Dr Lambling et collectif ; E. Dumont ; Tante Marie - La Cuisine et la Table modernes / La Bonne Cuisine Française / La Véritable Cuisine de Famille - 1910-1930

LOT OF THREE ANCIENT COOKBOOKS

1. LA CUISINE ET LA TABLE MODERNES
Librairie Larousse, 13-17 rue Montparnasse, Paris, branch at 58 rue des Écoles. No date, around 1920.

Grand manual of bourgeois cuisine written by a collective led by doctor Lambling, professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Lille, with Dr. A. Moreau from the veterinary service of the City of Paris, Mourier, owner of the Foyot restaurants and the Café de Paris, Bedet, head chef of the Pavillon d'Armenonville, Legros from the Vilmorin-Andrieux house, and several food traders. Introduction by M. Marguery, president of the Parisian Food Committee.

The title proclaims 603 engravings, including 135 photographic reproductions, and 4 maps. The work covers everything: physiology of nutrition, selection and preservation of foods, cookware, fish, meats, poultry and game, vegetables, sauces, pastries, charcuterie and preserves, table service and cellar. Beautiful wood-engraved plates, including sequences on game with their cooking times.

Publisher’s cloth binding in natural linen with Art Nouveau decoration of parsley sprigs, vine, and currants running from the front to the back. Red edges. Fabric bookmark preserved.

Visible defects:
- Split inner hinge at the head, visible stitching threads in the gutter of the binding.
- Manuscript ex-libris in ink at the top of the title page, in the name of Marie Madeleine Vilette, Barigny.
- Soiled and dusty cloth, light stains scattered.
- Corners and edges worn.
- Frayed bookmark.
- Paper browned with light foxing, text and engravings perfectly clear.


2. E. DUMONT - LA BONNE CUISINE FRANÇAISE
Economical and practical manual for town and country, with more than two hundred engravings. Paris, Victorion Frères et Cie, publishers. No date. Printing note on the title page: 415th to 436th thousand.

Manual of bourgeois and rustic cooking, organized by sections - butcher’s meats, vegetables, pies and cakes - with numerous wood engravings in the text.

SPECIAL INTEREST, A DATED PROVENANCE: this copy is a prize book. A printed label pasted on the front board reads: Commune d'Outreau, Pas-de-Calais, solemn prize distribution, year 1933-1934, École de filles du Centre, home economics course, prize awarded to pupil Barthélemy Maria for her work and conduct, signed by the mayor of Outreau and the general councilor E. Desclève. A violet stamp from the Imprimerie-Librairie A. Letresor, at Gournay-en-Bray, appears on a endpaper. Concrete testimony of home economics teaching in girls’ schools in the interwar period.

Publisher’s binding in red percaline, title and large decorative border printed in black, radiant rosette on the lower cover.

Visible defects:
- Interior hinges opened, spine glue visible along full height: the binding is worn and the book body moves.
- Shelves worn and rubbed, small losses of cloth at the head of the spine.
- Price label partly torn, with loss affecting the author’s name and the start of the student’s name.
- Paper strongly browned and foxed, edges browned.
- Cloth slightly rubbed and soiled, corners worn.


3. TANTE MARIE - LA VÉRITABLE CUISINE DE FAMILLE
A. Taride, editor, 18-20 Boulevard Saint-Denis, Paris. No date, early 20th century.

The great classic of French domestic cooking, advertised on the cover as containing 1000 recipes and 500 menus, under the editor’s motto: “La bonne et vieille cuisine française.” Besides recipes, the work provides practical plates on table service, including plans for French and Russian-style tables for ceremonial meals, deposited by Taride. The lower cover carries advertisements for other Taride Practical Editions.

Publisher’s illustrated binding with a vignette of a cook at her stove, brown-cloth back.

Significant visible defects:
- The body of the book is broken: several gatherings are separated and the volume opens in two blocks. This is the major defect of the lot.
- Interior hinges broken, spine glue visible.
- Very dirty, stained and rubbed binding on both boards, with losses of paper.
- Rounded and worn corners, frayed edges, rubbed caps and spine with losses.
- Paper strongly browned, edges browned, body of the book warped.
- Text and engravings remain legible.

A well-used copy to be regarded as a document or for restoration.

Lot sold as described and photographed. The three volumes show binding defects, as noted above and visible in the photographs. Careful packaging with reinforced shipping, and tracking number.