Ali-Bab - Gastronomie pratique - 1928

Rare and sought-after!! A classic of gastronomy: one of the best cookbooks of the 20th century; the recipes are given with proportions.

ALI-BAB (Henri Babinski). Practical Gastronomy. Culinary studies followed by the treatment of gourmand obesity. Fifth augmented and revised edition. Paris, Ernest Flammarion, 1928. Monogrammed binding.

Fifth and last edition of this monument of gastronomic literature published during the author’s lifetime (1928). The “very small book” from 1907, which originally counted 314 pages, has here become a huge volume of 1281 pages. It is sought after by enthusiasts for its completeness and for the rigor of its recipes.

Henri Babinski, called Ali-Bab (Paris, 1855 – 1931), is a civil mining engineer, son of Polish immigrants and elder brother of the neurologist Joseph Babinski. He prospected and exploited for more than fifteen years mines in Guyana and in other countries. Retired in Paris, he then traveled “from country to country, from province to province” to gather the elements of his book, which enjoyed immediate success as early as 1907. He revised and expanded it with each edition up to this one. It is not known why he chose the pseudonym “Ali-Bab.”

ALI-BAB
Practical Gastronomy
Culinary studies followed by the Treatment of Obesity of Gourmands
Fifth augmented and revised edition
PARIS
Ernest Flammarion, publisher
26, rue Racine, 26
[Printed on November 28, 1928 by Imprimerie Durand, 9 rue Fulbert, Chartres.]
Printing justification: “From this work 6 copies on pure white Lafuma vellum numbered from press 1 to 6 were produced; 10 copies on Rives tinted laid paper numbered from press 7 to 16.” Our copy is printed on fine laid paper, unnumbered as are all unnumbered copies of this edition.
Forty-fourmo (28 × 21.5 cm], [x]-1281 pp. Unstamped blind-tooled leather binding in full Havana brown (the original color likely pine green (see photos)), four raised spine bands, author and title gilded, centerpiece adorned with a gilded monogram “MM” in a beaded oval. Upper cover adorned with a large intertwined monogram “M”, hot-stamped in a beaded medallion, surrounded by a crown of small gilded triangles and frames of gold-tooled lines; lower cover with a diamond pattern in gilt. Blue and green marbled endpapers, gilded edges.

Condition: satisfactory: binding rubbed in places (spine and joints, corners, edges), some stains on the upper board, the work is heavily insolé since the pine green original color is visible only on the second board in places. The remainder subjected to sun discoloration is a beautiful Havana color. Restoration: the first pastedown had detached from the binding and the whole was resecured and set back in a somewhat visible manner.. (see photos). Sporadic foxing on the text, sometimes more pronounced in margins, which do not impede reading. A small marginal tear without loss of text at the bottom touching several pages (see photos). Interior fresh otherwise, complete text.

A book that reads as much as it cooks. In the preface of this edition, Ali-Bab wonders that his “very small book” has become an “enormous volume,” and that critics have compared it to the “Summa Theologiae” of Thomas Aquinas (“blasphemy!”, he jokes). A poet even parodied in his honor Du Bellay’s sonnet (“Happy is Ali-Bab who made a beautiful journey”), reproduced at the head of the volume.

The work consists of a Prodrome of gastronomy (gastronomy through the ages, meal service, classification of cooking methods, sauces, soups, edible mushrooms of France, wine, organization of friends’ meals, “My menus”), followed by thousands of culinary formulas classified by categories: soups, hors-d’oeuvres, eggs, meats, poultry, game, vegetables, desserts, jams, beverages, coffee, tea and liqueurs. Each recipe begins with “For four people, take:” followed by precise quantities in grams, and ends with variants and numerous notes. The book is cosmopolitan: Polish soups (krupnik, barszcz, czernina, chlodnik), kebabs, goulash, zampone, Yorkshire pudding, chicken pie, warack malfouff, champagne-cup. Ali-Bab also discusses the origins of dishes: regarding coq au vin, he notes that the dish dates back to the 16th century and that it would be better called “Chicken Stew in Wine.” It closes with the Treatment of Obesity of Gourmands, the author’s method, cited in therapeutic works. Detailed table of contents and index (alphabetical) up to page 1281.

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