First French Cookbook in America
The French Cook
Publication: Philadelphia: Carey, Lea and Carey, 1828. First Edition.
Notes: The first French cookbook printed in the United States, from the eightlh London edition of 1827 (the first was published in 1813). According to the title page, Ude was "ci-devant cook to Louis XVI and the Earl of Sefton and steward to his late Royal Highness the Duke of York." According to the Cambridge University Press reissue (of the 8th London edition, in 2014), little is known about Ude. He claimed to have forty years experience, most of that in England, where as the chef for the Earl of Sefton, he earned 300 guineas per year.
The considerable success of Ude's book in England, followed by his appointment as chef of the gambling club Crockford's, in 1828, made him one of the most influential proponents of French cooking in Great Britain (a meal described in Bryon's Don Juan is largely cribbed from a menu in Ude's book—see the Penguin critical edition notes for stanza 63). In the introduction Ude insists on using French words for concepts with no equivalent in English, at least two of which (entrée and sauté) have stuck in the English language.
His influence in America was less pronounced and this book was not reprinted. As a result, it is somewhat uncommon.
xxix, 439 pages plus 8 plates showing the arrangement of center and side dishes on the table.
Edition + Condition: First edition (first printing). A good copy in a worn contemporary binding of half morocco and marbled paper-covered boards. The front board is cracked but holding by the threads. Several preliminary leaves have dark stains, the upper right corner of most leaves show evidence of an old tide mark; the last text leaf is missing the lower corner, affecting one or two entries in the index.
Item No: #362069
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