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Rabelais
- Fine Books on Food & Drink
Fresh Arrivals, no. 50 January 26th, 2017
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The salmon above was 'taken' in Grand Lake Stream, Maine, November 15th of 1915, just a bit more than one hundred years ago. Each of the eleven fish depicted in the beautiful color plates of
Kendall on New England Salmon (see item 19 below), were taken in Maine: at Sebago Lake, the Penobscott River, off of the Cape Elizabeth Light, or in Grand Lake, and each was painted by Portland artist Walter H. Rich.
This image and this book remind me of just how many different reasons there are to enjoy and collect books on food and drink. Beyond the recipes there are illustrations, offbeat publication history, evidence of use by early cooks, introductions of new cuisines, interesting information about obscure early kitchen equipment, revelations of how our food culture ended up where it is today, and more. The river of culinary history is long, deep, and wide. Pick a quiet spot on the bank and dip your toe in the water.
If it seems like our lists have been few and far between, it's because we've been busy on two full-length catalogues, the first of which should be issued this winter. So enjoy these new arrivals. There's lots more to come soon!
Best to all,
Don
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1. Webster, Mrs. A.L.
The Improved Housewife. Or Book of Receipts: with Engravings for Marketing and Carving... Twentieth Edition, revised : with supplement and perpetual calendar.
Hartford: Ira Webster, 1854. Octavo, xi, 12-236 pages. Frontispiece, plus folding, hand-colored plate. Illustrated with woodcuts in the text.
Later printing of the first edition, likely the 14th or 15th, although styled the "Twentieth Edition" on title page (see Cagle). "Mrs. Webster was at best, what one would call a good plain cook, and yet she too reflects some of the virtues of her time", writes Karen Hess, who stops to point out that up to Mrs. Webster, "most cookbook writers... measured dry ingredients by weight rather than volume." Mrs. Webster advises measuring rather than weighing, a serious step toward the degradation of American cooking skills. This book is also one of the first to include a recipe for bread made with Sylvester Graham's flour, and Hess stops again to lament that "one of our earliest "health-bread" recipes is also one of the first to call for sweetening - a pattern that has only intensified since." Gift inscription from 1856 to the front fly. Some very light soiling throughout, otherwise very good or better, in publisher's gilt- and blind-stamped green cloth, with some wear to the head and foot of the highly decorated spine.
[Cagle 796-800 (earlier editions); Lowenstein 626]. $250.00
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2. [Richmond Stove Company (Norwich, Conn.)]. The Richmond Receipts with Hints and Helps for Mother, Daughter and Wife. Cleveland, Ohio: Norwich, Conn., circa 1885. Duodecimo (16.5 x 13 cm.), 64 pages. Illustrated.
Date of issue surmised from patent information. Representative's stamp on cover: J. H. Wells, sole agent for Richmond Ranges, Stoves, and Furnaces, Portsmouth, N.H. True to its word, Richmond Receipts provides "hints and helps" beyond what is needed for baking and roasting - including a few entries for ice cream - in about one hundred seventy recipes. Advertising is unobtrusive: "Bake in ordinary stove three-quarters of an hour; in a Richmond Range, thirty minutes". There is one appeal to external authority: "To make a pie, by Miss Parloa") but the remainder are unattributed. A nice oddity is the entry "To Pickle Nasturtiums". The booklet was a vehicle for advertising models of Richmond stoves, ranges, and furnaces. There survives an edition with an identical title and a full publisher's statement: Published by the Richmond Stove Co., 1893. This undated version is tentatively held to be earlier. An illustration of the Trophy Range (page 54) helps little, as this standard model was patented in 1870 and sold through the turn of the century. Something similar could be said for the Triumph Range, not shown but featured in several recipes (such as Richmond Triumph Custard Pie, page 32). But the Ivy Franklin stove illustrated here (page 6) fits the description in a patent dated 1885. It might be helpful to clarify that the Richmond Stove Company incorporated in Norwich, Connecticut in June 1867 has no connection with the better known Richmond Stove Company established, before the Civil War, in the iron-works manufacturing region of Richmond, Virginia. In a striking coincidence, the former company was not named for the location of its foundries, but rather had an eponym, or perhaps two, about whom little is known. There were design patents for iron stoves entered as early as 1859 for one A. Richmond of Brooklyn (Connecticut) and one S. G. Richmond of Norwich - that is, Appolos Richmond (1811-1881) and Sampson Gray Richmond (1837-1873) - and related new patents recorded under these names well into the 1870s. John H. Wells worked under contract for the town of Portsmouth as a repairman, including "repairs on stoves" in schools and almshouses, at least from 1884. The Company maintained offices in Cleveland and, later, in New York, but otherwise relied on representatives, for whose use booklets such as these were distributed. Attractively designed and printed, in lightly soiled, gilt-lettered blue wrappers. Near fine.
