"HOW TO PREPARE, GARNISH AND SERVE ACCORDING TO THE TRADITIONAL RULES OF OUR MOST ABLE PREDECESSORS"

RANHOFER, Charles. The Epicurean. A Complete Treatise of Analytical and Practical Studies on the Culinary Art. Including… a Selection of Interesting Bills of Fare of Delmonico's, from 1862 to 1894. Chicago: Hotel Monthly Press, (1920). Large thick quarto, original Art Deco-style blind- and gilt-stamped navy cloth, patterned endpapers. $1100.

1920 edition of one of the most important cookbooks ever produced, with 800 in-text and full-page illustrations, in a striking original Art Deco binding.

In the 1820s, the Delmonicos opened their Manhattan restaurant, bringing European-style fine dining to America. Not until Charles Ranhofer arrived in Delmonico's kitchen in the 1860s, however, did Delmonico's become a world-famous establishment, attracting fine chefs from all over Europe. Boasting a guest list that included Charles Louis Napoleon, Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens, Queen Victoria, Walter Scott and Lillian Russell, Delmonico's quickly established itself as the place to be seen among affluent Manhattanites and visitors to New York. First published in 1894 (almost 20 years before that classic culinary bible, Escoffier's Le Guide Culinaire), The Epicurean is a massive compendium of menus, techniques, terminology and recipes—an ambitious "Franco-American culinary encyclopedia" by one of America's earliest celebrity chefs. Bitting, 388.

Minimal wear to extremities. A handsome near-fine copy.