Senn   C. Herman     - The best edition.
Practical Gastronomy
AND CULINARY DICTIONARY WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED 'RECHERCHE COOKERY" UP-TO-DATE DESCRIPTIONS of the FOLLOWING BRANCHES -- HORS-D'OEUVRES, SOUPS, DRESSED FISH, ENTREES, REMOVES, SAUCES, ROASTS, SECOND COURSE DISHES, VEGETABLES, SALADS, SWEETS, AND SAVOURIES. Sketches and Quotations of Culinary Literature. A COMPLETE MENU COMPILER AND REGISTER OF MOST KNOWN DISHES IN ENGLISH AND FRENCH. WITH PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE SAME. THIRD EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED BY CHARLES HERMAN SENN. INSPECTING AND CONSULTING CHEF DU CUISINE, NATIONAL TRAINING SCHOOL OF COOKERY, DISTINGUISHED WITH THE GRAND DECORATION OF "LE CORDON ROUGE" GOLD MEDALLIST AND MEMBER OF THE ACADEMIE DE CUISINE, PARIS. Published by SPOTTISWOODE & CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE, LONDON. [1895]
Very thick 8vo. 17.5 X 11.5cm. Black paste-downs and end-papers. 1fep. Half Title with illustration on verso of 'Cornet of Nougat' [1] Frontispiece printed in brown. Title page with top illustration of 4 fairies working in a kitchen. (The punctuation on the title page is inconsistent: a single quotation-mark precedes, and double marks follow 'Recherche Cookery') [1] 3-6 Preface. 7-10 Contents. 11-916. 917-926 Index. 1-9 Advertisements. 9 plates printed in brown. Many in text illustrations. Modern half black calf with marbled boards and calf corners. Raised bands with beautiful gilt lines, dots and dentelles. With two calf labels, red and green with gilt writing. A pristine copy with very slight foxing on the half title and back of frontispiece.
- Charles Herman Senn, born in Lirstal, Switzerland,1864, died at his desk at 110 Victoria Street, London on 18th October 1934. He was a prolific writer of cookery books. Driver lists thirty two separate titles with one hundred and forty three various editions. Driver states; "Considering Senn's stature in the culinary world and his remarkable output of cookery books, it is odd that there is no authoritative biography or evaluation of the man and his work. The richest source of information is LCoF which owns Senn's library. Most significant in the collection are Senn's working copies of his own books marked up with changes for subsequent editions. Also in the collection are review copies signed by their authors and sent to Senn for his comments, which as a group present a picture of the cookery-book publishing world of the time with an immediacy not found in the copyright libraries." This third edition of Senn's 'Practical Gastronomy' is considered the best and the scarcest and the most appreciated by collectors and chefs. This edition had the chapter 'Recherche cookery' added. This increased the book to 806 numbered recipes, in turn creating a very thick tome and a fascinating read.

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Antiquarian category
ref number: 11011