[OCLC locates no copies of this undated printing; three copies of the 1893 booklet with this title, but with 67 pages and printed at the "Press of the Plimpton Mfg. Co., Hartford, Conn., 1893"; not in Brown or Cagle]. $350.00
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3.
[Wilcox, Estelle Woods]. The New Dixie Cook-Book, Carefully compiled from the treasured family collections of many generations of noted housekeepers: largely supplemented by tested recipes of the more modern southern dishes, contributed by well-known ladies of the south. Revised and enlarged edition. Dayton, OH: L.A. Clarkson & Company (formerly of Atlanta, GA), 1892. Thick octavo, 1288 pages. Illustrated with in-text engravings throughout.
Later printing. The original
Dixie Cook-Book (Atlanta, 1883) was based on
The Buckeye Cook Book, with a small (24-page) supplement of Southern recipes added, and out of sequence with, the original pagination. This much revised and enlarged edition has integrated the southern recipes, and added some 600 pages of additional matter, including sections on curing meats, ice houses, dress-making, bills of fare, seasonality of various foods, etc. In black- and blind-stamped green oil cloth, with some rubbing and adhesion, otherwise very good. All edges red. With the original subscription notice pasted-down to the front end-paper.
[OCLC locates no copies of this Dayton, OH printing, and sixteen of all other printings of this enlarged edition; not in Bitting or Cagle]. $350.00
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4.
Johnson, Helen Louise. The Enterprising Housekeeper. Suggestions for breakfast, luncheon and supper. Sixth edition. Philadelphia: Enterprise Manufacturing Company, 1906. Small octavo-sized stapled booklet, 91, [5] pages. Index. Illustrated throughout.
Sixth edition. A promotional cookbook from Enterprise, manufacturers of meat grinders, spice mills, sausage presses, and other household equipment. Includes a short trade catalogue with descriptions of various products. Small abrasion to foot of spine; some rubbing to wrappers, otherwise a near fine copy in publisher's chromo-lithographed wrappers.
[Cagle 400, 401; Bitting, page 247; Brown 4028 (later printing of all)]. $60.00
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5. Larned, Linda Hull.
The Little Epicure: 700 choice recipes.
New York: The Baker & Taylor Co., 1894. Octavo, 276 pages.
First edition. The author strives to make the cost of meal planning as transparent as possible, by providing the cost alongside the title of each dish. The index also includes the cost as well as the page number, "So that in planning an entertainment one can readily choose a menu within the sum apportioned" (from the Preface). Contemporary owner's inscription to front paste-down, otherwise very good, in slightly faded and rubbed black decorated blue cloth.
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6. Rorer, Mrs. S. T.
How to Use a Chafing Dish. New edition. Revised and enlarged.
Philadelphia: Arnold & Co., 1894. Duodecimo, 73 pages.
Later edition, revised and enlarged. Interesting recipes include Puff Ball Omelet, Frizzled Beef, Tripe and Oysters, and Japanese Eggs. Slight bit of rubbing to publisher's white-stamped green cloth, otherwise near fine.
[Not in Cagle]. $75.00
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7.
Townsend, Mrs. Grace. Dining Room & Kitchen, revised edition : An economical guide in practical housekeeping for the American housewife; containing the choicest tried and approved cookery recipes. Chicago/Philadelphia: Monarch Book Co. (formerly L.P. Miller & Co.), 1894. Large octavo, 527 pages. Illustrated. Index & table of contents.
Later printing. Also published, starting in 1891, as the Imperial Cook Book, and in 1894 as the Star Cook Book, issued by the Lone Star Pub. Co. of Texas. Internally browned and brittle throughout, which is sadly par for the course for this work under all of its titles. Front free endpaper present but loose. In black-decorated and titled gray oil cloth with some soiling and rubbing. Previous owner's name in ink to front preliminary. A number of interesting articles and recipes are pasted-in to the front and rear matter, some rather interesting, especially a lengthy illustrated article on blindness in babies. Good only.
