Rare books from Rabelais - Fine Books on Food & Drink

New York: Tea & Coffee Journal, 1935. Two volumes, quartos, xvi, 559 pages, & viii, 568 pages, thoroughly illustrated. FIRST EDITION. The definitive study of tea. The finest copy we have seen of this monumental work on the history, agriculture, and trade of tea. Slight spotting to top edge of text block on both volumes, as is usually seen (tea stains?), otherwise fine and bright in publisher's green buckram bindings with gilt lettering. In near fine cream and green dust jackets, and very scarce thus.

London: Printed for W. Mears at the Lamb without Temple Bar, 1720. Three volumes bound as one. Thick octavos, 71+ 136 + 290 [2] pages. Third editions, corrected. [&] [2], xv, 124 pages. [2] leaves of plates. Illustrated, in all, with 11 engraved plates. Third edition, corrected. New Improvements and the Kalendar were often found bound together as such. Bradley (ca. 1688-1732) was an English botanist and gardener, appointed to be the first Professor of Botany at Cambridge University, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and the first to publish a pineapple recipe in English. Fussell (Old English Farming Books) provides Bradley an entire chapter, but only on the grounds that Bradley was the most prolific author of the period 1700-1730. Very good, with all plates present, rebound in modern half-calf, with raised bands and ornamented compartments. [Fussell, page 108].

London: Baldwin and Cradock, Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, Robertson and Atkinson, Glasgow, W.F. Wakeman, Dublin, and G. and C. Carvill, New York, 1829. Two volumes. Octavos (22.7 x 15.2 cm.), 32, [4] pages; 32, [2] pages. With six steel engraved illustrations of equipment in the text, and additional charts and tables. Advertisements. FIRST EDITION. Two additional volumes were issued in 1834 by F.J. Madon of London. A practical explanation of brewing ingredients, equipment and processes. The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge was a London-based society formed in the early nineteenth century whose intention was to publish educational treatises on a wide range of topics so that individuals who could not obtain formal education could educate themselves. Previous owner's name in ink to title page. Offsetting to first and final pages of text block, otherwise internally near fine. In later, but contemporary brown paper wrappers, with hand lettered label to each. Edges of wrappers of both volumes… Read More

London: Dean & Munday, 1820. Duodecimo, iv, 288 pages. Illustrated frontispiece and four engraved plates. Third edition, probable second printing. The book sports two title pages, one dated 1819 and one 1820, which leads us to presume that the printer just added the 1820 title page without removing the former. A fairly popular work that Oxford indicates had at least nine editions. Includes some interesting medical remedies, including this one for headache: "This unpleasant pain may be prevented by wearing the hair short, and by washing the head daily in cold water; then rub the hair dry, and expose it to the air." Some spotting and foxing throughout. Original olive colored moire cloth with leather spine label. Some wear to front hinge. [Cagle 720, 721, & 722 note other editions; as does Oxford page 143-44; Simon BG cites the 1819 and 1828 editions].

Vienna; Bratislava, 1891. Contemporary scrapbook (25 x 18.5 cm.), 32 leaves containing thirty-one menus, mounted rectos only. This collection of menus is mostly sourced from Vienna, in large part from the Metropole Hotel and Frohner's Hotel Imperial, but there are also four from the Palugyay Palace in Bratislava. Although the menus come from only a few hotel restaurants, there is variety of design style, with some of the menus printed, and others handwritten on a pre-printed card. A few menus contain original photographic portraits, and others exhibit a striking Orientalism. One of the menus serves as a place card, and has the name "Carl Von Oberleithner" inked on the verso. Von Oberleithner was a successful businessman in the Hemp and Flax industry, and perhaps this was his collection. The menus are ordered chronologically, covering a ten-year period starting in 1881. A bit of fading and soiling to some of the menus, but overall in very good condition. The gilt-titled and decorated binder has some… Read More

