Viard, [Alexandre]; Fouret & Delan

Le Cuisinier Royal. Seizieme Edition, augmentee de douze cents article nouveau. [alternate title Le Cuisinier Imperial].

Paris: Gustave Barba, Editeur du Cabinet Litteraire, 1838.

Octavo, 616 pages. Illustrated with seven engravings. The sixteenth of reportedly thirty-two editions, this was originally published under the title, Le Cuisiner Imperial and was changed to Royal with the reinstatement of the Bourbons. Viard, who called himself "Homme de Bouche," is said to have been chef de cuisine for both Louis XVI and Napolean. This remains unclear. What we do know is that this work was one of the great cookbooks of the era, and that it competed with Careme's L'Art de la Cuisine Française for space on French kitchen shelves throughout much of the 19th century. Le Cuisinier Royal was expanded in the 1920s by Mm. Fouret and Delan. This edition includes a detailed index, seven plates of table settings with menus for entertaining, and additional writings on wines by M. Grignon and M. Pierrhugues. This copy quite foxed throughout, and with some general soiling and wear to the text block. A few pages untrimmed. Still, complete and sound. In one-quarter brown calf with marbled paper covered boards. Less than very good. With three manuscript recipes in a contemporary hand, tipped into the rear with wax. [Bitting p. 478; Cagle 433-437 (other eds.); Oberle 168 (1841 edition); Vicaire].

Price: $500.00