Lyon, Benoist Rigaud, 1588.
16mo [111 x 69 mm] of 95 ll. (out of 96) with 29 lines per page and (8) ll. of table, without the title-page. Full light-brown morocco with fleur-de-lis, spine ribbed with fleur-de-lis bearing in gilt letters at the bottom “Lyon 1588”, inner gilt border, gilt edges. Binding from the end of the nineteenth century.
Exceedingly rare edition from Lyons of 1588 of the great book of cooking of the sixteenth century extensively described by Vicaire (column 527):
« Au titre, marque typographique. Au verso du titre, se trouve une sorte de table des chapitres que nous reproduisons intégralement :
‘Le premier chapitre traicte, de faire brouët, choux, ciue, haricot, potage & ris.
‘Le second d’appareiller chappons, perdrix, lievres, connins, cignes, cormoras, mouton & veau tant bouilly, rosty qu’en paste.
‘Le tiers, de faire gelée, laict d’amendes, cresmes, coulis, orge môdé, & plusieurs sauces.
‘Le quatrième, d’appareiller œuf, anguilles, brochets, carpes, esturgeô, & de toute sorte de poisson tant de mer, que d’eau douce.
‘Le cinquième, enseigne de servir en bâquets & festes, selon, la saison. Ité, a la fin du livre, y a un memoire pour faire uu escriptean pour un banquet. »
The reader thus learns « la manière d’habiller toutes sortes de viandes, tant chair que poisson et de servir en bancquets et Festes ».
It was published in Lyons by the publisher of Nostradamus.
The Livre de honneste volupté which we have just described according to the copy of Sir Baron Pichon, was and still is often confused with the treatise of Platine, of the Honneste volupté. Thus M. Brunet, Manuel, t. IV, col. 691, lists among the editions of Platine’s work, the edition of this work given in Lyons for Pierre Rigaud in 1602.
We have scrupulously compared the Livre de honneste volupté with the De l’Honneste volupté by Platine and we have been able to convince ourselves that there was no resemblance between these two works. On the other hand we have examined together the Livre fort excellent de Cuysine (Lyons, 1555) and the book which is the subject of this notice and we have found that the two were, if not quite similar as to the order of classification, at least in conformity as to the text of the various articles which compose them.
To sum up, the Livre de honneste volupté is a re-issue, in a slightly different order from the Livre fort excellent de Cuysine.
The composition of Livre fort excellent de Cuysine dates back to the fourteenth century, as Sir Baron Pichon proved in his introduction to the Ménagier de Paris by noting that a large number of recipes in the “Viandier” were borrowed by the author from the Livre fort excellent de Cuysine. Yet, it is known that the Ménagier was written between 1392 and 1394 (Vicaire, 527-528-530).
« ‘Le Livre de honneste volupté’ diffère absolument de l’’Honneste volupté’ de B. Platine, de Crémone. C’est le même ouvrage que ‘Le Livre fort excellent de cuysine’ (Lyon, Olivier Arnoullet, 1555, pet. In-8, toutefois ce n’en est pas une réimpression fidèle’. Extrait d’une note de M. Georges Vicaire écrite sur le feuillet de garde ». (Bibliothèque du baron Pichon, n°575).
Precious copy, exceedingly rare – short-margined at the top with the headlines sometimes cropped – of one of the main french language cookbooks of the sixteenth century.
From Georg Freund’s library with ex libris.
