Rabelais, Dumas, Carême, Brillat-Savarin... When literature hosts gastronomes in its palace and caters to their taste, the French language can be enjoyed like a fine wine. On the menu: a mix of fare and flair intertwined...
First edition, one of 75 numbered copies on pure laid paper, the only deluxe-paper copies offered for sale (5 copies on Japan paper and 10 on Dutch handmade paper were also printed hors commerce; cf. Pierrette & Georges Dupont, Bibliographie des écrits d'Henri Béraud).
A rare and attractive copy with full margins of the author's masterpiece.
First edition, taken from the Mémoires de la Société royale et centrale d'agriculture, for the year 1824.
Illustrated with a folding plate inserted out of text.
Our copy is preserved in its original state, sewn and issued in a plain blue provisional wrapper.
Scattered light foxing.
A grandson of the founder and first director of the Académie royale de marine, Pierre-Marie-Sébastien Bigot de Morogues (1776-1840) devoted himself principally to agricultural matters.
Rare first edition.
Our copy is issued in its original state, unbound and preserved in wrappers.
Not recorded by Oberlé. Only two copies located in the CCFr (Cherbourg and Montpellier).
Alexandre Lesdos (1813-1865) was a member of the Société d'Agriculture and of the Société Académique de Cherbourg.
In this work, he devotes an entire chapter to the wines of Saint-Émilion, noted for their "bouquet as delicate as that of the violet." (our own translation)
First edition of this paean to intoxication, adorned with a charming engraved frontispiece depicting Bacchus seated on a barrel, holding a wine cup in one hand and a bunch of grapes in the other.
Cf. Vicaire 326. Bitting 415. Barbier II, 75 d. Oberlé, Une bibliothèque bachique, 523 (for the 1798 ed.).
Bound in contemporary fawn half-calf with corners, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt fillets, marbled paper boards, corners slightly worn, edges speckled red.
This work abounds with anecdotes and quotations drawn from the history of many lands. It asserts "that wine gives wit," offers "a catalogue of some illustrious drinkers," and claims "that...
First edition, with a single copy recorded in the CCF (Dijon).
Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers and housed in a plain blue interim cover, with a mounted title label at the head of the spine.
Some foxing.
The sole edition of this compilation, conceived primarily for fiscal purposes: indirect taxes at the time were levied chiefly on beverages.
The bookseller Louis Rondonneau (1759–1834) is renowned as the author, compiler, or editor of numerous legal codes, manuals, collections, and repertories of legislation and jurisprudence.
First edition (cf. Not in Quérard or Musset-Pathay. Oberlé 101-02.).
Including, with the appended pieces (cf. infra), the account of the thirteen experiments conducted by Maupin between 1772 and 1777 on the handling of wines.
Bound at the end:
Bradel-style binding in half bottle-green long-grain...
First edition of this concise treatise on rural economy, attributed to the Duke of Sully, the famed minister of Henri IV, born at Rosny and who bore the name of that estate.
His well-known commitment to the development of agriculture has passed into national lore. However, it cannot be excluded that another author, sharing the same territorial designation, may be responsible for the text.
Contemporary full mottled fawn sheep, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments and gilt tools, gilt fillets, Havana morocco lettering-piece, gilt rolls to the headcaps, gilt fillets to board edges, red sprinkled edges.
Some repairs to the binding. Manuscript...
This work is in fact the reissue of the original edition, published under a new title: the 1772 edition was entitled "Dissertation sur les vins".
One hundred blank leaves have been bound at the end of the text.
The work saw an expanded edition in 1782, which was subsequently reprinted. (Cf. Simon BG: 510. Not recorded by Vicaire, Oberlé, or Bitting. Lacking from the Kilian Fritsch Collection.)
Contemporary half mottled tawny sheep with vellum-tipped corners, the spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments, marbled paper sides, red edges.
An important treatise on vinification by a former wine merchant’s employee who had worked in France...
First edition of the first of Augustin Sageret’s (1763–1851) two memoirs on cucurbits. Sageret was a pioneer in plant hybridization, particularly through his experiments with melons.
Only two copies of this edition are recorded in the CCF (Muséum and Lyon). Extracted from the Mémoires de la Société royale et centrale d’agriculture, year 1825. Pritzel 7969. Oberlé, Fastes, 708.
Half green long-grain morocco binding, spine faded and slightly darkened, decorated with gilt and black double fillets and blind-stamped floral tools, gilt rolls at head and tail, gilt date at foot, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, marbled edges, modern binding.
Some foxing...
First edition of this offprint of great rarity.
Not listed in Musset-Pathay. Only two copies recorded in the Catalogue Collectif de France (Institut and Orléans).
Our copy is presented in a modern temporary wrapper made to resemble old paper.
Wine and cherry brandy, homemade kirschen-vasser, gin, juniper wine, poor man’s wine, currant wine, raisin and other dried fruit wines, etc.
