire', a new edition; 1911 - 'Le Carnet d'Epicure'; 1912 - 'Le Livre des Menus'; 1919 - 'L'Aide-Memoire Culiniare'; 1927 - 'Le Riz'; 1929 - 'La Morue'; 1934 - Ma Cuisine. This is a collectors item. Editions of this early work by Escoffier are very scarce and much sought after, especially in this fine original condition. With the bookplate of Tore Wretman.

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Modern category

ref number: 11114

Escoffier. Georges Auguste - Signed by Escoffier, unusually in English.
A GUIDE TO MODERN COOKERY
BY A. ESCOFFIER OF THE CARLTON HOTEL WITH PORTRAIT NEW AND REVISED EDITION (with a printer's device and initials M.H.) LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN 1909
165x250mm. 1fep. Half title with signature in black ink "To Mr H. Fowler With best Compliments A. Escoffier London 16 Fevrier 1909" (with a very little light foxing). [1] Frontispiece of 'Escoffier' with tissue guard. Title Page. [1] (1)vi-x Preface. (1)xii Contents. (1)xiv-xvi Glossary. (1)1-848. [1p Index] [1] (1)852-891 Index. 1p Advertisements. 1fep. Original clean full green cloth binding with bright gilt writing and tooling on the spine and front cover with a slight rubbing to edges. The gutter inside is split but holding well. All edges green. Internally, clean and bright. Also enclosed is a beautifully produced four page 'Escoffier Ltd' promotional pamphlet and price list for all Escoffier Sauces, and we are also informed the Preparations can be obtained from all high-class Grocers and Stores. It has a fold in the middle and slight browning around the edges.
- The first English edition was published in 1907. This is the 3 imprint and the second English translation of the first French edition of 1903. At that time of publication, Escoffier was Maitre Chef de Cuisine of the Carlton Hotel, Pall Mall, London. His tenure there lasted 20 years, from 1899 - 1919. Nice clean original bound copies with the gilt lettering still bright are very scarce and with the unusual signature and the rare pamphlet - an altogether rare and handsome copy.

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Modern category

ref number: 11124

Escoffier. Georges Auguste - The first edition - 1903.
Le Guide Culinaire.
BIBLIOTHEQUE PROFESSIONNELLE Le Guide Culinaire AIDE-MEMOIRE DE CUISINE PRATIQUE Par A. ESCOFFIER AVEC LA COLLABOATION De MM. Phileas GILBERT - E. FETU A. Suzanne, B. Reboul, Ch, Dietrich, A. Caillat, ETC. Dessins de Victor Morin - Je place ce livre sous le ptronage psthume de Urbain Dubois et Emile Bernard, en teimoignage de mon admiration pour ceux qui, depuis Careme ont porte le plus haut la gloire de l'Art Culiniare. A.E. - (printers device of two olive branches) PARIS 1903 - Tous droits de traduction et de reproduction reserves pour tous les pays, y compris le Suede, la Norvege et le Danemark.
FIRST EDITION. 224x145mm. Front paste-down and end-paper with marbled paper. 2feps. Missing the half title with with advertisements on verso . Title page. Escoffier's facsimile signature on the verso. (1)V1-V11 Avant Propos. Verso with Abbreviations. (1)X Remarques. 1p Advertisement. Verso with Tables de Chapitres. (1)2-766. 1p Methode de Repartition. 768-769 Menus. 1p plus 1 Folding plate showing service times and tasks. 771-786 Menus. (1)788-790 Table. (1)+p792 Errata. 4p Advertisements. 2feps. Back end-paper and paste-down with marbled paper. All paper age browned and slightly brittle which is typical of this and other books of this time, due to poor paper being used. First 4 pages and last page are are preserved and protected by clear tissue and the folding plate has been backed by clear tissue one of the folds separated but held by the tissue. The last 2pages are a little more darkened than the rest. New modern bottle green morocco boards and brown morocco spine with raised bands and tooled gilt devices and writing between the compartments. First editions are very scarce.
- Escoffier's great classic. Incomparable in many ways, not least in the fact it laid out what is now the modern Kitchen brigade with its departments clearly delineated and all recipes recorded that are still widely used today as the basics in most big Kitchen brigades. A mark of its classic place in Gastronomic history is that the recipes are still the basis of most Culinary schools curriculum. The great man is being re-discovered in this day and age once again. A sign of his lasting impact and a true appreciation for the skills and basically true recipes he used and recorded, in a time when change has become almost the norm, and food fads abound.

