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Dubois. Urbain - An association copy; from the library of William Heptinstall
Artistic Cookery
ARTISTIC COOKERY. A PRACTICAL SYSTEM SUITED FOR THE USE OF THE NOBILITY AND GENTRY AND FOR PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENTS. WITH EIGHTY ENGRAVED PLATES: BY URBAIN DUBOIS CHEF DE CUISINE OF THEIR MAJESTIES THE KING AND QUEEN OF 'CUISINE-CLASSIQUE' AND 'CUISINE DE TOUS LES PAYS'. -- En ce siecle de vigueur et d'activite fecondes, il est evident, que le bien-etre et le comfort entrent pour une grande part dans les aspirations de l'humanite; car plus les peuples gagnet en intelligence, plus ils devienment gourmets! U.D. LONDON; LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 1870. THE RIGHT OF TRANSLATION IS RESERVED.
FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. Large thick 4to. Paste-downs and end-papers in light yellow, front and back. With 'IW&FS' (International Wine and Food Society) headed bookplate of William Heptinstall, the Chef-Patron of the Fortinghall Hotel, Perthshire. Half-title. [2] 1pp Round engraved head portraits of Wilhelm and Augusta Von Preussen. 1pp Elaborate engraved title page - Artistic DUBOIS Cookery. [1] Title Page. Signature of Urbain Dubois on verso. 2pp Dedication. 3pp Preface. [1] xi-xiv Service of the Table. [1] 2pp Summary and Menu. [2] 1pp Service a' la Russe, engraved plate of a set Dinner Table. xvii- lv Bills of Fare. 1-231. 232-236 Index. 237-244+[1] Advertisements for Dubois's Books. [1] Original clean red cloth binding with original gilt lettering on spine. A very nice copy of the extremely scarce first edition in its original state, with a nice association.
- This volume is the English translation of Dubois' great French classic "La Cuisine Classique". Within the 244 pages are 80 fresh bright copper- engraved plates showing 337 examples of meat, fish and dessert arranged on exquisite serving dishes or stands. The presentation of the food is incredibly grand, ornamental and stylish, including classical, rococco, gothic and oriental and often with almost inedible centre pieces. The decorations place this work in the field of decorative art almost as much as cookery. Dubois spent much of his career as chef to Prince Orloff of Russia and Emperor Wilhelm of Prussia and greatly influenced the courts and great houses of Europe. William Heptinstall was an influential Hotelier, Caterer and Author in the 1950's. He wrote "Hors d'oeuvre & Cold Table" - first edition; 1959.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11017

Laurent Paul
Artistic Sugar Work
and Petit Fours. Maclaren & Sons Ltd., London & Glasgow. "Craft" Series.
FIRST AND SOLE EDITION 1934. Square 8vo. 205x205mm. 1fep. Half title. [1] Title page. [1] 1p Introduction. [1] 1p Section 1. [1] 9-175. 1p Contents. 1fep. With many b/w photographs in text. Full maroon cloth binding. With gilt lettering on the front board and spine. In very good condition with very slight rubbing at the top and bottom of the spine only.
- Paul Laurent was the Chef Patissier and Confectioner for 10 years at the Langham Hotel, London. This is a book dedicated to other professionals. Definitely not something the housewife would browse to find a little table decoration to make for a Saturday evening dinner party. The b/w photographs do not really do justice to this area of gastronomic craftmanship. They still manage to show that when done well, pieces of sugar work can surprise and amaze the uninformed. In the brigades of big professional kitchens, chefs competent and skilled in the difficult art of sugar-pulling and sugar-blowing were/are very rare. Books on sugar-work are rarer still.

