Warne's Bijou Books. Etiquette of the Dinner-Table: with the Art of Carving, with illustrations by [Warne, F., publishers] - 1867

1500. Engraving, (23.5 x 29.5 cm. image dimensions). Signed in lower part of impression, "Bassan. inuet. loa. Sadeler sc." and CU. priuil. S. Caes. M." and ex S. Lvc. xvi. cap." Lacking the legend below the image. One of Sadeler's three "Kitchen" scenes, this one with Lazaraus seen from behind at right with two dogs,, seated and looking at a dinner table with the rich man, a kitchen with a maid tending a spit over a fire and other servants preparing food. The wall has a display of plates, pots and aging game hanging from hooks, some fish in a basket, and vegetables and a broken egg in the foreground, a boy taking a basket with eggs from under the table, and a monkey behind him. After Jacopo Bassano, c. 1598. The engraving was laid down onto another sheet of paper at some point in the mid 20th century, having been trimmed to the edges of the image at some earlier date. The outlines of the legend have been drawn in. Some very light foxing to the image. [British Museum 1868, 0612.499; Spencer Museum of… Read More

Philadelphia, 1880. Champagne bottle-shaped die cut, (19 x 7 cm.), 12 pages, plus card cover. Chromolithograph illustrated wrappers, bound with a brass grommet. Decorative blue and white silk cord and tassel. The text outlines the Officer and Trustees, Conductors, The Programme (a series of Marches and Promenades, Quadrilles and Waltzes), Supper is served in the foyer. Fine.

Chicago: Rand McNally; [Hotel Monthly Press], 1919. Hotel Monthly handbook series. Tall duodecimo (17 x 9 cm.), 120, [2] pages. Index. Publisher's advertisements at rear. Publication date from OCLC record. While not indicated as such, issued by John Willy's Hotel Monthly Press. ~ Second Printing. The first American cookbook to prominently feature Japanese recipes and one of the earliest to feature Chinese. The title and copyright pages retain the Rand McNally imprint and the date of 1914; the printer's indication at the foot of the copyright page now includes a medallion (not present in the original). The two direct indications of Hotel Monthly publication are the signature endpapers of the press, and two pages at the end of publisher's advertisements, promoting the Handbook Series and The Hotel Monthly journal. This second printing was issued lacking the color illustrated paste-down on the front board which appears on the first issue. The authors were half-British half-Chinese sisters. Winnifred… Read More

New York: Doubleday, 1992. Small octavo (19.5 x 13 cm.), 246 pages. Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) of the FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDITION of the author's first book, Como Agua Para Chocolate. The basis of the fine film by the same title for which Esquivel also wrote the screenplay. A fine copy in a color-printed wrappers. Signed by the author on the half-title.

Worcester: Printed by J. and J. Holl and sold by J. Robson, 1792. Octavo in half-sheets (21 x 13 cm.), vii, [2], 348 pages. Illustrated with an engraved frontispiece, an additional engraved title page, and four plates depicting a variety of bows, quivers, and arrowheads. "Errata" slip tipped onto final leaf. FIRST EDITION. A classic work which traces the history of the bow and arrow across several nations and periods, including Britain, France, the Roman Empire, Hellenistic Greece, Mycenea and the Mideast. Chapter 11 describes royal decrees that promoted or restricted archery training. This was the first standard work on archery to appear since Roger Ascham's Toxophilus (1544). It was very popular upon publication, and a contemporary reviewer in the Analytical Review of History and Literature wrote: "without hesitation we promise, not only the lover of archery, but the elegant scholar, and the antiquarian, much entertainment from this elaborate and truly classical performance" (page 393). Bound in… Read More

London: The International Wine and Food Publishing Company/David & Charles, 1971. Octavo, 127 pages. FIRST EDITION. Illustrated with engravings throughout. This book was edited by Robin Howe after the untimely death of food researcher Zara Groundes-Peace. It includes British "old cookery lore, household recipes, advice on the choice of kitchen implements, and on dining etiquette". Rust colored cloth, with illustrated dust jacket in attached mylar protector (all copies we have seen of this book have the mylar attached.

Philadelphia, 1880. Champagne bottle-shaped die cut, (19 x 7 cm.), 12 pages, plus card cover. Chromolithograph illustrated wrappers, bound with a brass grommet. Decorative blue and white silk cord and tassel. The text outlines the Officer and Trustees, Conductors, The Programme (a series of Marches and Promenades, Quadrilles and Waltzes), Supper is served in the foyer. Fine.

Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc, 1962. Octavo, 243 pages. Later printing. Illustrated throughout with black and white photographs. First authoritative reference book on the various types of early American wooden ware and kitchen utensils. From cheese drainers and well buckets to oyster kegs and sausage guns, Gould clearly defines each tool and places it within its historical context. Small ownership stamp to half-title. In dust jacket with slight tear, otherwise very good.

Chicago: Rand McNally; [Hotel Monthly Press], 1919. Hotel Monthly handbook series. Tall duodecimo (17 x 9 cm.), 120, [2] pages. Index. Publisher's advertisements at rear. Publication date from OCLC record. While not indicated as such, issued by John Willy's Hotel Monthly Press. ~ Second Printing. The first American cookbook to prominently feature Japanese recipes and one of the earliest to feature Chinese. The title and copyright pages retain the Rand McNally imprint and the date of 1914; the printer's indication at the foot of the copyright page now includes a medallion (not present in the original). The two direct indications of Hotel Monthly publication are the signature endpapers of the press, and two pages at the end of publisher's advertisements, promoting the Handbook Series and The Hotel Monthly journal. This second printing was issued lacking the color illustrated paste-down on the front board which appears on the first issue. The authors were half-British half-Chinese sisters. Winnifred… Read More

New York: Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square, 1890. Octavo (19 x 13.5 cm.), xii, 214 pages. Advertisements. Illustrations in the text. FIRST EDITION. An interesting and often charming late nineteenth-century American gastronomy book. The book goes to great lengths to compare American and British cooking with French, unfavorably. The author holds up Whistler's Peacock Room for the Leyland house as an example of a properly decorated dining room, and includes an interesting section on the history of dining tables, and another on accepting or declining dinner invitations from friends whose skill at providing a fine meal is lacking. And he thinks the sad state of dining in America needs governmental attention, to whit, "I have wondered, for instance, why, in countries where rational governments exist, and where a minister is appointed to attend to the the interests of the fine arts, with, under him, directors, deputy directors, and a dozen grades of minor functionaries, no emperor, king or republic has… Read More