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Modern category

ref number: 11194

Escoffier. Georges Auguste - Limited edition of 200 - signed.
Les Fleurs en Cire
A. ESCOFFIER LES FLEURS EN CIRE (An elaborate printers floral device) BIBLIOTHEQUE DE L'ART CULINAIRE 4 Place Saint-Michel, - PARIS MDCCCCX Nouvelle Edition
12mo. September 1910. 190x147mm. 2feps Half-title with signed dedication in ink by Escoffier, -- "a Madame F, Band hommage et respectueuse sympathie A. Escoffier London Mars 1918". 1p explaining the limited editon, this copy 199 0f 200. [1] Frontispiece photogravure portrait of Escoffier with tissue guard. Title page. [1] 1p Dedication to Madame Daphine Daffis (Escoffier's wife, who also contributed to this book). [1] (1)10-11 with in-text illustrations. 3p with illustrations. (1)16-23 Les Fleurs du Fabuliste. 1p with Illustration. (1)26-94. 1p Du Meme Auteur. 1p with Illustration. 1fep. A limited edition of 200 copies in cream coloured papier de Hollande, de Van Gelder Zonen. 40 photo engraved illustrations in-text with halftone illustration titled "Fleurs de Magnolia en Cire". A very nice original untrimmed copy in excellent condition - as new.
- This edition is a very special limited and augmented one of 250 copies; 50 published in paper des Manufactures Imperiales du Japan and 200 in papier du Hollande, de Van Gelder Zonen, all signed by Escoffier. Maggs p151, 1st of 1886. Vicaire, a 1st of 1886. Cagle has an ordinary text copy, a 4th of 1910. Bitting has a 1st of 1886 dedicated by Escoffier to his great friend Madame Sarah Bernhardt.

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Modern category

ref number: 11203

Escoffier. Georges Auguste - 2 Escoffier menus, one hand-written by him.
Framed menus; Carlton Hotel, London.
A draft menu hand-written by Escoffier, undated, and another Escoffier menu, but written by another hand in cursive script, dated 1908. Both menus are from Escoffier's tenure at the Carlton Hotel, London.
Enclosed in a glass fronted gold framed picture 322mm x 378mm. The menu in the cursive script is on display. Escoffier's hand written menu is taped under plastic on the back of the picture. All in fine condition. Very rare.
- The very rare draft menu written by Escoffier in his typically messy scrawl would have then been sent to a comptroller who writes on the menu, the date and the name of the recipient of the special Dinner, as seen on this one in blue crayon. It is then sent to someone (probably in the Food & Beverage department) to be written properly and sent to the client. In this case, written in ink in a beautiful hand. Another would be written and then posted in the kitchen on the banquet notice board one week before the dinner. It appears that the letter may be written for the client, a Mrs Williams. But I think this one has come from the Kitchen itself, possibly Escoffier’s office. There were three lots in the auction from where these two items came. All lots were similar with written menus in Escoffier’s hand and menus written on Carlton Hotel headed paper in the same beautiful hand as this one. Also some Carte du Jour menus were in the lots. (See also item # 10980. The written menu by Escoffier, and a Carte du Jour menu as well, all from Escoffier’s time at the Carlton). These two items here are very rare Ephemera and give an interesting glimpse of the way the process works from Escoffier’s office to the client to the Kitchen to the eventual meal served and placed in front of the guests.