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Modern category

ref number: 11077

Roux. Albert & Michel - With both brother's signatures.
At home with the Roux Brothers.
ALBERT AND MICHEL ROUX. BBC Books.
FIRST EDITION 1988. 230 x 150mm. Half Title. On the verso - a tipped in 'good-wishes' card from Albert and Michel Roux, signed by each. Title page. Printer's info. on verso. p5 Contents. p6 Acknowledgements. p7-13 Introduction. 14-219. 220-223 Index. [1]. Soft cardboard covers. In very good condition. As new.
- The Roux brothers themselves come from a family of humble charcutiers in Charolles, France. The brothers trained as pâtissiers, and came to London to seek their fortunes in the 1950s. Albert worked as a private chef for Nancy Astor; Michel worked for the Rothschilds. In his memoir-cum-recipe book, A Life in the Kitchen (2009), Michel Jr describes an idyllic childhood – a world of everyday feasts and family gatherings, living on a big estate in Shipbourne, Kent. The only arguments Michel Jr can remember were about food. "My father and my uncle would have furious arguments over how to make an omelette ... As far back as I can remember, family and food were the most important things in our lives." In the school holidays, Albert would wake Michel Jr at one or two in the morning to go to Billingsgate fish market, then Smithfield for meat, and Covent Garden for fruit and veg. Albert's wife, Monique, would drive to Paris for ingredients unobtainable in England. Eventually, of course, the pressures took their toll: Albert and Monique divorced in 2001. They both remarried. Albert and Michel opened the present Le Gavroche at 43 Upper Brook St, in Mayfair, London. In 1974, the Roux brothers were awarded their first Michelin star for their cooking at Le Gavroche. In 1977, they were awarded a second, and in 1982 they were awarded their third. Le Gavroche was the first British restaurant to be so honoured. Michelin stars for the brothers' other restaurant, the Waterside Inn at Bray, in Berkshire, soon followed. The Roux family tradition continues. Michel Jr trained as a patissier, and now runs Le Gavroche, having taken over the restaurant from his father in 1993. Michel Sr's son, Alain, now runs the Waterside Inn, which has been awarded three Michelin stars for 25 years consecutively. In an article online from the Radio Times a small synopsis tells us that the Roux Brothers are going to do a series of 13 programmes starting on BBC 2 on the 23rd October 1988. It further states; Albert and Michel Roux , famous chef-restaurateurs, dip into the stock pot; pull apart some bouquets garnis; argue about the way to make watercress soup, and clarify consommes. But whatever the arguments, both brothers agree that the important thing is to enjoy cooking. As Albert says, good food is a pleasure that transcends national boundaries. You don't have to be French to be good at it. This is the book from that cookery show.

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Modern category

ref number: 11312

ATHENAEUS.
Banquet des Savans, par Athenee,
Traduit, tant sur les Textes imprimes, que sur plusieurs Manuscrits, Par M. LEFEBVRE DE VILLEBRUNE. ---- Pour nous, qui ne pouvons lus consulter qu'une tres-petite des Auteurs alegues par Athenee, et qui ne tronvons que danas son livre cent particularites curieuses dont il parle, nous regardons sa compilation comme un tresor tres-precieux. BAYLE, Dict. ---- A PARIS, Chez LAMY, Libraire, quai des Augustines, no. 26. DE L'IMPRIMERIE DE MONSIEUR. M.DCC.LXXXIX. AVEC APPROBATION, ET PRIVELEDGE DU ROI. Five Volumes -- Tomes 1-4 dated 1789. Tome 5 dated 1791.
FIRST EDITION. 4to. TOME.1 Frontispiece. Title page. 1-504 [3] TOME.2 Half-title. Title page. 1-537 misprinted as 503 [3] TOME 3. Half-title. Title page. 1-563 [4] TOME 4. Half-title. Title page. 1-561 [4] TOME 5. Half-title. Frontispiece. first title page -- OEUVRES D' ATHENEE ou Le Banquet DES SAVANS. A PARIS, Chez LAMY, Libraire, quai des Augustines, no. 26. M.DCC.XCII. 2nd Title page. with date M.DCC.XCII. The first four title pages have the date - M.DCC.LXXXIX. [i-x] 1-562. All volumes in quarter bottle green calf with green mottled paper boards, calf corners and gilt lines. Spines have raised bands, tome number and gilt lettering. A little wear to the boards, and very clean and crisp internally. Overall a handsome and very scarce set.
- Jean Baptiste Lefebvre de Villebrune's (1732-1809) effort at the first serious translation into French of Athenaeus's Greek classic about eating habits. Athenaeus [fl.3rd century], in particular, presents the Greek and Oriental kitchens in all their aspects, and with his marvelous erudition, proves himself a Burton of Gastronomy- the most accomplished Master of Feasts that antiquity has produced. The book is a symposium held by 21 artists, writers, musicians and surgeons, discussing all things, which according to Greek custom, should adorn a banquet. The names of the most famous gastronomes and of the most celebrated cooks are recorded. The virtues and qualities of wines are the subjects of long discourses. Table ornaments and decoration are also covered -- (Ben Kinmont. Cat.2. 2000.) Kinmont also notes that Lamy published another edition of 4 volumes only, in the same year, but with vingettes. This set, although five instead of four volumes, also has the beautiful vingettes. A very desirable set. A rare recording of gastronomic history.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10943