First edition, illustrated with in-text vignettes (cf. Vicaire 733; Bitting 391; Cagle 273; NUC: only 2 copies listed. Not in Oberlé, "Fastes").
At the CCF, copies only at the BnF and Sainte-Geneviève.
Contemporary half green sheep binding, spine darkened and faded, decorated with triple blind fillets, marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges.
"Une des particularités de ce traité culinaire, c'est qu'il est 'dédié à la Sainte Vierge, mère de Dieu'" [Vicaire].
Another distinctive feature is that the work, divided into 1,187 paragraphs, exemplifies a scientific method and clarity worthy of a publication by Baillière.
...First edition.
Only one copy listed in the CCF (BnF).
Bradel binding in full marbled paper boards, smooth spine, green shagreen title label with a small loss, modern binding.
Very rare report of the administration of the "Argenterie, Menus-Plaisirs et affaires de la chambre", which under the Ancien Régime formed part of the King's Household, in charge of the "King’s pleasures"—that is, the organization of court ceremonies and entertainments.
Compiled from 393 records (and 21,000 invoices).
By drastically reducing the expenses of his household, Louis XVI retained only a single “Maître des Menus-Plaisirs”, endowed with a budget infinitely smaller than that of...
Original colour print, printed on laid paper and signed in the plate lower left.
Original engraving produced for the illustration of La Gazette du Bon Ton, one of the most beautiful and influential fashion journals of the 20th century, celebrating the talent of French designers and artists at the height of the Art Deco era.
First French edition translated by Abdelmalek Faraj.
Spine and boards marginally discolored and sunned, handsome interior condition.
Very fine autograph inscription signed by Pierre Dermenghem, on two pages, to Henry de Montherlant enriched with an autograph inscription signed by Abdelmalek Faraj.
Manuscript annotations by Henry de Montherlant, in blue ink, on the back board.
First American edition.
Publisher's original brown paper-covered boards, flat spine, spine ends and corners lightly rubbed, complete with its illustrated dust jacket showing a few minor closed tears.
Profusely illustrated throughout.
An exceptionally important presentation copy inscribed Paul Bocuse to Lionel Poilâne: "A monsieur Poilane avec toutes mes amitiés gourmandes. Paul Bocuse 1978." [with all my gourmand sympathies]
Third edition, revised and augmented by the author, published during his lifetime. The copy is complete with the title-frontispiece depicting a "portico of Tuscan architectural order" according to the description of the 1805 edition, whose terrace shows a man ploughing the fields, indicating the content of the book. It is likewise complete with the folding plate and the eight elaborate vignettes. The first edition of this major text was issued from the press only five years earlier, in 1600.
First edition illustrated with 1 plate printed outside the text (graph), cf. Vicaire 85. Frère I 96.
Bradel binding in full pebble-grained paper boards, smooth spine, black oasis leather title label, original wrappers preserved though spotted, modern binding.
Scattered foxing.
Bergasse, a learned lawyer and no less distinguished magistrate, born in Lyon on 22 September 1792, died in Paris on 6 July 1853. A member of the Académie de Rouen, of which he served as president, he enriched the proceedings of that Society with several interesting memoirs" [Frère].
The present work provides valuable information on the economic condition of the butchery trade of wide...
Booklet of the "Rabelaisian menu" offered on "diemenche 26 de oiteuvre 1952" [Sunday, 26 October 1952] on the menu of the Parisian restaurant Au Mouton de Panurge, gastronomic headquarters of the Amis de Rabelais et de La Devinière, whose walls were decorated by Albert Dubout, who is also the author of the illustrations featured here. On the final page appear several facsimile signatures of distinguished regulars of the establishment. Our booklet is enhanced by a gift inscription from one of these signatories, Albert Schweitzer: "to Andrée [Eekman, his goddaughter, also the niece of his close...
First edition.
Light scuffing to the boards.
Bradel binding in half black shagreen, smooth spine lettered in gilt vertically, green paper-covered boards, modern binding.
Paper by M. Breton-Laugier, vinegar manufacturer of Orléans, on the advantages of Pasteur’s system, pp. [5]–7; Wine industry, pp. [9]–15.
First edition, illustrated with 19 folding plates at the end of the volume.
Contemporary half green calf, smooth spine darkened with age, decorated with gilt garlands and fillets, with small blind-stamped fleurons; sides framed with triple blind fillets; marbled paper boards; marbled endpapers and pastedowns; speckled edges.
André Menet-Aeschimann (1813–1898) was head gardener of the garden of the Société d’horticulture de Mulhouse.
Bound after Daniel BOUSCASSE: "Prompte formation des arbres fruitiers" (S.l.n.d. [La Rochelle, Siret, 1859], 36 pp.).
This additional work is illustrated, at the end of the volume, with 2 folding plates.
The title page...
Second edition, illustrated with a large folding plate bringing together five figures (referred to as “plates”).
Our copy is preserved in its original stitched wrappers, in the blank provisional waiting cover, with manuscript annotations in ink on the upper cover.
