Le Arti del Credenziere, Confetturiere, e Liquorista (manuscript copy )

1820. 209 numbered pages (with a few unnumbered blanks at rear) on a mixture of laid and wove paper of different sizes in a modern binding using a printed music leaf and backed in vellum measuring 8.25" x 6"; undated ca. 1820. Small damp stain to top edge early on not obscuring text, scattered ink stains, minor foxing. Apparently an early manuscript copy of Agnoletti's 1822 work Le Arti del credenziere, confettiere e liquorista published in Rome in 1822 (later expanded to 3 volumes as Manuale del credenziere, confetturiere e liquorista di raffinato gusto moderno (1830). Four chapters were added and a few (upon comparison with the 1822 first edition as (truncated) well as the 1826 and 1830 editions) rearranged, but the works are broadly similar, suggesting this was close to the final copy before editing. It is not clear whose hand it is in, though the somewhat cramped hand and the use of different sizes and types of paper suggests it was Agnoletti (or at least not a professional scribe).

Vincenzo Agnoletti, credenziere of Maria Luigia of Austria (second wife of Napoleon Bonaparte) is often credited as being the first to categorize gelato by consistency and the first, crucially, to suggest that everything can be turned into gelato. He is also credited with inventing (or at least popularizing) Zuppa Inglese and Rum Baba in his 1832 "Manuale del cuoco e del pasticciere di raffinato gusto moderno". An important work in the development of Italian confectionery and a central work in the history of gelato.


Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilo. Category: Cooking, Wine & Dining; Inventory No: CAT000888. (Inventory #: CAT000888)