Escoffier. Georges Auguste - The Master's abbreviated reference work.
BIBLIOTHEQUE PROFESSIONNELLE L'Aide-Memoire Culinaire
SUIVE D'UNE Etude sur les Vins Francais et Etrangers a l'usage des Cuisiniers, Maitres d'hotel et Garcons de Restaurant PAR A. ESCOFFIER PARIS 1919 - Tous droits de traductions et de reproduction reserve pour tous pays.
FIRST EDITION. 175x115mm. Half-Title. Title page. V-VIII. 1-360. no feps. Original clean cardboard covers with an exact replication of the Title page. Spine sometime re-backed in sympathetic tan calf with gilt lettering running the length. A very nice copy mercifully free of the heavy browning that usually happens to paper of that period. Escoffier's facsimile signature on the verso of the half-title. A nice copy of a rare first edition.
- Escoffier's L'Aide Memoire is very similar to Louis Saulnier's 'Le Reportaire de la Cuisine' a standard work of reference used in the Catering Industry and Colleges. Where 'Le Repertoire' is the work of Escoffier's pupils, Escoffier's own work is the pocket memory aid to his great classic 'Guide to Modern Cookery'. Due to its abbreviated format of listing ingredients without quantities nor preparation notes, it is aimed at giving a quick reminder to the professional chef while actually working on the dish they are referencing. It also gives a great insight into Escoffier's genius for detailing the re-organising of the contemporary modern kitchen. The least known of Escoffier's published works. This is probably because 'Le Repertoire', first published in French in 1914, and subsequently published into English in 1924, was used extensively by all Catering college students while Escoffier's 'L'Aide Memoire' was never translated from French into another language.

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Modern category

ref number: 10977

Bocuse. Paul - Signed on the back by Bocuse.
Black and white photograph of Bocuse.
In a black frame with a wide white border.
Frame size 24" x 20". Actual photograph size 16" x 10.5". Unfortunately signed illegibly in pencil by the photographer on the bottom left hand corner. With a very decorative greeting card tipped in to the back of the frame. The card has a small coloured illustration of Bocuse's Restaurant at the top with a dedication written in felt tip; "Avec nos meilleurs salutations Paul Bocuse".
- An unusual item in that it shows the great chef, Paul Bocuse, in the kitchen of his restaurant “Auberge du Pont de Collonges” situated four kilometers north of Lyon on the banks of the Saône near the Pont de Collonges. He is standing at the butchers block about to carve up a raw chicken, but distracted for a moment by barking out some instructions. A chef will recognise this as a very typical vignette of a Chef/Patron in the middle of a busy service in a hot frantic kitchen during meal times. Most photographs of Bocuse usually show him standing but relaxed, dressed in crisp whites with arms folded, in an elegant restaurant dining room. Bocuse was at the forefront of the much misunderstood and abused "Nouvelle Cuisine" movement of the early 1970's. It had a huge impact on the methods of cooking and serving food in fine Restaurants. It very rightly endeavored to break away from the heavy, overly rich classical cooking that was a legacy of the war years and after and with the subsequent rationing that followed till the 1950's. Quite wrongly, Escoffier's name was used to brand the old style of cooking in reaction to the lightness and freshness demanded on the day. This was erroneous as anyone can see, should they read the preface of Escoffier's great cookery classic 'Le Guide Culinaire'. Therein, Escoffier demands fresh ingredients, reductions and light sauces compared the the heavily produced dishes of the classical Bel Epogue era before the wars. Bocuse and others of the Nouvelle Cuisine movement eventually changed cooking quite dramatically. Interestingly, Escoffier has now had a revival in appreciation, and is being once again understood for the great Master that he was. Ironically the term 'Nouvelle Cuisine' was also used to describe the new ways and dishes that Escoffier was writing about in 1903 after the publication of his first book. This photograph of Bocuse is a very scarce unique item especially with the yellow card bearing his signature .

