Search Results: culinary ephemera from Rabelais - Fine Books on Food & Drink

[Sweden - various places: various, 1889. Five works bound together, all FIRST EDITIONS. Henrik Gahn (1820-1874) invented the first antiseptics to be used in Sweden, which he called "Aseptin" and "Amykos", the first being a secret preparation containing boric acid, used for preserving articles of food, which he patented in 1869; the second for use as a mouthwash and disinfectant. The eponymous firm based on his work, Henrik Gahn AB of Uppsala, stayed in family ownership until 1949, and in some form still exists today. The first pamphlet is inscribed by Gahn to J.G. Winnberg (1824-1899) owner of a village drugstore in Leksand, Sweden, who moved to America and practiced pharmacy in Jamestown, NY. Rare. [OCLC records one copy of Amykos och Aseptin (National Library of Sweden); the other works are not located by OCLC].

Osh Kosh, WI: Direct Mail Associates, Inc, 1935. Tall, stapled booklet (22.5 x 10 cm.), [16] pages. FIRST EDITION. A promotional cocktail recipe book, although it is unclear what it is promoting, as no specific products are mentioned. It was issued by the Direct Mail Association, an early innovator in the field of marketing through the mail. The piece itself is not dated but laid-in is a signed letter from Miles Kimball, President of the Miles Kimball Company, which produced the booklet with Direct Mail Associates. The letter, dated 1946, states that the booklet was issued "right after Repeal." newspaper clipping regarding "Liquor and Longevity" pasted to inside of front flap. Lower right corner lightly bumped, otherwise near fine, in stiff blue wrappers printed in black and gold. Unrecorded. [OCLC locates no copies; not in Noling, Beverage Literature].

[Minneapolis, Minn: New Hotel Dyckman, 1909. Duodecimo-sized booklet, single-stapled in wrappers (11 x 6.5 cm.), [44] pages. FIRST EDITION. A promotional drink manual, promoting Minneapolis' very fine Dyckman Hotel. One hundred-one recipes for cocktails are listed, including some lesser-known gems: American Beauty, Careless Love, Bijou, Charlie Horse, Opalescent, and the Electric Eel. Pages a bit age-toned, and staples somewhat oxidized; a few small dog ears. In publisher's black wrappers, titled in silver. Very good. Unrecorded. [OCLC locates no copies; not in Noling].

Providence, RI: Rumford Chemical Works, 1881. Stapled booklet, cord-sewn in wrappers (18 x 11.5 cm.), 32 pages. Illustrated. Advertisements. A combined almanac and recipe book, with an emphasis on recipes using Horsford's Bread Preparation. With calendar and ephemeris. Publisher's chromolithograph wrappers contain an image of Dignity and Impudence depicting dogs representing each characteristic (no surprise my dog is the spitting image of "Impudence"). Closed tear along wrapper fold, very light soiling, otherwise near fine.

Buffalo, N.Y.: Foster Milburn & Co.; [G.H. Dunston Lith.], 1885. Booklet, stapled in wrappers (20 x 14.5 cm.), 32 pages. An almanac advertising Burdock Blood Bitters, with the standard calendars, ephemeris, testimonials, and advertisements for other related products, including "Dr. Fowler's Extract of Wild Strawberries". With remarkable duo-tone lithograph wrappers, depicting an image of an older man with a collared shirt and bald pate, and bursting through the paper a young child. "At three years and at sixty", it says. "Compliments of your druggist... H.L. Pierce & Son, Cavendish, Vt." is printed (not stamped) on the rear wrapper panel. With the small ownership stamp, "Chas. W. Whitcomb", at top edge of rear panel. A bit of crease to bottom right corner of rear wrapper, and a few prior leaves. Very good or better.

Waynesboro, Franklin Co., Pennsylvania: Frick Company, Engineers, 1895. Octavo (24 x 15 cm.), 201, [15] pages. Index. Profusely illustrated with engravings and diagrams. FIRST EDITION, thus, of this trade catalogue for the Frick Company of Franklin County, Pa. focused on their line of heavy machinery in refrigeration applications. Text black generally clean and bright. Head of spine bumped a bit. In publisher's gilt-stamped burgundy cloth, with some rubbing. Generally very good or better. Scarce. [OCLC locates no copies; Romaine records two other Frick Co. catalogues].

