Madame Prunier's Fish Cookery Book

Heath, Ambrose. Madame Prunier's Fish Cookery Book. [FIRST EDITION] Nicholson & Watson: London, 1938. 8vo (205x140mm) full blue calf, gilt ruled, lettered & dec, a.e gilt [6],xviii,290,[6]pp. (binding by Riviere & Sons; illustrated by Mathurin Meheut)

HEATH, Ambrose [translated & edited (1891-1969)] and Michel Bouzy (1884 - 1956)

Madame Prunier's Fish Cookery Book: selected, translated and edited, with an introduction and notes, from Les Poissons, Coquillages, Crustacés, et leur preparation culinaire par Michel Bouzy.

London : Nicholson & Watson Ltd, 1938. First Edition. Printed by T & A Constable at the University Press, Edinburgh. Bound by Riviere & Sons.

Octavo (205x140mm) full blue calf, raised bands, spine in 6 compartments, simple gilt rule, gilt embossed ducal crown emblem to upper board; hand gilded marbled end-papers; all edges gilt; [6 blank],xviii,290,[6 blank]pp.  Gilt stamped "Bound by Riviere & Sons" on the front turn in.

Foreword by Madame Simone B Prunier; decorations by Mathurin Méheut. Preface to the original French edition by Auguste Escoffier. Introduction to the original French edition by the author Michel Bouzy.

Boards almost evenly faded to a green/khaki in places; corners rubbed, lightly worn; faint shelfwear.  Internally fine.

Madame Prunier was a third generation French restaurateur.  Her grandfather opened Prunier's in Paris in 1872 and she took over its management in 1925.  In 1934, Madame Prunier and her husband closed the Paris restaurant and opened the Prunier St James's restaurant in London. By 1938, Prunier St James was a favourite of royalty, including the Prince of Wales and Wallis Simpson, the aristocracy and celebrities and was considered one of the best and most exclusive restaurants in London.  The restaurant closed in 1976.

Ambrose Heath (born Francis Geoffrey Miller) was an up-and-coming British food journalist and cookery book writer when given the task of translating and editing the original text by Michel Bouzy who had been the Chef de Cuisine at Prunier's in Paris.  Although Heath went on to author over 100 cookery books between 1933 and 1969, this fish cookery book is what he was best known for during his life time.

Mathurin Méheut (1882 - 1958) was a French painter, ceramist, engraver, and etcher from Brittany.  Riviere & Sons were famed British bookbinders.   The firm merged with George Bayntun's of Bath in 1940.

An elegant discrete private ducal binding of the first English edition of an important fish cookery book.

Rare in this format.


§ see Bitting p.52 for the original French text;