DAVID, Elizabeth; John MINTON (illustrator). French Country Cooking. London: John Lehmann. 1958.
8vo. Original oatmeal cloth lettered in gilt over ornamental brown lettering piece to spine, in jacket designed byJohn Minton; pp. 207, [1, (publisher’s advertisements)], two-page frontispiece, illustrations throughout; light toning to fore-edge of textblock, a couple of tiny marks to lower edge, small black ink mark (c. 4 mm) to cloth at lower edge of rear panel, front flap of jacket darkened to outer edge; half-title signed by Elizabeth David in blue ink, neat contemporary gift inscription to upper corner of front free endpaper; a lovely bright, near fine copy in a notably sharp, clean example of the wrapper.
A lovely copy of the second, revised edition of this pioneering traversal of French cuisine, signed by Elizabeth David and with a bright example of the striking John Minton wrapper.
Following the success of A Book of Mediterranean Food, David’s publisher, John Lehmann, swiftly commissioned its sequel, this time turning to the dishes of rural France. French Country Cooking was first published in 1951, while food rationing was still in place. In an essay on David, Julian Barnes writes that ‘readers [of David’s early books] were inevitably indulging in a little light gastroporn. If male adolescents of the time consumed girlie magazines while waiting for the real thing, British domestic cooks had a few panting years to endure before the garlic and basil became available and olive oil was liberated from the chemist’s.’
Dedicated to the author’s mother, French Country Cooking was clearly a labour of love as well as a feat of scholarship, introducing English readers to a rich diversity of French cuisine from pheasant soup of the Basque country to Lyonnaise Poulet à la Crème. Chapters are devoted to soups, fish, eggs, luncheon, supper and family dishes, meat, poultry, game, vegetables, sweets, sauces and preserves. ‘E.D. wrote as she cooked: with simplicity, purity, colour, self-effacing authority, and a respect for tradition’ (Barnes).
Once again, John Minton was recruited for the illustrations. His radiant jacket for the Mediterranean book was a hard act to follow, but the kitchen interior he conjured, complete with its view through an open door, is equally special.
See Barnes, ‘The Land Without Brussels Sprouts’, in Something to Declare (2002).
SKU: 2123665