1841 · Mexico City
by [Cook Books]. [Mexico]
Mexico City, 1841. About very good.. 256pp. plus two plates. Contemporary tree calf, spine gilt with leather label. Label chipped, extremities worn, particularly upper corner with some biopredation intruding slightly into text block. Minor toning, internally clean. An early Mexican cook book, bearing remarkable similarity to Blanquel's treatise Novisimo Arte de Cocina which was first published in 1831, complete with two very similar plates. The present work -- like Blanquel -- is divided into eight treatises with an extensive index, and includes two woodcut plates depicting cuts of meat. The two wood-engraved illustrations are adapted from the 1826 meat-carving pamphlet "Arte de Trinchar y Servir las Viandas," the text of which is included here, as in Blanquel. The texts are nearly identical, leading us to believe this is either an unattributed or piratical edition under a slightly variant title. That would make this the "second" edition of Blanquel, though the actual second edition of Novisimo Arte de Cocina was issued in 1845. Six copies of the present work in OCLC -- New York Public Library, Los Angeles Public Library, UC San Diego, University of Miami, UTSA, and William & Mary. Not in Cagle.
(Inventory #: 5776)
(203) 479-2507
