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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 - An association copy; signed by Elizabeth David
Ma Cuisine
A. ESCOFFIER MA CUISINE 2,500 RECETTES FLAMMARION EDITEUR 26, RUE RACINE, PARIS
FIRST FRENCH EDITION. 1934. Original D/W with small chips at the top and bottom of the spine and folds at cover edges. Otherwise very bright. Fresh green cloth boards and spine with yellow writing. Slightly rubbed on the edges. The front paste-down has a signed dedication by E.D.: "For Colin with my love Liz May 23rd 1960" 1fep. Half-title. 1pp Du meme Auteur. Title page. [1] 5-8 Introduction. 9-673. 3pp Menus Types. 677-703 Table des Metieres. [1] 1fep. Unusually bright copy as the paper is usually quite browned.
- First French editions of Ma Cusine are quite scarce, but this one is rare, coming from E.D's library and with her signature. A real collectors item.

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Modern category

ref number: 11007

Nott. John - With the bookplate of 'Steuart of Allanton' one of the oldest Scottish families
The Cook and Confectioner DICTIONARY:
Or, the Accomplish’d Housewife’s Companion. CONTAINING, 1. The Choicest Receipts in all the several Branches of Cookery; or the best and newest Ways of dressing all sorts of Flesh, Fish, Fowl, &c. for a Common or Noble Table; with their proper Garniture and Sauces. 11. The best way of making Bisks, Farces, forc’d Meats, Marinades, Olio’s Puptons, Ragoos, Sauces, Soops, Potages, &c. according to the English, French and Italian Courts. 111. All manner of Pastry-workss, as Biskets, Cakes, Cheese-cakes, Custards, Pastes, Patties, Puddings, Pyes, Tarts, &c. 1V. The various Branches of Confectionary; as Candying, Conserving, Preserving, and Drying all sorts of Flowers, Fruits, Roots, &c. Also Jellies, Composts, Marmalades, and Sugar-works. V. The way of making all English potable Liquors; Ale, Beer, Cider, Mead, Metheglin, Mum, Perry, and all sorts of Eng-lish Wines; Also Cordials, and Beautifying Waters. V1. Directions for ordering an Entertainment, or Bills of Fare for all Seasons of the Year; and setting out a Desert of Sweeet-meats to the best Advantage: With an Explanation of the Terms us’d in Carving. According to the Practice of the most celebrated Cooks, Confectioners, &c. in the Courts of England, France, c. and many private and accomplish’d House-wives. The Second Edition with Additions. Revised and Recommended By John Nott, late Cook the Dukes of Somerset, Ormond and Bolton; Lord Landsdown and Ashburnham. LONDON: Printed H.P. for C. Rivington, at the Bible and Crown, in St. Paul’s Church-yard. 1724. [Price six Shillings.]
8vo. 2feps. [1] Frontis-piece by J.Pine. Title page in red and black type. [1] 4p Introduction with printers device at the top. 2p Divertisements in Cookery. No page numbers but by the Alphabet 1+AL-YO. 14p Bills of Fare and Terms for Carving and setting out Dessert. 17p Index. 1p Advertisements. 2feps. Beautiful original two-tone dark tan boards with a modern dark calf spine with rasied bands and blind tooling. With a dark tan label and gilt lettering. A nice tightly bound and clean copy.
- John Nott, Cook to his Grace the Duke of Bolton strikes one in no small measure as being quite eccentric, at least on paper. In his book, the dedication is addressed to ‘all good housewives’ and starts ‘Worthy Dames----‘ He carries on, ‘-----it is unfashionable for a Book to come abroad without an Introduction, as for a Man to appear at Church with-out a Neckcloth, or a Lady without a Hoop-petticoat----‘ further on he states, ‘----of which I am satisfied you are already very sensible, or extol my own Performance; however, I flatter myself it will not, to you, be unacceptable----‘ he further addresses the Ladies, ‘---I have not troubled you with Fucus’s and Paints, for the putting of false Faces upon Nature, because you, my Country Women, for the Generality of you (as is allow’d even by all ingenious Foreigners) stand less in need of artificial Faces (your natural ones being more amiable) than those of your Sex in neighbouring Nations, with all their Paintings and Daubings;-----‘ Nott un-does his own efforts near the end of the dedication by proclaiming, ‘---And, indeed, great Pity were it if this Beneficence of Providence should be marr’d in the ordering, so as justly to merit the Reflection of the old Proverb, that though “God sends us Meat, yet the Devil does Cooks”------.’ I am sure that if English and also foreign Housewifes, as potential customers, had read the Dedication before buying it, the sales of Nott’s book would have taken a severe dip. However in saying all of the above, it is after all, extremely scarce, interesting and well laid out. There are very few copies that come up for sale at auction, bookfairs, in antiquarian bookshops or dealers catalogues.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11037