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Ephemera category

ref number: 11184

BRADSHAW. PENELOPE Very scarce 9th ed. circa 1747.
BRADSHAW'S VALUABLE FAMILY JEWEL,
BEING A STORE-HOUSE OF SUCH Curious Matters as All ought to be acquainted with, who intend to spend their lives either pleasant or profitable. Containing All that relates to CONFECTIONARY, COOKERY, PASTRY, PRESERVING, (with a small perpendicular line between) PICKLING, CORDIALS, MADE WINES, , BREWING &c. With a great Number of other Necessary Articles not to be met with in any other Book: Particularly, an excellent Method for the Management of a Beer-Cellar: How to keep Ale or Beer always exceeding Fine; and how to restore four Beer to its first Perfection; which Article has been of the utmost Service to the Purchasers of this Book. Likewise, an excellent Method to preserve a constant Stock of Yeast, even in the most scarce Seasons. In this Book is likewise inserted Mons. Millien's Method of preserving Metals from Rust, such as Guns, Grates, Candle-Sticks, &c. for the Discovery of which the Royal Academy of Paris gave him 10,000 l. (one long horizontal line) By Mrs. Penelope Bradshaw. (a second-long horizontal line) The Nineth [sic] Edition. [Price One Shilling.]
Small octavo. n/d circa 1747. 155 x 100 mm. Original inside cover and end-papers marbled. [1] 1fep. Title page. [1] 2p To the Reader. (1)vi-xi Index. (1)13-96. 2feps. Foxing or other spotting throughout; edges trimmed at an early date, just barely effecting text, but still full text is legible throughout. Early paper restoration to fore edge to pages of 49-56, again not effecting text. All in all, a handsome copy of a very scarce book.
- This book is as confusing as 'Edward Kidder's Receipts of Pastry and Cookery', to bibliographically ascertain publishing dates. Maclean on page 14 states the earliest known edition of this work is the 10th edition which was "certainly" printed in 1748. Then confusingly she notes no edition before the her stated fifth (with very large additions included within the 136 pages) of 1749. Then to top it all off, she has a stated 6th ed also "certainly" printed in 1749 and has a sixth of 1754. She also assumes; "Mrs. Bradshaw could have been misusing edition numbers to imply by 1748 that she had written a work that was much in demand". Given that the some editions appeared in earlier years, it is quite possible that the publishers began with a late edition number either to make the book sound more popular to the buying public, or if the recipes were lifted from other authors thus avoiding accusations of plagiarism by claiming that Bradshaw's book had already appeared earlier. All editions are rare with only three auction records cited for all editions. [OCLC locates ten copies of all editions, and just one copy (LOC) of this edition; ESTC N65042; Bitting, page 56; citing this edition (LOC copy); Cagle 575 (see notes); Maggs Bros, Catalogue 582; not in Oxford nor Vicaire. Villinova University Library includes 1748, 1749 & 1751 editions. The Wellcome Collection has a 1749 ed. Penn State University Library has a 12th ed.of 1749. Australian Libraries has a 10th ed of 1748. Because of the mind-boggling variance in dated editions, this stated ninth can possibly be dated 1747 or earlier.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11333