Paris: Sautelet et Cie, 1826. Two volumes, octavo, xiv, 390 & 449 pages. FIRST EDITION of the most famous treatise on gastronomy. The Physiology of Taste was published in an edition of 500 copies, appearing only two months after the author's death. A comprehensive philosophy of the palate, the table, and far beyond, the book is presented in a series of thirty meditations on subjects including the senses, taste, appetite, gastronomy, restaurateurs, cooking, fasting, obesity, death, sleep, rest and dreams. Brillat-Savarin was an attorney and magistrate who fled France during the Terror, living in Switzerland and New York until his return after the fall of Robespierre in 1796. The present work secured his eternal fame among gastronomes. M.F.K. Fisher - whose translation of Brillat-Savarin's work still stands as the best - commends this book for its straightforward and unornamented prose in an era of florid writing, but the intellectual range and invention of the work is anything but simple. At the very… Read More

London: Printed for the Society of Antiquaries by John Nichols, 1790. Quarto, xxii + 476 pages. [leaf containing pages 169/170 in duplicates]. First edition of this collection of English Royal Household Manuscripts. The text discusses the duties and management of all of the staff of a royal household, including wages. The book concludes with the first printing of a collection of Fifteenth Century and earlier recipes, "From a Ms. in the Library of the Royal Society, Arundel Collection, no. 344, page 275-445." Recipes include: 'Nombules of a Deer', 'Farsure for Hares', 'Browet of Alemayne', 'Pejons Stewet', 'Goos in Hochepot' and many others. Internally very clean and fresh, with just a touch of light foxing. In full tree calf, rebacked and with a gilt-titled spine label. With a paper label indicating provenance pasted on to the rear end paper. From the library of James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps, English Shakespearean scholar and antiquarian. Halliwell-Phillips, son-in-law by his first wife to the… Read More

New York, 1962. Folio, unpaginated [22] leaves, printed rectos only. Printed text from a hand-lettered original; columns for handwritten prices not entered. An early wine list from the legendary Manhattan restaurant Lutèce (1961-2004). The list opens with an introductory statement to diners from the restaurant's founder, André Surmain, who thanks the restaurant's seven suppliers, a rare credit on modern wine lists, and Alexis Lichine, the author of The Wines of France. Displaying a fine selection of Bordeaux, Rouges & Blancs; Bougognes, Rouges; Roses Loire; Alsace Rhône; and Champagnes, including Lafite Rothschild dating to the 1890s, Haut Brion from the 1930s, and pre-depression era Mouton. Throughout, each selection lists producer as well location of the vineyard. The three Alsatian wines on the list have been credited as the primary genesis of the Alsatian wine market in the United States. Julia Child, Playboy Magazine, and Zagat each proclaimed Lutèce the best restaurant in the United States;… Read More

[Salem, Mass: Salem Gazette Press, 1875. Broadside (32.5 x 16 cm.). A handsomely printed broadside, with ornamental border, advertising Dwarf Apple Trees, Quince Trees, Peach Trees, Ornamental Trees, Hardy Grape Varieties, Bedding Plants (currant, gooseberry, raspberry, etc.), and Climbing Vines. individual varietals are listed with prices. Andrew Nichols (born 1837) was son of Andrew Nichols (1785-1853), a President of the Essex County Natural History Society, Trustee of the Essex County Agricultural Association, and author of works on botany and poetry. The younger Nichols career as a lawyer was cut short by ill health, and he established himself as a farmer, with a nursery in Danvers and a shop in Salem on Central Street. Scarce. [OCLC locates no copies].

New York: the author/Cornwall Press, 1939. Octavo, 136 pages. FIRST EDITION of this third installment of self-published barroom tales from Joe Madden. All of the the dust jacket blurbs are supplied by Joe Madden. Madden's bartending world is rough and tumble, occasionally crass and frequently politically incorrect. Edges a bit dusty, some light age-toning throughout, otherwise fine in bright orange cloth, in a very good, unclipped dust jacket with a bit of darkening to the spine and very light edgewear. Boldly inscribed by the author on the front free end paper, "To one of Coach Murray's half backs, but he says he wuz the manager, my error. An alright guy too. Most sincerely, Joe Madden."