[OCLC locates just three copies of this printing, and thirty three copies of all printings under all names; Bitting, page 463, later printing; not in Cagle]. $200.00
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8.
Francatelli, Charles Elmé. The Modern Cook : a practical guide to the culinary art in all its branches, adapted as well for the largest establishments as for the use of private families. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1901. Thick octavo, 540 pages. Illustrated.
Later English edition, first published in London, 1846. Born in London to Italian parents, the author worked his way into the employ of several noblemen before becoming head chef at the St. James Club and later, chef to Queen Victoria. This was the first of several titles he published, perhaps his most famous being
The Royal Confectioner, English and Foreign. As this printing testifies, Francatelli's collection of high Victorian recipes remained in demand for more than fifty years. Includes sections of Removes, Pate Chauds, Mazarins, etc. Hinges tender; some age-toning and foxing to preliminaries. Light dampstaining to frontispiece portrait of the author. Boards show wear to corners and general rubbing. Near very good.
[Cagle 687 (earlier printing)]. $200.00
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9
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Goodfellow, John. The Elementary principles of breadmaking. London: Baker and Confectioner, 1895. Octavo, 198, x pages. Ads. Illustrated.
First edition. A technical manual of commercial breadmaking, from the Consulting Chemist to the London Master Bakers' Society, and the author of The Dietetic Value of Bread. Contains much technical analysis of the principles of dough creation, as well as illustrations of the chemical activities, and equipment of breadmaking. The book is quite shaken, and several signatures are pulling. The publisher's black-titled red cloth is soiled and edgeworn, but sound. With the ownership of commercial baker John W. Tolley, who would have been working in the Continental Baking Company at the time of this book's publication. The family of companies John Tolley and his son Albert Tolley worked for were responsible for many brands of cakes and pastries, some of which, like Drake's Cakes, Twinkies, Tip-Top Bread, and the Popsicle, are still with us today. Scarce.
[OCLC locates just ten copies]. $150.00
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10. Braun, Emile. The Baker's Book; a practical hand book of the baking industry in all countries. New York City: D. Van Nostrand Company, 1903. Two volumes. Large octavos, 236, [2], [10], & 667, [4], [43] pages. Ads. Index. Profusely illustrated, with photographic reproductions and engravings in the text, and full-page chromo-lithographic plates.
Third printing. One of the great English language professional bread baking books at the turn of the twentieth century. An extensive overview of baking around the world at the time, with recipes and descriptions of the products. One of the most celebrated aspects of this book is a series of chromo-lithographic plates of the breads of numerous nations. The beautiful plates explain the increasing scarcity of this work, as many copies have been broken to cannibalize the illustrations. The bindings are shaken, as usual, given the size of the volumes and the weight of the heavy stock for the illustrations. Some staining to a few pages, especially to the ads in volume two. Hinges started. Still bright in publisher's gilt-titled, dark green cloth. Scarce in the trade.
$450.00
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At our shop in Maine we have thousands of works on food, drink, farming and gardening, as well as a large collection of culinary ephemera. If you seek something in these fields, please ask.
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11. Lamborn, Leebert Lloyd.
Cottonseed products; a manual of the treatment of cottonseed for its products and their utilization in the arts.
New York: D. Van Nostrand Company, 1904. Thick octavo, xiii, 240, 29, [1] pages. Frontispiece folding map. Illustrated.
First edition. A thorough overview, with illustrations, of the cottonseed byproduct industry emerging at the time of publication. The cottonseed industry stood at the center of what would become several storms over food adulteration, substitute products, and the industrialization of food in general.
~ Excerpt: "...but there are independent manufacturers of oleomargarine located near the packing centres who prefer to buy the fat as it is taken from the animal and work it into neutral by their own process. In the packing plants the leaf fat is taken from the animal immediately after killing, hung on mounted racks, and wheeled into refrigerators to remove as quickly as possible all animal heat. It is next chopped finely or reduced to pulp by machinery and melted in jacketed kettles exactly similar to those used for oleo-oil. When the melting process is complete it is allowed to settle, the precipitation of the fibre being accelerated by the addition of salt as in the case of oleo-oil. After the settling process the clear oil is siphoned to a receiving-tank, and what is not used in oleomargarine is tierced for shipment. A good quality of leaf fat will produce by careful handling about 90 per cent. of its weight in neutral, and each animal will yield an average of eight or nine pounds. Comparatively little neutral is made from back fat. The amount used, however, depends much on the relative demand for neutral and ordinary lard products, as it is sometimes more advantageous to work fats into one form than another. The oil made from back fat retains more of the flavor peculiar to lard and, like the lower grades of oleo-oil, is less free from stearin or other undesirable constituents. Some packing-houses mix a small per cent, of back fat with the leaf in making their highest grade of neutral, and oleomargarine manufacturers sometimes use both grades of the finished oil in combination. The difference in price between the two is usually slight, and neutral made exclusively from leaf is generally sought..."