Minneapolis, Minn: the company, 1955. Quarto-sized, booklet in wrappers, in a three-hole brad binding (29 x 22.5 cm.), 249, [4] pages. Illustrated throughout. Printed on various stocks, some illustrated with color, and two leaves at the end with color samples. A sizable trade catalogue from the Minneapolis-based bar supply company, servicing drinking establishments, restaurants, hotels, etc. Sections include direct draw bars, direct draw tap boxes, ice cube makers, refrigeration and refrigerating machinery, reach-in coolers, freeze chests, walk-in coolers, glass washers, glasses, bar rails, fans, faucets, taps, regulators, picnic pumps, keg bumpers, chairs, bar stools, booths, counters, back bars, costumers, sand urns, and more. One of four order blanks at rear has been removed; "received" stamp to title page; small sticker with file number to front panel of wrapper. In textured black wrappers, printed in red, white, and pale blue. Some rubbing to extremities, otherwise very good. [OCLC locates no… Read More

[Columbus, Ohio: the club], 1947. Menu, folded in ribbon-tied wrappers (15 x 11.5 cm.), [4] pages, plus wrappers. Mimeograph printed menu and program for the Mothers and Wives Club of the US Army 37th Division. The banquet was held at Columbus, Ohio's Seneca Hotel. The booklet contains the menu (a thoroughly mid-century midwestern affair with Fruit Cup, Well-brown Fried Chicken, Bon Ton Salad with French Dressing, and Strawberry Ice Cream, among other items), and notes "group singing", invocations, presentations... Some light water staining to the undecorated faded pink card stock wrappers, and a bit of light foxing to the mimeographed pages. Grey silk ribbon. Near very good.

Baltimore, MD: Cochran-Oler Ice Company, 1885. 28 x 21.5, ALS. Letter from W.H. Oles, President of Cochran-Oler Ice Company, on illustrated letterhead addressed to Edward N. Banker regarding his appointment as superintendent at the company's Cedar Grove, Maine location. Some creases, minor discoloration, and small tear to centerfold, else very good.

Benrath [Dusseldorf, Germany], 1955. Single fold menu, (16.5 x 10 cm.), edged in gold. With the crest of North Rhine-Westphalia. Menu for a diplomatic dinner given by Karl Arnold, the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, for the Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi. The dinner was given at the Pleasure Palace of Benrath, in Dusseldorf. It has been proposed as a Unesco World Heritage Site. Dishes served at the dinner included: Gtruffelte Ganseleber, Rinderkraftbruhe mit Mark, Sauerlander Bachforelle, Gespicktes Hirschkotelett, Kaffee - Eiscreme, and Gervais Truffel. The wines were almost exclusively wines of the Rhine: 1952 Graacher Himmelreich und Domprobst Feine Auslese, 1952 Trittenheimer Olk, 1949 Niersteiner Hipping Feinste Goldbeeren-Auslese Edelgewachs, and more. But the evening also included a 1949 Pommard, and a Heidsieck Dry Monopole Brut. A very small bump to the fore edge, otherwise fine.

Benrath [Dusseldorf, Germany], 1954. Single fold menu, (16.5 x 10 cm.), edged in gold. With the crest of North Rhine-Westphalia. Menu for a diplomatic dinner given by Karl Arnold, the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, for the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie. The dinner was given at the Pleasure Palace of Benrath, in Dusseldorf. It has been proposed as a Unesco World Heritage Site. Dishes served at the dinner included: Austern-Cocktail, Doppelte Kraftbruhe, Ostender Steinbuttschnitte, Kalbsmedallon, Fr. Ananas - Eiscreme, Kaseleckereien. The wines were almost exclusively wines of the Rhine: 1951 Bernkasteler Badstube, 1952 Trittenheimer Olk, 1949 Niersteiner Hipping Feinste Goldbeeren-Auslese Edelgewachs, and a 1951 Niersteiner Vockenberg Spatlese. But the evening also included a 1949 Pommard, and a Heidsieck Dry Monopole Brut. Fine.

Henniker, N.H.[?], 1906. Tall octavo (42 x 17 cm.), [approx. 150] pages. An account book of an unidentified New Hampshire butcher working in the 1840's. The individual accounts identify customers at the top of each page, with names including John Slade, Joseph S. Newhall, Hammon Hall, William Oliver, Nathaniel Mansfield, G.H. Hardy, and others. Items sold include Lamb, Beef, Veal, Mutton, Shin Beef, Shank Beef, Beefs, Toung (sic), Chickings (sic), Pork, Sausages, Suett, Soup Bones, and on a separate page Calf Skins, Tripes and Tallow. The free front end paper bears the inscription, "James Wallace Henniker, N.H.", though the hand matches the writing of the keeper of a second account (1901-1906). The center of the book bears a section with a Household Inventory and Accounts (8 pages) of Lizzie P. Gove, conducted by Ella Brock Brooks, both of Manchester, N.H., and likely in Brooks' hand. This cataloguer assumes this accounting was conducted on the death of Gove, as it commences with the inventory on… Read More

