Petits Propos Culinaires.
Journals 1 - 9. And Alan Davidson's 47 page Funeral booklet of essays and recipes.
Approx, 9 x 188 x 134 mm. All booklets as new. Also has the supplement to # 3. Housed in a red cloth covered slipcase with two black labels with gilt text and tooling. Also a fine mint copy of Alan Davidson's Funeral Cookbook. Consisting of 47 pages, and handed out to attendees at his Memorial Service, Chelsea Old Church, London, 19th February, 2004.
- Petits Propos Culinaires [PPC] was launched February 1979. It was described by the editor Alan Davidson [AD] as a semi-academic triannual periodical dealing with all things gastronomic. The initial partners with Elizabeth David [ED] and AD. were eight others. These nine booklets have the signatures of AD and ED. The first issued booklet is a limited edition of 100, of which this one is # 24. As well as being signed by AD. there is also an inscription "For the McKirdys with many thanks for their highly effective sales promotion". Mike and Tessa McKirdy were dealers of books on cookery and gastronomy. They also published much appreciated and anticipated regular catalogues. From AD's inscription we can see that the McKirdys had promoted the PPC publications. These nine booklets have originally come from the McKirdy's collection. Booklets 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 & 9 have signed complimentary slips by AD. inserted for Mike and Tessa. From one of the slips we see the McKirdys had a regular package of twenty of each of the published booklets to sell in their catalogue. Booklet 3 is signed by Elizabeth David [ED] on page nine over an essay titled 'The Harvest of Cold Months'. This was a preview of ED's large book of the same name first published 1994. Booklets 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 are also signed by ED. This set is very unique as I have another set of PPCs (see item # 11088 on this site) and none of them are signed by ED. but are all signed by AD. PPC is a wonderful source of information, essays, notes and bibliographical details by many famous expert contributors, on all the ages of cookery, gastronomy and the authors. Also included is a copy of AD's Funeral Cookbook. A booklet of essays and recipes composed by Davidson as a memento to be handed out to those attending his Memorial Service, Chelsea Old Church, London, 19th February, 2004. The cover depicts the design of the label for the marmalade Alan made every year from his family’s recipe. There is one illustration by Glen Baxter. Davidson came across the idea of the funeral cookbook custom in Thailand, where a person composes a small cookbook before her or his death so that it can be distributed to mourners attending the funeral. Davidson's version starts with a short essay on this subject, followed by recipes for marmalade, Greek chicken and fish, epicure's kidneys, fricased skate, Con's mince, toad in the hole, waterzooi, meat loaf, smothered cabbage, aubergine gratin, fried zucchini, Tabitha Tickletooth's bread and butter pudding, apple crumble tart, trifle, fluffy tapioca pudding, Susan's grape dessert (all these collected from a variety of sources). From a personal point of interest, this very unique set had a immediate impact on me when I found it, not only because of Elizabeth David and Alan Davidson, both of whom I greatly admired, but that of Mike McKirdy whom I considered a friend and now sadly has passed on as well. A treasured item.
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Modern category
ref number:
11282