[ESCOFFIER, AUGUSTE]. A Guide to Modern Cookery. London: William Heinemann, 1907.
FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION. Leather-bound; hardcover; octavo (25 x 15 x 6 cm); pp. xvi, 880. English text. Rebound in handsome full burgundy morocco gilt; marbled endpapers; half-title; portrait frontispiece with tissue-guard; rear index in double columns. Printed by R. Clay and Sons. Condition: VERY GOOD. Binding tight and secure, the covers very well-preserved. Interior largely fresh and clean, couple of mild creases, and previous owner details to front endpaper. Scarce.
Notes: First English language edition of one of the most influential cookery books about French cuisine ever published. First published in the original French in 1903, this work codified and modernised classical French cooking. The guide contains over 5,000 recipes, many written in shorthand form intended for those already skilled in the kitchen. Escoffier developed the recipes while working at the Savoy, Ritz and Carlton hotels from the late 1880s to the time of publication. Rebound in modern morocco leather, with endpapers renewed. The work also lays out the structure of a professional 'brigade de cuisine', Escoffier's system for dividing kitchen tasks among specialised roles, which remains the basis for many modern professional kitchens.
