One folding engraved plate. xxxii, 116 pp. 8vo, cont. red morocco-backed paste-paper boards, flat spine nicely gilt. Paris: Patris, 1810.

First edition. One of the great achievements of the 19th century in respect to food was the successful development of canning. The pioneer in this field was the Frenchman, Nicolas Appert (1750-1841).

In Appert’s process the foodstuff was placed in clean bottles, well corked, and subsequently the bottles were raised to the boiling-point of water. In this way the most perishable material could be kept unchanged for a long time. With this method Appert demonstrated practically the process of pasteurization, nearly fifty... More about L'Art de conserver, pendant plusieurs Années, toutes les Substances animales et végétales

[Klein-Schwechat: 1881].

An elaborate album of photographs of drawings of the celebrated brewery at Klein-Schwechat, founded in 1632, and today one of the leading breweries of Austria, producing a lager, a light smooth premium beer called Hopfenperle, and a super-premium called Steffl. The album was prepared for the renowned Viennese brewer August Deiglmayer (1827-83), who was at that time, managing director of the brewery and one of the great innovators of 19th century brewing. Deiglmayer spent much of his professional career at the Klein-Schwechat brewery.

The drawings were executed at the request of Georg Wieninger (1832-87), scion of the Schärding family of... More about A unique album of photographs reproducing drawings of different views of the famous brewery at...

59 leaves, enumerating the names of grapes, cereal crops, and oils and their prices for nearly two centuries. Small folio (273 x 178 mm.), 18th-cent. vellum over boards (tail of spine defective), two (of four) ties lacking. Burgundy: 1622-1792.

A fascinating and rare survival, which details the precipitous rise in the prices of Burgundian wine and the emergence of a hierarchy among regions and vintages over a 170-year period. This document, consisting of three gatherings (28; 28; 3 leaves), bound together and written in several legible hands, provides a wealth of information on grain harvests in the region, which varied greatly from year... More about Manuscript on paper entitled on upper cover: “Taux des fruits du Baillage [sic] de Nuits depuis...

About 60 bound notebooks and about a dozen unbound sheets, many finely illustrated with brush and ink, with colors. [Japan: ca. 1839-ca. 1912].

A fascinating and important manuscript archive of notebooks and sheets, many with illustrations, describing the rules of gastronomic etiquette as prescribed by the Ogasawara School of etiquette, developed in the Kamakura period (1185-1333) and still practiced today. The instructions mostly pertain to the ritualistic preparation and serving of the food on a series of trays known as honzen ryori (“main tray cuisine”) which was the dominant style of banqueting for the elite from the Muromachi period through the Edo... More about A collection of instructional notebooks containing secrets of gastronomy, etiquette, techniques...

Engraved vignette on title & three folding engraved plates. 252 pp. 8vo, cont. half-vellum & boards (boards slightly soiled, two very small wormholes to title touching three letters), spine gilt, green leather lettering piece on spine, uncut. Vicenza: nella Stamperia Turra, 1784.

First edition of this uncommon book on wheat, corn, and other cereals. Harasti, a member of the Hungarian noble Haraszthy family of Buda, was a Franciscan friar who wrote many books on agriculture. He belonged to several scientific and agricultural societies in Italy, and this work was awarded a prize by the Accademia Agraria di Vicenza in 1783.

In this work, Harasti provides a complete account of wheat, corn, and other cereals suitable for growing in Italy, methods of planting and cultivation, techniques to prevent diseases from affecting the crops, when and how to harvest, and methods of preventing the harvested grains from being contaminated by fungi and rodents while in storage. There are extensive discussions of the different species of the cereals and which are the most appropriate for different regions of Italy. More about Della più utile Coltivazione del Frumento Memoria…

Title printed in red & black. 11 p.l., 400, [37] pp. 8vo, cont. vellum over boards (light browning & foxing). Ulm: D. Bartholomai, 1722.

First edition. Hoffmann (1660-1742), whom Hirsch calls “one of the heroes of German medicine in the 18th century,” was “a leading medical systematist of the first half of the eighteenth century...he became a highly influential teacher and practicing physician in Germany, systematizing coherently the Galenic, iatromechanical, and iatrochemical aspects of the phenomena of health and disease.”–D.S.B., VI, p. 458.