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Modern category

ref number: 11219

Frewin. Leslie [Editor] - With a Cafe Royal Christmas menu.
The Cafe Royal Story
A Living Legend EDITED BY Leslie Frewin WITH A FOREWARD BY Graham Greene LONDON: HUTCHINSON BENHAM.
FIRST EDITION. 1963. Large 4to. Paste-down and end-paper with sepia photograph. [1] Half title. [2] Frontispiece copy of a Charles Ginner painting of the Cafe Royal. Title page in black with a large ornamental decoration in red. Verso with printers info. 1p Introduction. [1] 2p Contents. 9-10 Paste-down and end-paper with sepia photograph. With numerous photographs and illustrations in-text, some full page. Fully bound in cream cloth. Spine with red writing and boards with fine illustration in red and black. All in excellent condition; as new, protected by a plastic wrapper. Also enclosed is a Christmas Luncheon menu for December 11th 1964, for 'The Horticultural Press Club'. Cream coloured with black text, in fine condition.
- The Cafe Royal, established in 1865, boasted its famously opulent Grill Room, considered one of London's finest dining rooms; the great Empire and Napoleon suite, elegantly lit by chandeliers made of Venetian glass, was favoured by those looking for a memorable party venue. For more than a century after it was built on Regent Street by a Parisian wine merchant, the rich and famous would flock there to eat, drink, dance and be merry. The Grill Room was also once its most notorious. It was there that the Marquess of Queensberry spotted his son, Lord Alfred Douglas (aka Bosie), lunching with Oscar Wilde "in the most loathsome and disgusting relationship". He later wrote a furious letter to his son, threatening to shoot Wilde on sight, to which Bosie insouciantly telegrammed back: "What a funny little man you are." The Café Royal was a favourite haunt of Wilde, who had a famous absinthe hallucination there when he thought the waiter, who was stacking chairs, was in fact watering the floor, covered in tulips, with a watering can. Other famous Patrons included Rudyard Kipling, Noel Coward, Sir Winston Churchill, Cary Grant, Brigitte Bardot, Elizabeth Taylor, Vitrginia Woolf, Mick Jagger, Princess Diana, Margaret Thatcher and Muhammad Ali. On 2oth January 2009, the curtains came down, literally, in the Café Royal. After 143 illustrious years, the fixtures, fittings and all the equipment of this venerable London institution was being put under the hammer of Bonhams the Auctioneers, after the Crown Estate decided to redevelop the site at that end of Regent Street. Had it spent its life almost anywhere else, the slightly battered silver serving trolley with the fickle steering would have barely raised an eyebrow in the dining room, let alone a flurry of paddles in an auction house. But this piece of functional furniture has had an extraordinary history. Amazingly, the electroplated trolley sold for £12,000 in the Everything-Must-Go sale. By the end of the two-hour auction, more than £200,000 had been raised. All 110 lots had been sold, some for as much as 10 times their asking price. An early 20th century Venetian chandelier adorned with 20 lights was the most expensive lot, going for £15,600, twice its guide price. Lot 93, a pair of late 19th century oak coopered barrels long drained of the alcohol they once contained, went for £8,400, almost five times their estimate. A number of pictures by artists so undistinguished their names weren't even listed in Bonhams' brochure sold for thousands of pounds – purely, it seemed, because they depicted scenes from the Cafe Royal, and had once hung in the venue's famously opulent chambers. One, a scene of the grill room filled with men in top hats and tails, sold for £4,800, despite Bonhams estimating its value at between £200 and £300. One buyer who bid purely for sentimental reasons was Susan Hughes, an antique dealer from Weybridge, who snapped up one of the auction's most curious lots. She ended up paying £4,200 for what the brochure, giving a guide price of £100-£200, described as "a 19th century electroplated duck press". It was in fact the press for ‘Canard a’la Presse’ – for more than a century the celebrated speciality of Paris’s grandest restaurant, La Tour d’Argent. This niche piece of equipment, which resembled a large grapefruit press, is used to squeeze out the juices of a freshly killed and roasted duck carcass, which in turn are used to thicken the duck jus. Hughes's father, Eric Hartwell (see image #3 below) was chief executive of the Forte catering and hotel empire, which bought the Cafe Royal 1954. "I spent much of my childhood playing in the Cafe Royal, and my father was very proud of the duck press," she said. As her husband loaded the contraption into the back of their car, he admitted that though the couple were delighted to own this piece of history, they wouldn't be using it. "We're both vegetarians," he said. So that is the final chapter that should be in the book. Overall it is a fascinating story of a grand eating establishment that was on a par with The Savoy, Claridges, The Ritz et al. One will never see the same again. This interesting volume is a meal, a fine wine and a waltz thro’ a different age with a hearty dose of gossip thrown in to round of a memorable time.