Two faint waterstains, one at the foot of the first page and the other at the head of the last.
The author, formerly florist-gardener on the Brunoy estates of Monsieur (Louis XVIII), was at the time a nurseryman at Mandres [les-Roses].
First edition illustrated with 8 engraved plates outside the text by Le Bas after Oudry, including a frontispiece and 6 hunting plates depicting stag hunting scenes (cf. Cioranescu, 60 125. Thiébaud 836-39. Cohen 952, with the often fanciful collation characteristic of this bibliography).
A fine copy complete in all its parts, notably retaining leaf Diij, which is sometimes found supplied in facsimile or replaced by a cancel leaf.
Contemporary full mottled tan calf, spine with five raised bands gilt-ruled and richly gilt in compartments with floral tools, gilt rolls to the spine ends, marbled endpapers, two engraved bookplates pasted to the endpapers and pastedowns, gilt...
First edition.
Not recorded by Vicaire or Bitting.
Contemporary-style half red shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands, very slightly sunned, marbled paper-covered boards, marbled endpapers, original wrappers and spine preserved, modern binding signed by Laurenchet.
Restored marginal tear to page 43 with a slight loss affecting a few letters of the text.
Signed autograph presentation inscription by Emile Mouchon on the half-title: "A la Société impériale d'agriculture de Lyon, hommage empressé".
Manuscript on graph paper comprising nearly 60 original drawings in black pencil, coloured pencil and watercolour, describing various species of edible and poisonous fungi: agaric, Caesar's mushroom, edible bolete, ceps, chanterelles, beefsteak fungus, morel, winter truffle, etc.
Each drawing is captioned in French and Latin.
Contemporary amateur binding in full flexible boards, plain orange spine split and with portions lacking, blue boards; spine cracked.
Provenance: from the library of Dr Bacquias of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, with his name inscribed in the upper left-hand corner of the front board.
Some foxing.
New edition, partly original, revised and enlarged (cf. Vicaire 56; Bitting 231; Oberlé, Fastes, 466).
Contemporary-style half tan sheep, smooth spine decorated with gilt and blind fillets and blind-stamped ornaments, black shagreen lettering-piece, marbled paper boards, modern binding.
A few instances of foxing.
The author of this work, born in Grasse in 1767 and died in 1839, was appointed physician to Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples, in 1806.
His dictionary is a mine of highly valuable information on food products from throughout the world, with historical, literary, anecdotal, scientific, gastronomic, and medical entries. It also...
Very rare first edition of the French translation, illustrated at the end of the volume with one folding copper-engraved plate and two folding printed tables, all hors texte.
See Oberlé (for the Milan 1819 edition). Lacking from the Kilian Fristch Collection. Vicaire, 353-354.
A rare and appealing copy preserved in its original wrappers, with the plain provisional cover showing some surface wear.
First edition, printed in a small run, of this offprint from the Mémoires présentés par divers savants à l’Académie des sciences, vol. XXII, no. 6.
This publication constitutes botanist Maxime Cornu’s (1843–1901) first work on phylloxera and stands among the earliest scientific studies in French devoted to the subject.
Our copy is preserved in its original plain blue waiting wrapper, showing two losses along the spine and some foxing to the panels.
Very scarce work illustrated with three plates.
2 frontispieces and 12 numbered engravings bound at rear of the second volume.
Small lack of paper to upper right corner and marginal restoration to the first volume's title page. Minor foxing, a light halo to the right margin of each of the 12 engravings at rear of the second volume.
Red half morocco binding, smooth spines with arabesques motifs in gilt, marbled paper boards, snags and rubbing to boards and edges, corners bent.
The book was first published as The Universal Cook in London in 1792; its fourth edition was translated into French...
First edition of the French translation, by Raymond Queneau, of Nigerian author Amos Tutuola’s first novel. One of 86 copies on Lafuma-Navarre pur fil wove paper, the only deluxe issue.
A fine copy.
Rare first edition, complete with the folding plate depicting the stove bound at the end. "First collected edition of these various reports concerning charitable institutions built following the model of the famous 'Rumford stoves'" (Oberlé).
Contemporary binding in half blond sheep, spine elaborately decorated in gilt with fillets and tools in the shape of stars and leaves, and with a red morocco title label; marbled paper boards, all edges yellow. The front flyleaf bears bibliographical notes in pencil concerning the authors of the collection.
Second edition, revised and expanded after the sole edition of 1714 by Pierre Auguste Miger. This second edition was never reprinted. With a frontispiece by Leroy. Rare.
Later binding in half polished green sheep, circa 1820. Smooth spine decorated with 5 restoration tools. Boards rubbed. A good copy.
The rare first edition of this pamphlet.
Stitched pamphlet, unbound.
The commission of agriculture and arts was founded in 1794 and Parmentier was from its creation an eminent and influential member. The potato was soon perceived, thanks to Parmentier, as a means to combat famine and food shortages, whether for humans or animals.
NB: This work is available at the bookshop on request within 48 hours.