New York: Dick & Fitzgerald, Publishers, no. 18, Ann Street, 1885. Octavo (19 x 13 cm.), 312 [2] pages. Publisher's advertisements. Index, really a table of contents. Later printing; originally published by R. Craighead (New York) in 1853. Perhaps the most broadly used work on making hundreds of wines and spirits from a neutral base alcohol, with extensive descriptions of the materials and techniques used to create these dishonest drinks. Cheating aside, the book provides significant information on the various ingredients - oils, essences, herbs, etc. - used as flavorants. ~ Slightest spotting to edges of text block, otherwise clean and bright. In publisher's green pebbled cloth, gilt-titled to the spine. Very near fine. With the ownership stamp of Louis H. Hellert to front and rear endpapers. [OCLC locates numerous copies listing Dick & Fitzgerald as publisher, it remains unclear which of the issues each record refers to; Noling, page 244].

Falls Village, Connecticut: The Herb Grower Press, 1965. Duodecimo (17.5 x 10.5 cm.), 48, [1], 27, [1] pages. Bibliographical references. ~ Facsimile of the 1675 edition published in London by T.R. & N.T. for B. Tooke; with a supplementary "appendix". FIRST EDITION THUS, limited to 250 numbered copies (this is number 26 of 250). Originally published in London 1666, "printed by J. Grismond for John Crook, at the Ship in St. Pauls Church-yard". The original contains a preface by John Evelyn (1620-1706), "Philocepos". It is believed Evelyn compiled the text based on "matter" given to him by Rose. This facsimile contains an appendix by Robert H. Jeffers on the life of John Rose. Rose (1619-1677) was gardener to King Charles II... by Robert H. Jeffers.. The original work was later appended to the text of the English edition of Nicolas de Bonnefons' The French Gardener, (1669). Late ownership inscription to foot of free front endpaper, otherwise fine in publisher's paper-covered boards, printed and titled… Read More

Boston: B.B. Inc.; [Ben-Burk Distillers], 1934. Small folded pamphlet (11 x 6.5 cm.), 16 pages when folded. Printed in red, black and blue. FIRST EDITION. One of the very rare precursors to the famous Old Mr. Boston Bartender's Guide (1935). Following Repeal, Ben-Burk Distillers published the Guide, which was to become one of the iconic cocktail recipe books. Originally published as a promotional item for the Ben-Burk line of spirits distilled in Boston, the Guide became a staple of professional and home bars around the country. But prior to the first work titled Old Mr. Boston Guide, Ben-Burk published One Hundred Cocktails, Some Old -- Some New (1932) and One Hundred and Twenty Cocktails, Fizzes, Punches, Highballs, Toddies and Long Drinks (1934), both of which are very rare. We can add this small work - previously unrecorded - to this short list of precursors. A bit of soiling to edges, and one corner dog-eared; otherwise very good. All early printings of the Mr. Boston Guide are scarce.… Read More

[London]: Andre Deutsch, 1953. Octavo (22 x 14.5 cm.), 186, [1] pages. Illustrated. Glossary. FIRST EDITION. Elizabeth Craig (1883-1980) was the author of several dozen cookbooks, the earliest in the 1920s and the last in 1980, and thus reflect a wide range of situations in England's food culture. Apparently sourced from Queen Victoria's own household scrapbook, the recipes here have been chosen by Craig. "Although this book is primarily a cookery book, it can also be read as a footnote to Court history. Few people will have the courage to follow Queen Victoria's advice and treat a sore throat with a gargle made of cayenne pepper; many, on the other hand, will be glad of such practical recipes as 'King George V's mutton cutlets.' The Court has influenced the country's cooking throughout the centuries. Here is a chance for you to experience this influence in your own home" (from the dust jacket). A bit of offsetting from the jacket flaps to the front endpapers. In publisher's unclipped dust jacket… Read More

Boston; Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin & Company; [at the Riverside Press], 1891. Thick octavo (22 x 16 cm.), 77, [1] numbered leaves, printed rectos only; all pages bordered in red. Later printing, styled "Eighteenth American Edition". The "most famous of the poems that espouse wine as a hedonsistic or epicurean device" (Gabler, Wine into Words, page 93). Internally very clean and sound; in publisher's brown cloth, brown and gilt-titled and decorated. Fine. [OCLC locates no copies with the 1891 date, but many other HM printings of adjacent years; Gabler, page 93 (see note)].