“OF ALL ARTS… THE MOST IMPORTANT”

ELLWANGER, George H. The Pleasures of the Table: An Account of Gastronomy from Ancient Days to Present Times. New York: Doubleday Page, 1902. Octavo, modern half green morocco gilt, marbled boards, uncut and occasionally unopened. $450.

First trade edition, handsomely bound.

This "informative and suggestive work" (Bitting, 144) celebrates "the history, literature and aesthetics of the table," surveying such specific subjects as cooking in the ancient world, early English cookbooks, a representative German bill of fare, French sauces and sweet desserts. With 34 illustrations, all but two on halftone plates, "some of them facsimiles of the title pages or rare or famous books, and reproductions of famous pictures on gastronomic subjects selected with discrimination" (Bitting, 144). Also issued in a limited edition of 40 copies on Imperial Japan paper. Cagle & Stafford 233. Gabler, 85.

Interior generally clean. Closed tear to plate facing page 248. A few pages roughly opened; loss to upper corner of half title. An about-fine copy. Scarce.