Near fine in publisher's gilt-titled green cloth. $90.00
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12. Yates, Lucy H. (Lucy Helen).
In Camp and Kitchen : a handy guide for emigrants and settlers. London: Andrew Melrose, 1912. Small octavo, 128 pages.
First edition. A fascinating book seeking an audience of colonizers emigrating to various corners of the world, and attempting to give them the basic skills necessary to cook for themselves in foreign lands, navigate unknown shops, and generally take care of their nutritional needs. Chapters include, "Cooking in the Open" and the "Log-Hut or Camp Kitchen". Text block age-toned, some age-toning to endpapers; spine a bit faded, otherwise near fine, in gilt-and black-titled red cloth.
[OCLC locates eleven copies, just one in the US, at the University of Chicago]. $120.00
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13. Armitage, Isabelle and Merle;
Illustrated by Merle Armitage. Fit For A Queen, The New Cookbook. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1958. Octavo, 224 pages. Printed throughout in red and navy.
First edition. The companion book to
Fit For A King (1939), both designed by the great mid-century book designer, Merle Armitage. The Armitages offer up various menu plans for creating a seamless, and seemingly effortless, dining experience. Their meals include wine pairings and cocktail recommendations. A charming book for the 'modern' hostess. Near fine in red- and white-decorated navy cloth. Dust jacket price-clipped, otherwise near fine.
$50.00
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14.
[Trade Catalogue]; de Borja, José; Destilerias Escat, Barcelona.
En el ano de graci de 1864 [cover title]. Barcelona: Destilerias Escat, 1948. Stapled booklet (17x12 cm), 32 pages. Illustrated throughout in Cromotecnica.
First edition. An attractively produced promotional booklet for various spirits and liqueurs of Destilerias Escat. The spirits include Anis de la Corona, Anis, Conac Y Ron Escarchados, Kummel no.00, Crema de Cacao, Conac Jerezano (and other conacs), Anisette Burdeos, Estomacal Escat, Vit, Absenta, Crema de Naranja y Bitter, Ron Criolla (and other rums), Peppermint, Curasao Triple, Amer Escat, and Ginebra la Cruz. Each receives a double-page spread, illustrated by Juan Gil, Ricardo Fabregas, or Angel Vintro. In publisher's original card-stock wrappers, color-printed to imitate illuminated parchment, with silk tie. Near fine. Rare.
[OCLC locates no copies]. $450.00
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15. Bell, Louise Price; Jessie Wilcox Smith (illustrator). Kitchen fun. Teaches children to cook successfully. Cleveland, Ohio: The Harter Publishing Company, 1932. Squarish octavo, 28 pages.
First edition. A children's cookbook with graphic recipes. Instructions for each dish - measurements and ingredients - are given in text and in pictographic form. So spoons, cups, water, sugar, butters, vanilla, etc., are each shown as illustrations. The author wrote a number of children's cookbooks, including
Jane-Louise' Cook Book, and
The Alphabet that was Good to Eat. The cover illustration, of a young girl rolling out dough, is by the great American illustrator, Jessie Wilcox Smith. In illustrated, paper-covered boards. Some rubbing to spine; a bit of discoloration to rear panel; small stain to lower right hand corner of front panel. Near very good.
$60.00
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16.
[Parrish, Maxfield]; Jell-O. Polly Put the Kettle on We'll All Make Jell-O.
LeRoy, N. Y.: The Genesee Pure Food Company, 1924. Oblong, stapled booklet (18 pages). Illustrated throughout in color; with color wrappers illustrated by Maxfield Parrish.
Includes recipes, menus, and text reassuring the consumer about the quality of Jell-O. With original cord tie, for hanging the booklet in the kitchen. Very slight soiling to wrappers, otherwise fine. $90.00
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The first cookbook published in America of Armenian and other cuisines of the Caucuses
17.
