THE FRENCH CHEF COOKBOOK, SIGNED BY JULIA CHILD

CHILD, Julia. The French Chef Cookbook. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1968. Octavo, original pictorial red paper boards, original dust jacket. $1000.

First edition of Child’s groundbreaking cookbook with all the recipes from 119 programs of her first public television series that “changed forever the way Americans cook” (New York Times), signed by her on the half title.

The 1963 premiere of Julia Child's first public television series The French Chef "made Julia a household name and changed forever the way Americans cook… That learning to cook could lead an American woman to success of any kind would have seemed utterly implausible in 1949; that it is so thoroughly plausible 60 years later owes everything to Julia Child's legacy" (New York Times). The French Chef Cookbook contains all the recipes of 119 programs in that pioneering series and, as Child notes in her preface, the recipes were "printed in the order that the shows were produced… The book begins with the 14th show… because the first 13 shows no longer exist… Number 36 is missing, an unsatisfactory bûche later redone as Number 73; Number 37 was a local New Year's show which has disappeared from view, and for some technical television reason Number 82 has become Number 134." With 16 pages of black-and-white illustrations from photographs by Paul Child. A few pencil notations. Early magazine article laid in.

Dust jacket with very faint soiling and embrowning. A nearly fine copy.