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Modern category

ref number: 11111

Gagrine. , Princess Alexandre The 1st English edition in fine condition
The Russian Cook Book.
THE RUSSIAN COOK BOOK COMPILED & TRANSLATED BY Princess Alexandre Gagarine (The printers square lined device) LONDON: William Heinemann Ltd. With a green ornamental border.
FIRST BRITISH EDITION. 1924. 8vo. 1fep. Half Title. Verso publisher's note. Title page. [1] 1p Contents. [1] 1-247. [1] 2fep. Very clean text block. Orange cloth backed blind stamped boards. Gilt lettering on the spine. Original dust jacket very slightly rubbed on the top edge. Overall very clean and well preserved. An extremely scarce book with the fine dust jacket.
- The Russian Cook Book (translated into English by Princess Gagarine) originated in the kitchen of the sumptuous house of Madame Dragomirov, the wife of The Governor General of Kiev which was famed for its cuisine. At the request of her friends, she compiled the collection of her recipes and published it with great success in Russia. It was first published in the West in 1923, in New York by Alfred A. Knopf. Titled the 'The Borzoi Cook Book' it was translated by Princess Alexandre Gagarine. This copy is the first British edition of 1924, published in London by William Heinemann and re-titled 'The Russian Cook Book', also by Princess Alexandre Gagarine. This book of fine food is the product of a very privileged lifestyle and a large household budget. It is a direct result of Madame Draomirov's record of lavish entertaining. There is a recipe for 'Soup Puree of Game' consisting of 3lb Beef and 3 Birds, (either grouse, blackcock or partridges) 3/4 lb of Barley, 1 egg yolk, 1 cup of Cream and butter. Another recipe is for the French Sauce Bernaise served with Beef steaks. Further in the book are recipes for Roasts: Turkey stuffed with Chestnuts. Roast saddle of Roebuck. A roast Bustard along with all manner of game birds. Did the common peasant ever see such spreads in their whole life.? These recipes of all the great Russian dishes are from a time before the revolution of 1917. Princess Alexandre Gagarine the compiler and translator, had fled the revolution to America, but would herself have been a member of that Russian strata of high-level privilege. She did a prudent move by translating Madame Draomirov's successful Russian version of her cookbook. She probably needed the cash. Two very different, but popular cookery books of the time, certainly counterpoint the privileged richness of Gagarine's book. No 1 is 'A Gift to Young Housewives' 1861. A Russian cookbook written and compiled by Elena Ivanovna Molokhovets and usually referred to as "Molokhovets", rather than its long title. It was the most successful book of its kind in the 19th and early 20th-century in Russia. Molokhovets revised the book continually between 1861 and 1917, a period of time falling between the emancipation of the serfs and the Communist Revolution. The book was well known in Russian households during publication and for decades afterwards. It was republished in 2003. The 2nd influential cookery book after the October revolution of 1917 was 'The Book of Healthy and Tasty Food' by Anastas Mikoyan. What Elena Molokhovets is to nineteenth-century culinary history, Anastas Mikoyan, Stalin’s commissar for foreign trade is to the Soviet era. Mikoyan’s project was as welcome to Soviet housewives, to whom it is dedicated, as Molokhovet's book had been to their great-grandmothers. Containing more than 1,400 recipes, it sold more than 8 million copies and has never been out of print since it’s 1952 publication (it was first issued in 1939, but the war hindered further print editions) Many of the recipes in the Book, as it is lovingly referred to, begin with “open a tin of…” reflecting the ubiquity of tinned food, as well as the fact that many Soviet citizens were still in possession of only one burner on a communal apartment stove. Mikoyan's book’s recipes contain ingredients that can be counted on the fingers of one hand and only a few simple steps. It also contains useful information on nutrition, cooking methods, and even the etiquette of setting a proper table, reflecting the post-war trend of returning to family life. Whereas Mikoyan's book is a government sponsored production for the masses, the 416 recipes of great variety in Princess Alexandre Gagarine's cookery book are strongly biased and worded due to the French influence in the Royal Kitchens of St.Petersburg, where great chefs like Careme and Urbain Dubois spent some time. This would have a profound knock-on effect on the kitchens and dining tables of the pre-revolution elite classes, who were strongly influenced by all things Royal. When reading the recipes one thing that surprises, is the amazing and varied abundance available, of the fresh food from water, land and air. A fascinating insight into a cuisine that is not so well known outside of Russia, plus a lifestyle that disappeared for a long time till the growth of new Russian middle and upper classes and the oligarchs, with their wealth, helped to re-establish a similar level of demand and consumption. Indeed, an ironic democratic dynamic.

