Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liqueurs, et Les Fruits ...; Ou l'on apprend a confire toutes fortes de Fruits, tants secs que liquides; & divers Ouvrages de Sucre qui sone du fait des Officiers & Confiseurs; avec la maniere debien ordonner un Fruit
Paris: Claude Prudhomme, 1731. Hardcover. 12mo. Pp. x, 547, (7). Illustrated with three folding woodcuts. Occasional woodcut tail-pieces. Index comprises pages 519-547, but lacks pages 545 and 546. That said, the index doesn't skip alphabetically (ending p. 544 with "Syrop de Sucre, put Sucrer de Liqueurs" and beginning p. 547 with "Syrop de Longue Vie" suggesting printer's error in pagination). Contemporary calf with five raised bands, gilt florets in compartments. Red morroco spine label faded and chipped. All edges speckled. Small food stains on pp. 107-108, wormhole pp. 305-308. Both joints starting, with evidence of old repair to both. Some loss to tail of spine. Armorial bookplate of Edward Monckton, with his signature on the title page as well as another previous owner. Good. Item #2059 Interior quite sound, with plates in fresh condition. No foxing to speak of. Features candied fruits, jellies, jams and other delights, presented as if for royalty. In fact, Massialot, the culinary genius who gave us crème brûlée, was chef to the Duke of Orléans (brother of Louis XIV) and served up decadence worthy of that foppish proto-rococo dandy. This copy owned by Edward Monckton, MP of Stafford, who served with the East India Company between 1762 and 1778.
Price: $550.00