Kitchiner. Dr William - With a hand written letter signed by Kitchiner.
THE ART OF INVIGORATING AND PROLONGING LIFE,
BY FOOD, CLOTHES, AIR, EXERCISE, WINE SLEEP, &C. AND PEPTIC PRECEPTS, POINTING OUT AGREEABLE AND EFFECTUAL METHODS TO PREVENT AND RELIEVE INDIGESTION, AND TO REGULATE AND STRENGTHEN THE ACTION OF THE BOWELS. Suaviter in mode, fortitier in re. TO WHICH IS ADDED, THE PLEASURE OF MAKING A WILL. Finis coronat opus. BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE COOK'S ORACLE," &C.&C.&C. THIRD EDITION, ENLARGED. LONDON PRINTED FOR HURST, ROBINSON, AND CO. AND CONSTABLE AND CO. EDINBURGH. 1822.
106 x 174mm. 2feps modern, with a tipped in hand written letter signed by Kitchiner. Half title. Verso with printer's info. Title page. [1] 1p Dedication. {1] (1)viii Preface. 1p Contents. Verso advertisement for 'The Cook's Oracle'. (1)2-288. (1)290-298. 2p Advertisements. 2fep modern. Nice modern bottle green half calf with cloth boards and calf tips. Spine with raised bands, gilt lines and gilt writing in two compartments. The top of the text block has been clipped with no loss except for the chart on p144 which has half the first line clipped. The title page slightly age browned but overall a nice copy.
- William Kitchiner M.D. (1775–1827) One of the great Regency eccentrics, was an optician, inventor of telescopes, amateur musician and exceptional cook. His name was a household word during the 19th century. His best known cookbook is ‘Apicius Redivivus, or the Cook's Oracle’. It includes 11 ketchup recipes, including two each for mushroom, walnut and tomato, and one each for cucumber, oyster, cockle and mussel ketchups. Unlike most food writers of the time he cooked the food himself washed up afterward, even performing all the household tasks he wrote about. He traveled around with his portable cabinet of taste; a folding cabinet, containing spices, mustards and sauces. He was also the creator of the Wow-Wow sauce. But Kitchiner was not a mere book publishing cook: he practised what he taught, and he had ample means for the purpose. From his father, a coal-merchant with an extensive business in the Strand, he had inherited a fortune of £60,000 or £70,000 (converted to 2017 rates, amounting to £5,502,155.56) which was more than sufficient to enable him to work out his ideal of life. His heart overflowed with benevolence and good humour, and no man better understood the art of making his friends happy. He showed equal tact in his books: his 'Cook's Oracle' is full of practical common-sense; and lest his reader should stray into excess, he wrote this book ‘The Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life’. With his ample fortune, Kitchiner was still an economist, and wrote a ‘Housekeeper's Ledger’, a 'Traveller's Oracle', and a coaxing volume entitled ‘The Pleasures of Making a Will’. He also wrote on astronomy, telescopes, and spectacles. In music he was proficient. In 1820, at the coronation of George IV, he published a collection of the National Songs of Great Britain, a folio volume, with a splendid dedication plate to His Majesty. Next he edited The Sea Songs of Charles Dibdin. At this time he resided at No. 43, Warren-street, Fitzroy-square. Though always an epicure, and fond of experiments in cookery, exceedingly particular in the choice of his viands and their mode of preparation for the table, Kitchiner was regular even abstemious in his general habits. His dinners were cooked according to his own method; He dined at five, supper was served at half-past nine and at eleven he retired. Every Tuesday evening he gave a conversazione, at which he delighted in bringing together professors and amateurs of the sciences and polite arts. On the 26th of February 1827, he was a guest at a large dinner-party given by Mr. Braham, the celebrated singer. He had been in high spirits, and had enjoyed the company to a later hour than his usually early habits allowed. Mathews was present, and rehearsed a portion of a new comic entertainment, which induced Kitchiner to amuse the party with some of his whimsical reasons for inventing odd things, and giving them odd names. He returned home, was suddenly taken ill, and in an hour he was no more! The handwritten letter was penned one year before his death in 1827 aged fifty two. Kitchiner is asking his correspondent to call upon Sir A. Carlisle "to hear his plan for a 'Book of Health'. Signed 'Wm Kitchiner Dec 23rd. 26. 43. Warren St. The relevant tipped-in note from Kitchiner gives this item an interesting rarity.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11099