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Modern category

ref number: 11266

Gouffe. Jules - With the original elaborate gilt binding.
THE ROYAL COOKERY BOOK
(LE LIVRE DE CUISINE) BY JULES GOUFFE CHEF DE CUISINE OF THE PARIS JOCKEY CLUB TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH AND ADAPTED FOR ENGLISH USE BY ALPHONSE GOUFFE HEAD PASTRY-COOK TO HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN COMPRISING DOMESTIC AND HIGH-CLASS COOKERY ILLUSTRATED WITH SIXTEEN LARGE PLATES PRINTED IN COLOUR, AND ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-ONE WOODCUTS FROM DRAWINGS FROM NATURE BY E. RONJAT. NEW EDITION LONDON SAMPSON LOW, SON, MARSTON, SEARLE, AND RIVINGTON CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET 1883 (All rights reserved)
245x170mm. 1fep. Half title with advertisement on verso. [1] Coloured Frontispiece with tissue guard. Title page in red and black text (with illustration of a beef forerib). [1] 1+vi Translators preface. 1+viii-xii Preface. 1+xvi Contents. (1)xvi Illustrations. 1p List of coloured plates. [1] 1p Part the first. [1] (1)4-573. [1] (1)576-599 Index. [1] 1fep. With the full original navy blue cloth binding and the elaborate gilt tolling on the spine and front boards. The spine has been expertly re-laid and strengthened and the gilt tooling is slightly darkened. All edges gilt. The Title page has one small 1/4" spot of foxing not affecting text. Overall a very good copy.
- The pleasing way the book is set out, the very good professional recipes, the numerous woodcuts, the sixteen magnificent coloured chromo-lithographed plates and especially with the original binding, makes this one of the more attractive books published. It is also one of the best professional cookery books that highlights a raised level of craftsmanship.

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Modern category

ref number: 11107

Hamp Pierre - He worked under Escoffier at the Savoy.
Kitchen Prelude
(Mes Metiers) by PIERRE HAMP Translated from the French by DOROTHY BOLTON (With a printers device) NEW YORK E.P. DUTTON & CO., INC.
FIRST ENGLISH EDITION 1933. 8vo. 193x140mm. 1fep. Half Title. [1] Title page. [1] 1-309. [1] 3feps. Original orange cloth binding with brown writing on the spine. The spine slightly sun bleached. Overall a very nice clean copy of a very scarce book. Not known if it should have a dj.
- Pierre Hamp has written a very interesting book of his life learning to be a Patissier and a main kitchen chef. He started his apprenticeship on Friday 13th November 1891 at M. Arthur Laborde's Patisserie at 13 Rue Demours in the Quartier des Ternes. At the bottom of the pecking order of thirteen apprentices and five cooks, he goes on to describe a very hard life (normal for the time) learning his trade. After his apprenticeship in Paris he moved to London and worked for some time under Escoffier at the Savoy. The blistering pace and hours as an apprentice gave him a highly critical professional sense that comes across in his writing. He also gives unique insights into the characters and personalities of a big Kitchen brigade that are not so different from those of today. Although Hamp is quite critical of Escoffier, one gets a unique sense of the chefs as people he had under his charge. A good read about a bygone age. Chefs reading this will see that many things remain the same, especially the sense of professionalism and pride of good well trained craftsmen.

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Modern category

ref number: 11075