{"product_id":"david-elizabeth-john-minton-illustrator-french-country-cooking","title":"DAVID, Elizabeth; John MINTON ( illustrator ). French Country Cooking.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDAVID, Elizabeth; John MINTON (\u003ci\u003eillustrator\u003ci\u003e).\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e French Country Cooking. \u003ci\u003eLondon: John Lehmann\u003c\/i\u003e. 1958.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e8vo. 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA 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.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFollowing the success of \u003ci\u003eA Book of Mediterranean Food\u003c\/i\u003e, David’s publisher, John Lehmann, swiftly commissioned its sequel, this time turning to the dishes of rural France. \u003ci\u003eFrench Country Cooking\u003c\/i\u003e 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.’\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDedicated to the author’s mother, \u003ci\u003eFrench Country Cooking\u003c\/i\u003e 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).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOnce 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSee Barnes, ‘The Land Without Brussels Sprouts’, in Something to Declare (2002).\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2123665\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57180341436793,"sku":"2123665","price":1400.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2123665.jpg?v=1777545545","url":"https:\/\/sotherans.co.uk\/products\/david-elizabeth-john-minton-illustrator-french-country-cooking","provider":"Sotherans","version":"1.0","type":"link"}