Royal Menus.
Four Royal Menus from various Royal Palaces.
1 -- Two from Windsor Castle. 23rd January and 20th June. 1908. 2 -- One from Buckingham Palace. Friday. November 26th 1982. 3 -- One from Barmoral Castle. 1st September. 1912.
1 -- Two clean but slightly age browned (one a little more than the other) menu cards, edged in gilt with the crest of Edward VII. One is printed and the other is in very small neat hand writing, both in French. 2 -- Very clean menu card, edged in gilt with the crest of Queen Elizabeth. A simple menu printed in French. 3 -- Clean but slightly age browned menu card, edged in gilt with the crest of George V. A simple menu written by hand in light blue ink, and in French. All housed in a cardboard, marbled folder with a label on the front cover.
- Looking at these menus, one is immediately struck by; A - The are all written in French including the dates. B - They are all in the same format and size. Considering they span nearly 80 years, it is amazing. This gives a singular impression that things do not change in the Royal Households. Still keeping a tradition of writing their daily menus in French and not English, especially since modern British cookery has developed its own repertoire to such a high level and British chefs now compare with the best France has to offer. Quite rare and interesting items of Royal ephemera spanning two Royal Castles, a Palace and three Monarchs.

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Ephemera category

ref number: 10994

ANON. - Extremely scarce to rare; one of only three copies found.
Every Family's Cookery Book
OR, PLAIN AND PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR PROPERLY PREPARING, COOKING, AND SERVING-UP ALL SORTS OF PROVISIONS, COMPRISING MEATS, POULTRY, FISH, GAME. AND VEGETABLE FOOD. ALSO, Soups, Gravies, Sauces, Pies, Puddings, Pastry, Sweet Dishes, Sweetmeats, Cakes, Bread, Wines, Ale, Beer, Porter, Pickles, &c., &c., &c. DIRECTIONS OF CARVING. THE CHOOSING AND BUYING OF FISH, FLESH AND FOWL. BY AN EXPERIENCED COOK. WAKEFIELD: WILLIAM NICHOLSON AND SONS. London: S.D. EWINS &Co., 22, Paternoster Row.
FIRST EDITION. n/d circa 1850-64. 8vo 1fep replaced. Engraved frontispieces and Title page. [1] Title page. [1] 1p Introduction. [1] (1)8-405. (1)407-416 Index. 1fep. 10 plates of Carving, butcher's cuts, fish etc. Numerous engravings in-text. Engraved title pages uniformly browned. Slightly dusty throughout. With the original blind stamped and embossed dark green and blue fine cloth covers and spine with black relief and slightly faded gilt. Overall the text block is fine, albeit in a slightly used condition and with a lovely original cover.
- A cookery book with a difference! In the 'Introduction' we learn the book is the work of an Authoress. It is also very well laid out with very good plates that have obviously had more effort than usual applied to their production. The cover is very nice and unusual in its detail and presentation. Not in Bitting, Cagle, Attar, Oxford, Hazlitt. No copies in the B.L. Copac has 2 copies. One at the Guildhall Lib. London with no date, and another copy in Leeds, also with 416 pages, printed in Halifax dated 1864. This copy printed in Wakefield with same page collation, but with no date. A search of World Libraries provided no results. A probable minimum of 2 editions with this being the first. One assumes extreme scarcity to rarity.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11109