In the present work, Hoffmann offers a collection of medical and dietetic instructions developed to improve health. He provides... More about Gründlicher Unterricht, Wie ein Mensch nach den Gesundheits-Regeln der Heil. Schrifft und durch...

2 p.l., 46 pp. 8vo, attractive antique calf-backed marbled boards, spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. Warrington: Printed by W. Eyres, 1796.

First edition of this scarce provincial imprint. During the final four decades of the 18th century Britain experienced a number of corn harvest failures with a resulting rise in the price of wheat. The Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, the Board of Agriculture, and various private individuals advocated the adoption of the potato as a substitute for wheat, and great efforts were made to popularize the cultivation of this crop.

The writer of the present tract was no doubt inspired by a Board of Agriculture report on the culture and use of potatoes, which was published in 1795. Kirkpatrick, who lived near Wigan in Lancashire, a well-established center for potato cultivation, was not a professional nurseryman, but he grew certain plants in his garden that he offered for sale. More about An Account of the Manner in which Potatoes are Cultivated and Preserved, and the Uses to which...

Three vols. Thick 8vo, orig. marbled wrappers (wrappers with a few pale ink stains), manuscript labels pasted on spines, uncut. Paris: P.D. Pierres, 1782.

First edition of “one of the finest works upon the social life of the French people…”–Bitting, p. 280. Legrand d’Aussy (1737-1800), was appointed keeper of French manuscripts at the Bibliothèque nationale in 1795.

While Legrand originally envisioned a more comprehensive work on domestic life, he only managed to publish the sections on food. This work is filled with valuable information on food preparation, the concept and organization of a “correct” meal, dishes to be served... More about Histoire de la Vie privée des Français, depuis l’Origine de la Nation jusqu’à nos jours

Japan: various sizes and various dates, mostly printed in black, some in red, ranging from 1818 to 1906.

A remarkable collection of pharmaceutical ephemera: these broadsides and envelopes were issued by pharmaceutical companies from all over Japan, for advertising and dispensing a wide variety of tablets, ointments, powders, plasters, herbal medicines, and pastes. These medicines were used for a wide variety of illnesses: indigestion, conjunctivitis, kidney disease, sea sickness, diarrhea, etc. Indeed, one of the medicines is advertised as efficacious in curing 10,000 diseases.

Some of these broadsides lists many kinds of medicines produced and marketed by a single manufacturer. Many have company... More about A collection of 31 broadside advertisements, 28 printed envelopes, which contained medicines, one...

One folding handcolored engraved plate & six folding printed tables on four sheets. xvi, 418 pp. 8vo, cont. tree calf (minor foxing), flat spine nicely gilt (minor defect at foot of spine), red morocco lettering piece on spine. Paris: Poulet, 1814.

First edition in French (1st ed.: Madrid, 1807), large paper copy, of this uncommon work on the grapes cultivated in Andalucia. Rojas (1777-1827), librarian of the royal botanical garden of Madrid, describes the grapes’ characteristics, tastes, and uses as a commercial crop for eating and for making wine. He describes more than 120 varieties, providing details on their various local names, qualities... More about Essai sur les Variétés de la Vigne qui végètent en Andalousie…traduit par L. M. C. [the...

Numerous woodcut illus. in the text. Largely printed in black letter. 7 p.l. (first leaf blank except for signature mark), 63, [1] pp. Small 4to, early 20th cent. polished mottled calf by Riviere, triple gilt fillet round sides, spine richly gilt, red morocco lettering pieces on spine, dentelles gilt, a.e.g. London: H. Denham, 1576.

Second edition, “nowe newly corrected and augmented,” of the first English book on hops. The first edition appeared two years earlier; both editions are very rare. This is “an eminently practical treatise, illustrating the various methods of setting the roots, making the hills and ramming the poles... More about A Perfite platforme of a Hoppe Garden, and necessarie Instructions for the making and...

Four folding engraved plates & one folding printed table. 2 p.l., [5]-55 pp. 8vo, cont. speckled dark grey boards, flat spine gilt. Dresden: Walther, 1786.

[bound with]:

[—]. Abhandlung vom Pottaschsieden…Zweyter Theil. Two folding engraved plates. 8vo. Dresden: Walther, 1800. More about Abhandlung vom Pottaschsieden und Versuche zu Bestimmung des wahren Gehalts verschiedener Baum-...