ROYAL WEDDING CAKE.
BRIDE CAKE
made by HUNTLEY & PALMERS, LIMITED. for THE LADY ELIZABETH BOWES-LYON on the occasion of her Marriage with H.R.H. THE DUKE OF YORK, K.G. at WESTMINSTER ABBEY APRIL 26TH, 1923. With a finely illustrated border of two intertwining ribbons. The back cover is a little stained and the front cover has a couple of small smudges. Internally very clean.
210 x 172mm. Front cover with fine delicate drawing with the couple's portraits. Above them is the family crests. Underneath the wedding date of 1923. Beautifully delineated with silver and blue. Title page. [1] 2p of The Lady Elizabeth's noble background and her ancestral home of Glamis Castle. A full-page b/w photograph of the huge cake. [1] 9p of description of the tiers of the cake and the symbolism of the decoration. The back page with 2 illustrations of a standing Lion and Lioness. symbolising the couple's Royal connections. Housed in a sympathetic blue and silver marbled cardboard folder.
- Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions from 1936 to 1952 as the wife of King George VI. As George's wife, she was the last empress of India. After her husband died, she was known as Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, the present Queen, Elizabeth II. Born into a family of British nobility, she only came to prominence in 1923 when she married the Duke of York, the second son of King George V and Queen Mary. The couple and their daughters Elizabeth and Margaret, embodied traditional ideas of family and public service. The Duchess undertook a variety of public engagements and became known for her consistently cheerful countenance. In 1936, Elizabeth's husband unexpectedly became king when his older brother, Edward VIII, abdicated in order to marry the American divorcée Wallis Simpson. Elizabeth then became queen. She accompanied her husband on diplomatic tours to France and North America before the start of the Second World War. During the war, her seemingly indomitable spirit provided moral support to the British public. After the war, her husband's health deteriorated, and she was widowed at the age of 51. Her elder daughter, aged 25, became the new queen. After the death of Queen Mary in 1953, Elizabeth was viewed as the matriarch of the British royal family. In her later years, she was a consistently popular member of the family, even when other members were suffering from low levels of public approval. She continued an active public life until just a few months before her death at the age of 101 years, 238 days, which was seven weeks after the death of her younger daughter, Princess Margaret. This brochure of the Queen Mother's wedding cake was following a long Royal tradition of making public the details and pageantry of a Royal marriage, all carefully presented and choreographed. The cake had four tiers. The base Tier 7.5 feet in circumference. The decoration of all the tiers was very carefully inclusive and thought out, to include all the aspects of the couple's nobility and the various strands of ancestry and contemporary obligations. Described here in amazing detail. Very rarely found appearing on the market.