Langham. William - The 1633 edition.
THE GARDEN OF HEALTH
CONTAINING THE sundry rare and hidden vertues and properties of all kindes of Simples and Plants. Together with the manner they are to bee vsed and applyed in medicine for the health of mans body, against diuers diseases and infirmities most common amongst men. Gathered by the long experience and industry onf WILLIAM LANGHAM. Practitioner in Physicke. The second Edition corrected and amended. LONDON, Printed by THOMAS HARPER, with permission of the Company of Stationers. M.DC.XXXIII.
4to. 198 x 148mm. 1fep with flowing script - George King senior and Thomas King junior 1703. Title page. [1] 2 pages To the Reader. 4 pages Table of Simples. (1)2-702. 66 pages of A Table. 2feps with George King in script dated 1653, and George Thrift 1709. The dense text printed mainly in gothic type and 'indices' at the end of the chapters in roman type.Text block nice and tight and uniformly age browned but all clearly legible. Original dark brown leather on boards with a skillfully relaid spine with raised bands and gilt lettering. Has a nice patina. The inside cover paste-downs not placed showing original boards and leather edging.
- William Langham's ‘Book of Health’ is a concise medicinal herbal with many recipes interwoven into the text. Langham devotes a chapter to each plant, describing its parts and their uses. To every item of information he added a number, and at the end of the chapter there is a table of conditions relating to the numbers in the text. For instance under Fennel, one of the longest entries there are 132 items of information, ranging from ‘Adder biting’ to ‘Yard ache’. Included is a discussion of almonds, anis, apples, artichokes, barley, basil, beans, beets, bread, butter, capers, cardamom, carrots, caraway, chestnuts, cinnamon, citrons, cloves, cockles, coriander, crab, cress, cucumber, currants; that’s just a selection taken from the A-Cs. With two general indexes, one consisting of a list of 421 simples. The other index is the converse of the lists at the end of individual plants, as it indicates the ills and diseases that can be helped by the use of the many different plants. For example, forty-eight plants were indexed under consumption and eighty-eight under colic, whilst 'lust to abate' merited twenty, with thirty-five to cause it. The table repeatedly lists 10,000 plants that can be used for more than 1,150 conditions and functions. Langham includes some American plants that had only recently reached Europe. He was not the first to use this system. Henry Lyte’s English translation of Dodoen’s famous herbal ‘The New Herbal’ of 1578, [see item 11078 on this site] has four separate indexes; one for classic Latin names of plants; one for apothecaries, the Arabs and modern herbalists; one for the English names; and the fourth a subject index of what plants could do. While the title must have been influenced by the 'Gart der Gesundheit' published by Johann Wonnecke of Kaub in 1485, or the '[H]Ortus Sanitatis', published by Jacob Meydenbach in Mainz Germany on 23 June 1491, the text is quite independent. Langham's very rare text is absorbing and interesting, and when checked against known modern remedies it is amazing how many are similar. Every page has nuggets of information that seem to transcend time. The first edition was published in London, 1579. In the exhibition catalogue "Four Hundred Years of English Diet and Cookery" at the Bancroft Library, it is noted that "This may be the first use of cross-referencing." Like the Lilly Library, the Bancroft has the second edition only.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11197

Glasse. Hannah
THE Complete Confectioner:
OR, THE Whole Art of Confectionary Made Plain and Easy. SHEWING, THe various Methods of PRESERVING and CANDYING, both dry and liquid, all Kinds of Fruit, Flowers, and Herbs; the different Ways of CLARIFYING SU-GAR; and the Method of Keeping Fruit, Nuts, and Flowers fresh and fine all the Year round. ALSO DIRECTIONS for making Rock-Works and Carrots, Biscuits, Rich Cakes, Creams, Custards, Jellies, Whip Syllabubs, and Cheese-Cakes of all Sorts, Strong Cordials, Simple Waters, Mead, Oils, etc. Syrups of all Kinds, Milk Punch that will keep 20 Years, Knicknacks and Trifles for Deserts, etc. etc. etc. etc. LIKEWISE, The Art of making Artificial Fruit, with the Stalks in it, so as to resemble the natural Fruit. To which are added, Some Bills of Fare for Deserts for Private Families. By H. GLASSE, Author of the Art of Cookery. LONDON. Printed for J. Cooke at Shakespear's Head, in Pater-noster Row. MDCCLXXII.
8vo. Title page. 2p - To the HOUSEKEEPERS. 1-304. [1-XV1 CONTENTS] Internally very lightly age browned but overall, very clean. Half Dark brown calf with marbled boards. Raised bands with gilt lines and red label with gilt writing. Very good modern binding. A lovely copy of a scarce book.
- It has interestingly, 2 facsimile signatures of H. Glasse. One at the end of the notes for the Housekeepers and the other on the facing page. There are also 12 pages of Bills of Fare. This copy is the 1st edition 3rd issue of 1772. The 1st Edition, 1st issue was published - 1760. The 2nd issue, published 1765.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10969

