La Varenne, [François Pierre De]Le Cuisinier François... Par Le Sieur De La Varenne -

Paris: Cie des imprimeurs et marchands libraires associés, 1670. Duodecimo, 356, [2] pages. Lacking pages 139-148, 157-180, 189-190, 193-212, 311-318, 287-288. Lacking 66 pages in all. Notaker indicates that the book is 358 pages, but mis-numbered "248" on the final page. In fact, the number "248" is part of the unnumbered two-page table of contents, and is merely the page number of the item on the first line of the second page of the table. An early edition of a cornerstone book of French cuisine, originally published in 1651. Written after ten years in the employ of Louis Chaalon du Bled, Le Cuisinier François, reflects the changes in French cooking that had been made since the 1540s, when the previous French cookbooks had been issued, a gap of more than one hundred ten years. The book includes the first appearances of many recipes and techniques, including dishes served, "au naturel", "au bleu", and "a la mode". But the greatest change was in the use of spices, with pepper, cloves, and nutmeg the only ones used for savory dishes, putting aside sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and mace for use only with sweet dishes. (see introduction to Hyman, The French Cook). Incomplete, as mentioned above, but still handsome in hand-lettered, full vellum. And this printing is very rare. [OCLC locates just one copy of this printing, at the BNF; no auction records for this printing; Notaker 616.30; Vicaire 497].