Rose.   Giles     - Complete copy of one of the rarest cookery books
A perfect School of INSTRUCTIONS For the Officers of the Mouth:
SHEWING The Whole ART of A Master of the Household, A Master Carver, A Master Butler, A Master Confectioner, A Master Cook, A Master Pastryman. Being a Work of singular Use for Ladies and Gentlewomen, and all Persons whatsoever that are desirous to be acquainted with the most Excellent ARTS of Carving, Cookery, Pastry, Preserving, and Laying a Cloth for Grand Entertainments. The like never before extant in any Language. Adorned with Pictures curiously Ingraven, displaying the whole Arts. By Giles Rose one of the Master Cooks in His Majesties Kitchen. LONDON, Printed for R. Bentley and M. Magnes, in Russel-street in Covent Garden, 1682.
FIRST and SOLE ENGLISH EDITION. 12mo. 2fep. Title Page with single line border. 8pp The Dedication. 10pp To the Reader. 4pp The Contents. 1-563 [1] 2fep. Forty two woodcut illustrations (most of which are full page) in the text. Internally very clean with no browning or foxing. Contemporary dark brown calf with double blind-fillet around the sides. Red morocco label with gilt lettering. Raised bands and overall, a nice patina. In it's original complete state; an exceptional rarity.
- The rare English edition of 'L'Ecole Parfaite des Officiers de Bouche' first French edition of 1662. One of the most important and popular titles of 17th century French Gastronomy. This English edition comprises of the six original books, (and not five as is sometimes supposed) 'Le Maistre de Hostel; or, Steward of a Family; 'Le grand Escuyer tranchant; or, The Great Master Carver; 'Le Sommelier Royal; or, The Royal Butler; 'Le Confiturier Royal; or, The Royal Confectioner; 'Le Cuisinier Royal; or, The Royal French Master Cook; and 'Le Pastissier Royal; or, The Royal Pastry Cook'. Including numerous primitive woodcuts depicting table settings and various carving methods, including more than fifty ways of carving fruit. An interesting aside is that the engraved plates mirror (especially the fruit carvings) the very rare treatise on the art of carving by Jacques Vontet's - 'L'art de Trancher la Viande et Toutes Sortes des Fruits' [circa Lyon 1647]. Oxford states "It seems an excellent book, although it contains some strange things: 'Wine for the Gods', 'Sauce d'Enfer', 'Sheeps Feet for an Afternoon drinking" There are directions for folding napkins. There are dozens of ways of cooking eggs -- 'Eggs a l'Intrigue', 'Eggs a la Negligence', etc - and dozens of different pies and tarts, including 'a tart of frogs', 'a tart made with tortoise' and Sausages made from the Brain of a Capon'. Simon Gough states with insight in one of his wonderfully eccentric catalogues 'Food for Thought' -- "it is curious how few great collections of cookery books contain this volume". By way of an answer, he further proclaims, -- "It is one of the rarest cookery books in the English language" In past years at auction, there are no copies in any of the great cookery book collections of Schraemli, Westbury, Simon, Lambert, Crahan, Wretman, Marks. There was an incomplete copy from Simon Hall's collection, sold at the Dominic Winter Book Auctions in 2005. In the 80's Simon Gough had the complete 'Lister' copy for sale in his 47th catalogue. The Lister copy came up again at auction in the Cetus Library sale at Bloomsbury Books on Sept. 22nd 2011, proving just how very few there are in circulation. No more than three recorded; with one of them incomplete. One complete copy was available at the online California Book Fair, March 2021. OCLC indicates eight copies only; Bitting p.407; Cagle p970; Oxford p42; Wing R1933.

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ref number: 10959