Soyer. Alexis Benoit - A rare item of ephemera
An invitation card to the Dublin Soup Kitchen, signed by Soyer.
The cardboard invitation measures approx. 2"x3" It states: Soyer's Model Kitchen. For the Poor. Royal Barracks Esplanade. Admit (in manuscript [??] Jones) & Family. to the opening on Monday 5th April 1847. at half past 2 oClock. Within a simple decorated line border. Soyer's signature in blue ink at the bottom right hand corner.
Also enclosed are a two interesting articles copied from Irish newspapers, reporting on Soyers soup kitchens. Housed in a neat cardboard, marbled folder with a label on the front cover. An extremely rare item of Soyer ephemera.
- George Augustus Sala, on meeting Soyer in the Hungerford Market recalls, -- He wore a kind of paletôt of light camlet cloth, with voluminous lapels and deep cuffs of lavender watered silk; very baggy trousers, with lavender stripes down the seams; very shiny boots and quite as glossy a hat; his attire being completed by tightly-fitting gloves, of the hue known in Paris as 'beurre frais' — that is to say, light yellow. All this you may think was odd enough; but an extraordinary oddity was added to his appearance by the circumstance that every article of his attire, save, I suppose, his gloves and boots, was cut on what dressmakers call a "bias," or as he himself, when I came to know him well, used to designate as "à la zoug-zoug". He must have been the terror of his tailor, his hatter, and his maker of cravats and under-linen; since he had, to all appearance, an unconquerable aversion from any garment which, when displayed on the human figure, exhibited either horizontal or perpendicular lines. His very visiting-cards, his cigar-case, and the handle of his cane took slightly oblique inclinations. This explains precisely why this invitation card on offer here is such an odd shape; it is "à la zoug-zoug". After the Soup Kitchen Act was introduced on January 25th 1847, Soyer was invited by the Government and funded by private subscriptions, to go to Ireland during the winter of 1847 while the Great Famine was raging. The Soup Kitchen was set up on the banks of the Liffey in front of the Royal Barracks, Dublin. The wooden dining room was forty foot long by thirty feet wide. Soyer's soup was cooked and served from a 300 gallon boiler that looked like a traditional steam engine. It also had an oven at the end to bake one hundred-weight of bread at a time. The soup bowls were stuck to the table and the spoons were chained to the bowls. One hundred ate their soup with relish (according to the newspapers) then left when a bell rang, followed by another hundred who came in for their soup and piece of bread. The food was also conveyed by vehicles to distant outlying areas, for infants, the sick and the aged. Newspapers report that on the day of opening the Kitchens to the poor, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and other notables were invited to view the Kitchens and Dining room. This invitation card is for one of those guests on that occasion. This Gala opening also caused some outrage in some newspapers, due to the undignified way the poor had to eat the soup in front of the privileged Guests. Never the less Soyer's kitchen was successful and his services were retained by the Relief Commissioners. In the midst of much publicity, Soyer opened a number of 'model' Kitchens in Dublin. Under the Act, soup kitchens were to be established in each of the electoral divisions. By July 1847, 1,850 Soup kitchens were in operation feeding over 3 million people throughout Ireland. Soyer, long gone by this time, received a beautiful snuff box amid great fanfare before his departure.

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Ephemera category

ref number: 10991

David. Elizabeth - With a rare E.D. booklet on wine.
French Country Cooking.
French Country Cooking by Elizabeth David decorated by John Minton. HORIZON PRESS. New York.
FIRST EDITION. 1951. With clean slightly browned d/j. Frontispiece, title page, d/j and illustrations by John Minton. 1fep. 2p A Word from the Publisher to the Reader. 2p Acknowledgments. vii-x -Introduction. 2p Contents. 1p Batterie de Cuisine. [15-237](1) Index. 239-247. 1fep. Also enclosed is a booklet written by E.D. "The Use of Wine in Fine Cooking" (This booklet is designed by Saccone & Speed Ltd) The booklet is mentioned in the Acknowledgments and printed in full in the book. A very clean and unique copy, especially with the very rare E.D. booklet.
- As well as the famous John Minton designed dust jackets that David used on some of her early books, each chapter in this book is preceded by a full page Minton illustration, and also highlighted elsewhere by some smaller ones. Peter Ross, librarian at London Guildhall, who compiled an extensive list of annotations from 900 of her books obtained after her death, said: 'She was an extremely private person who gave very few interviews so we didn't get to find out a lot of what she thought when she was alive. She could be highly critical, and had a habit of writing her often biting remarks on post-its or even on the backs of the book receipts. Parts of her own publications also came in for criticism. She wrote in October 1983: 'I never did care very much for the John Minton illustrations for my books.'They are so cluttered and messy. They embarrass me now as much as they did in 1950.' E.D. published two booklets on "The Use of Wine in Fine Cooking". Although similar in appearance, they are both quite different, and are among the rarest of all her publications.

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Modern category

ref number: 10996