Keoleian, Ardashes H. The Oriental Cook Book. Wholesome, dainty and economical dishes of the Orient, especially adapted to American tastes and methods of preparation. New York: Sully & Kleinteich , 1913. Octavo, 349 pages. Frontispiece.
First edition. The author, an Armenian "formerly of Constantinople," notes in his introduction that the preparation of the work cost "the best years of our life and many expensive trips to the Orient." The recipes include "wholesome, dainty and economical dishes of the Orient, especially adapted to American tastes and methods of preparation," and includes recipes gathered from "Armenians, Bulgarians, Caucasians, Egyptians, Greeks, Jews, Persians, Syrians, Turks, etc." Chapters include pilafs, baked fish, pickled and salted fish, oysters, lobsters, macaroni, stuffed dishes, minced meat dishes, preserves, and desserts. Additional sections include order of service, menus, and list of special oriental ingredients. This appears to be the earliest cookbook published in America to cover Armenian and other Caucasian foods. Early ownership inscription to front paste-down; pencil note to rear paste-down. Hinges tender; gilt-titled red cloth is spine faded, rubbed, and lightly soiled. Lacking the very scarce dust jacket.
[Bitting, page 257, Cagle 408; not in Newman, Metling Pot or Wertsman, What's Cooking?]. $200.00
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18.
Kirkland, John. The Modern Baker Confectioner and Caterer; with contributions from specialists and trade experts. New and revised edition. London: Gresham Publishing Company Ltd., 1924. Four volumes. Large octavos, xvi, 246; xvi, 278; xiv, 269, [1]; x, 250 pages. One hundred-eight plates (1 folding; 25 color; some with tissue guards with legends). Five colored maps on four plates. Two folding tables. Numerous text illustrations (some full-page).
Second, revised edition. The first edition, issued in 1907, was in six volumes. A comprehensive and well-illustrated work, intended to offer a faithful record of all that is necessary for the successful conduct of business in baking, confectionery, and catering. The author was a lecturer and teacher of bread-making at the National Bakery School in London. Volume I deals with wheat and other cereals, flour, yeast, bread-making, and aeration, Volume II with confectionery, buns, scones, cakes, icings and syrups, pastes and pastries, biscuits, and sweets, Volume III with ices, menu dishes, refreshments, catering, and bakery organization, and Volume IV with bakery fixtures, accounts, markets, and legal regulations. With the bookplate of the Carl Sontheimer Foundation. Generally clean and sound, in lightly edgeworn, publisher's gilt titled, burgundy cloth; spines lightly sunned. Very good.
$250.00
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19.
Kendall, William Converse.
The Fishes of New England. The Salmon Family. Part 2- The Salmon.
Boston: Published for the Society, 1935. Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History. Volume 9, Number 1. Quarto, 166 pages. Illustrated, with eleven color plates.
First edition. An important monograph on the salmon, which includes a chronological history of Salmon fishing in New England and a bibliography of the salmon of New England. Full green cloth; a bit dusty but otherwise fine. $180.00
(see photo at head of this list)
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20.
[Betts, Annie Dorothy]. The Diseases of Bees: Their Signs, Causes and Treatment. Royston, Herts: The Apis Club/Printed by Hickmott & Co., [1934]. Octavo-sized stapled booklet, [vi], 49, [4] pages. Ads. Illustrations. First edition. Cover title. A later issue identifies the author as Annie Dorothy Betts. Several small ink stamps to amend the address of the Apis Club. Some light fading to the gray-green wrappers at extremities, otherwise fine.
[OCLC locates eighteen copies of both the 1934 and 1935 printings; IBRA British Bee Books, page 190]. $60.00
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21. Bishop, Reginald (foreword); Donovan Brown (drawings). A Cook's Tour of the Soviet Union. Eating with Our Ally.
London/Watford, UK: Russia Today Society/Farleigh press, 1944. Octavo-sized, stapled booklet, 24 pages.
First edition. A cookbook intended to introduce the Russia-curious Brit to Russian cookery. There are a number of 'Borsch' recipes, Pilafs, Stroganoffs, Jams, Piroshki, etc. Very light soiling to illustrated wrappers printed in red and black, otherwise fine. $40.00
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We currently have most of the major culinary bibliographies and other reference works in stock, having added to our stock the excellent reference duplicates of a distinguished culinary bookseller. Please contact us if you'd like to know more about our available reference books and bibliographies.
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