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Ephemera category

ref number: 11316

Ritz. M.L. - Signed by Madame Ritz.
Cesar Ritz.
A PARIS EDITIONS JULES TALLANDIER 17, RUE REMY-DUMONCEL.
FIRST EDITION. (copyright 1948) 1fep. Half Title with a dedication – “A Monsieur A. Kienberger Souvenir du Cinqn au tenaire en Jenuoiguage de Symphathie – Marie Louise Ritz. June 1948. (apologies for possible mistakes. Madame Ritz’s writing is hard to decipher). [2] Frontispiece photograph of Cesar Ritz. [1] 1p Dedication to Colonel Hans Pfyffer d’ Altishofon. [1] 1p Avertissement. [1] 11-285(1) 1fep. Numerous early full-page b/w photographs. Pages untrimmed and some uncut. Cream paper covers, with a picture of the Paris Ritz Hotel on the front. On the back a printers device.
- This is the story of a great Hotelier written by his dedicated wife Marie Louise Ritz. She was also a very experienced Hotelier in her own right, taking over the running of the Ritz Hotels after Cesar’s well documented breakdown. Even tho’ the last years of Ritz’s life were sad, he made a fundamental and profound change to Hotels. His innovations are little realised, even by those at the top of the industry today. What Cesar Ritz consciously set out to achieve was design hotels from the ground up for the benefit of women only. Using all the new inventions like electricity, hot water in bathrooms in each room, beautiful feminine furnishings and décor and above all fine food. To that end he teamed up with his old colleague & collaborator Auguste Escoffier, the great Chef. Escoffier joined Ritz at his first venture in England in April 1890, at the newly built Savoy Hotel. Escoffier had initially refused to join Ritz in London, but after a visit, he was overwhelmed by the innovative beauty of the new hotel and took charge of the kitchens. This was the final arrangement that assured the Savoy's success. Ritz very astutely understood that if women were enticed thro the doors of his well thought out establishments, and above all felt comfortable there, their men would follow. This proved to be a huge success, causing an industry sea-change, highlighting the poor way hotels had operated up until then, having always been designed solely for the use of men. Women had not frequented these places since their inception centuries before. Now Ritz’s hotels had a huge customer increase, targeting approximately 50% of the population that had never eaten out before. Not only that, the occupancy of hotel rooms increased dramatically. In the book Madame Ritz tells of his triumphs with understandable pride, filling her pages with the names of royalty, statesmen, famous beauties and those who follow them. Discretion prevents her from making her book more than a collection of society-gossip paragraphs, but the collection covers a period of great social change. Ritz was successful because he anticipated most of those changes; many distinguished people saw their first real bathroom in a Ritz hotel. Marie-Louise Ritz, nee Beck, was born in Alsace on the 29th October 1867, the daughter of a hotelier family. Her mother owned a small hotel in Menton. On 16th January 1888, 38 year old Caesar Ritz married the well educated and multi-lingual young lady who was only 21 years old. Before the marriage there had been a long period of friendship and companionship. Their wedding took place in Cannes. Marie-Louise Ritz gave birth to two sons: Charles and René Ritz. Cesar was the undoubted star of the hotel industry, and was managing up to ten hotels at the zenith of his accomplishments. Shortly after that he began to suffer from breakdowns and depression. In 1902 his illness forced him to pass over his business to his wife Marie-Louise Ritz. She carried on her husband's hotel empire as first hotel manageress in the world. Caesar Ritz retreated to his beloved home village Niederwald, in Central Switzerland, for the last 16 years. He died in a clinic on the 25th October 1918. Marie-Louise had him buried in the graveyard of Père Lachaisein, Paris. On Saturday 14th January, 1961, a special train from Paris took the small coffin of the deceased Marie-Louise Ritz, and in a larger one, containing the disinterred bodies of Caesar Ritz and his son René Ritz. The two coffins were laid out in the birth house of Caesar on the outskirts of the little village. The village people walked by loyally until Monday and prayed for their great son and his family. On Monday morning the two coffins were then laid out on the village square next to the Ritz Memorial Well. On the same day a special train brought the mourners. At the head of the group was Cesar & Louise’s first-born son, 70 year old Charles Ritz, the owner of the Hotel Ritz in Paris. The whole village of Niederwald took part in the burial with all of the older generation who knew the Ritz family personally. The press of the world were also present. This is a story of a couple who, thro’ very hard work, vast experience, attention to the finest details, achieved a lasting reputation for the highest quality and service that even earned them lasting affection and gratitude from not only the elite of European society, but all the people that benefited from their enterprise.

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Modern category

ref number: 11229

Burton. George F.
Chocolates & Bon-bons
THE "NEW AREA" CHOCOLATE BOOK Home Made Chocolates Bon-Bons : Desserts Fine Art Sugar Work Sugar confectionery in General including Up-to-date Con-tinental Novelties & Finest Specialities &c. &c. COPYRIGHT BY GEORGE F. BURTON Gold Medallist, Author of "Cake-Making," etc.
FIRST EDITION. Circa 1924. 4to. 2feps. [1] Frontispiece of b&w photograph of George F. Burton. Title page. [1] 1pp Contents. 1pp Preface. 5-149. [1] 5pp Index. 1pp Illustrations. 2pp Advertisements. 1fep. Dated on the Preface; Blackpool 1924. Tan cloth covers and spine with black blind stamped writing. With an embossed round medallion of a chocolate on gilt on the front cover.A small 1" tear at the top of the spine. Some very light water-stains on the back cover. Full page illustrations in monochrome and many more in wonderful vivid colours. Some in-text illustrations as well. Overall a very handsome copy of a rare book.
- This book of confectionery is a fabulous piece of self-promotion by Burton. He proclaims himself on the Title page and Preface as a -- Gold Medallist and author of world famed book "Cake Making, Icing and Breads" Whatever Burton's self-belief, this is a very nice professional Chocolatier's and Confectioner's book of the time, made all the more attractive by the twelve beautiful lithograph plates.

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Modern category

ref number: 11005