"THE STARTING-POINT OF MODERN COOKERY": LA VARENNE IN ITALIAN, 1703 EDITION

LA VARENNE, Francois Pierre de. Il Cuoco Francese oue e insegnata la maniera di condire ogni sorte di Vivande, e di fare ogni sorte di Pasticcierie, e di Confetti, Conforme le quattro Stagion dell' Anno. Venetia: Lorenzo Baseggio, 1703. 12mo, contemporary vellum, hand-inked spine title. $4000.

Scarce early Italian edition of one of the milestones of European cookery: the first great French cookbook.

"La Varenne was the first great French cook of modern times; and his cookery book, published in Paris about 1650, may be described as, on paper at least, the starting-point of modern cookery" (Kettner's Book of the Table, 163). Le Cuisinier françois was wildly successful, going through multiple printings immediately after its initial appearance and exerting a transformational influence on cuisine not only in France but throughout Europe; its recipes, "the first ever to be presented in alphabetical order," marked a culinary awakening in which "the heavily used spices of the Middle Ages were discarded and replaced with delicate seasonings and meat and vegetable essences" (Feret, Gastronomical & Culinary Literature, 21). First translated into Italian in 1680; early Italian printings are scarce. See Bitting, 276 and Pennell, My Cookery Books, 90. Back cover with early ink inscription.

Mild spotting and occasional damp-staining, title page with short closed edge tear; vellum with mild staining. An extremely good copy.