“WE, WHO ARE BOTH FRENCH AND SOUTHERN, HAVE THE CONVICTION THAT GOOD EATING IS ONE OF THE LEGITIMATE JOYS OF LIFE”

SCOTT, Natalie. 200 Years of New Orleans Cooking. New York: Jonathan Cape & Harrison Smith, (1931). Octavo, original dotted red cloth, original dust jacket. $1200.

First edition of this collection of recipes gathered from the African-American cooks of New Orleans, in original polka-dotted red cloth and the rare dust jacket.

New Orleans-raised Natalie Scott—a scholar, humanitarian and recipient of the Croix de Guerre for her wartime heroism—was instrumental in the city's French Quarter Renaissance following the end of World War I. For this cookbook, Scott set out to compile the best recipes of the African-American cooks who worked in the homes of her friends and neighbors; in doing so, she hoped to preserve the rich multicultural heritage of the area and to make evident the African, French, Spanish, Italian, Mexican, and other European influences that had shaped her city's cuisine. The recipes include five types of gumbo, pain perdu, jambalaya, numerous preparations of oysters and shellfish, beignets, and Creole coffee. Illustrated with line drawings of New Orleans sights done by William Spratling. The book was issued in a large dot and small dot cloth binding, priority unknown; this copy is in the large dot binding and the scarce original dust jacket. Cagle & Stafford 689. Bitting, 424.

Faint foxing to endpapers and text block edges, minor soiling to cloth; dust jacket toned and lightly chipped with short edge and fold tears, faint cup ring to front panel. A very good copy, in an unusually nice example of the scarce dust jacket.