Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volumes One and Two by Child, Julia; Beck, Simone; Bertholle, Louisette; Coryn, Sidonie (Illustrations) - 1970

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good +/good. Coryn, Sidonie. Both volumes first printings, quarto size, 734 pp. and 643 pp. respectively, both volumes inscribed by Julia Child, Volume Two with dust jacket. Julia Child (1912-2004) is best known for this work, written with Simone Beck (1904-1991) and Louisette Bertholle (1905-1999), "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", the first volume of which was published in 1961 and Volume Two in 1970. The cookbook introduced French cooking to an American audience and revolutionised the gourmet dining scene; all three authors trained at the prestigious French cooking school Le Cordon Bleu, and their recipes are tailored to Americans, capitalising on the surge of interest in French cooking in America after World War II.

The success of Volume One led to Julia Child getting her own cooking show, "The French Chef", in 1963, one of the first cooking programmes on American television. The pen and ink drawings are by Sidonie Coryn (1928-2015), and add charming visual instructions for various techniques and tools described in the book.

Both volumes are inscribed by Child on the half-title pages; the first volume thus : "Bon Appetit / to Meg / Julia Child / 5/16/91", and Volume Two "To Meg / Julia Child". Loosely laid into the first volume is (i) an announcement of an appearance by Julia Child at Macy's (San Francisco - Union Square) on May 17, 1991 - clearly, given the dates, where Meg, the prior owner of these books, had the books inscribed to her by Child; and (ii) four candid colour snapshots taken (clearly at) the above-mentioned event, three of them showing Julia Child at the front of the room and the fourth a close-up of Child speaking with a small group of women - these provide impeccable provenance for the inscriptions.

___DESCRIPTION: Volume One: full white decorative cloth with red and blue fleur-de-lis pattern, red rectangle with white and black lettering on the front board and spine, top edge stained red, teal blue endpapers, title page in red and black, only one printing ("Published October 16, 1961") on the copyright page, black-and-white illustrations by Sidonie Coryn throughout; Granjon type, quarto size (10.25" by 7.25"), pagination: [i-vii] viii-x [xi-xiii] xiv-xv [xvi] [1-3] 4-684 [i] ii-xxxii (index) [xxxiii] [1 colophon]. Lacking the dust jacket.

Volume Two: full white decorative cloth which mirrors, with colours reversed, the design of the first volume, blue rectangle with white and red lettering on the front and spine, top edge stained blue, red endpapers, title page in red and black, stated "First Edition" on the copyright page with the date of 1970 being on both the title and copyright pages, black-and-white illustrations by Sidonie Coryn throughout with technical drawings by Paul Child; Granjon type, quarto size (10.25" by 7.25"), pagination: [1, list of prior books tipped-in] [i-vii] viii-xxii [1-3] 4-556 [i-iii] iv-lxii (Index to both volumes) [lxiii, blank] [1 colophon]. Decorative publisher's dust jacket with sample illustrations and text regarding such on the back panel, summary of book on both flaps.

___CONDITION: The first volume a solid very good copy, with a strong, square text block with solid hinges, gently bumped corners with minimal rubbing, the interior is clean and bright, and other than the inscription described above entirely free of prior owner markings; head and tail of the spine bumped, slight overall soiling to the boards and top and fore-edge of the text block (with a few darker spots on the back board), and the spine sunned. Lacking the jacket to the first volume.

Volume Two is near fine, the binding mostly clean, the corners straight and unrubbed, the text block strong and square with solid hinges, the interior clean and bright and the volume entirely free of prior owner markings; would be fine but for light sunning a few spots of soil to the spine, and some fading to the blue top-stain. The dust jacket is good only; it is price-clipped, while entire there is a fair amount of overall edgewear with a few small chips (none affecting any text), and the spine quite sunned and worn.

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