[New York: Agate Iron Ware Manufacturing Co.; Macgowan & Slipper, Printers, 30 Beekman Street, 1885. Booklet, stapled in wrappers (15.5 x 12 cm.), [136] pages. Illustrated throughout. Title from cover. Date from page of medals received. Stated "Fourth Edition". There were at least three distinctly different works with this title, issued by the corporate author: (1890) 72 pages, with the Lalance and Grosjean Manufacturing Co name; (1891) 32 pages, an almanac, not a trade catalogue; and this one (undated) [~136 pages], a trade catalogue. Promotional, combined trade catalogue and cookbook for Agate Iron Ware Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of kitchen ware. Illustrated descriptions of the wares (typically two to a page) face recipes. The recipes are decidedly Anglo-French, not American, and they lean towards more elegant fare. Illustrations include the Agate Iron Ware manufacturing plant on front wrapper verso, an assortment of medals and awards, and an image of a homemaker sitting in her kitchen… Read More

Philadelphia: C.W. Alexander, Publisher, 224 South Third Street, 1867. Octavo, sewn on cord (23 x 14.5 cm.), [2], 19-94 pages. Stated "New and Enlarged Edition" but we have been unable to locate a citation of an earlier printing. A household compendium, with recipes and formulas for cookery as well as for useful articles for the home, such as Leather Flowers. Includes recipes for "the following celebrated articles: Godfrey's Cordial, Carrot Ointment, German Bitters, Pickalily Sauce, and Parisian Enamel", which should give some sense of the range on exhibition here. Short sections on Family Wines, Valuable Dyes and Distemper Colors for Walls and Ceilings. Charles Wesley Alexander (1837-1927), was an American author who often wrote under the pseudonym Wesley Bradshaw. Here the name is given simply as "Alexander" in the title and C.W. Alexander in the copyright information. A German language edition, Alexander's Familien-freund, was issued the same year. Text block with age-toning and a bit of edgewear.… Read More

Long Island City/Syracuse, NY: H. Stiefol Co, N.d.. Stapled booklet, 32 pages. FIRST EDITION. A well-designed novelty cocktail recipe book, intended as a promotional device for various liquor stores. The leaves of booklet step back with an index printed on the edges. It is similar to a thumb-indexed book, but with the entire page edge acting as a navigation aid. The interior of the rear wrapper includes the statement, "recipes and information compiled principally from the Professional bartenders guide with the permission of the author, John T. Fitzgerald ...". In addition to the recipes, the booklet includes general information about spirits, an illustrated guide to proper glassware, and one page of snacks to accompany drinking. One small stain, and a bit of rubbing to the silver-printed burgundy wrappers, otherwise very good. [OCLC locate three copies, but not under Klein's name].

Paris: Pagnerre, Libraire-Editeur, rue de Seine, 18; Typographie de Henri Plon, 1865. Duodecimo (14.5 x 10.5 cm.), 200 pages. Engraved illustrations in the text. Table des Matieres. The eighth year of this popular French almanac, with calendar and ephemeris, but unlike most American "culinary almanacs" the bulk of this work is indeed related to food, with sections on various foodstuffs, (vegetables, birds, fish, sauces, etc.), and many recipes. The attractive wrapper illustration by "F. Grenan" depicts two women working in the kitchen, one cooking at the stove, the other writing while handling some vegetables and birds. Is she recording a recipe? or perhaps just back from market and keeping up accounts? Like other copies of this almanac we've seen, the illustration is hand-colored. Dog ears to some pages; otherwise internally sound and clean. Wrapper corners chipped and light soiling. Near very good, in a handsome custom-made clamshell box. [OCLC locates five institutions with single issues of runs… Read More

Albany, N.Y.: Dr. Herrick & Co, 1867. Duodecimo sewn on cords, in wrappers (16 x 10 cm.), 32 pages. Illustrated. An annual product cookbook, advertising various patent medicine pills, powders, plasters and more from Dr. Herrick & Co., Manufacturing Chemists. The almanac contains culinary recipes, as well as recipes for household needs and medicinal cures. Advertisements for various medicines throughout. In blue wrappers, titled and illustrated in black with ribbon for hanging. Some edgewear and slight creasing; chips to rear wrapper panel, still near very good. [OCLC locates XX copies; not in Bitting or Cagle].

St. Louis, Mo: Angelica Jacket Co, 1943. Square booklet (16 x 16 cm.), 24 pages (but with one additional fold for ease of mailing (16 x 8 cm.). Printed and illustrated throughout in color. FIRST EDITION of this trade catalogue of kitchen wear, predominantly clothing for cooks and front-of-house personnel, but also with a selection of kitchen implements such as knives, peelers, etc., as well as a list of professional cookbooks. With a mail order form laid-in. Near fine. [OCLC locates no copies of this publication, but records other trade catalogues for AJC in 1917, 1932, and 1935)].

London: Wm. Milburn & Co, 1892. Bi-fold menu (15 x 10.5 cm.), [4] pages. Printed in red, gold and blue, with menu handwritten. Menu for the voyage of the S.S. Port Chalmers, dated in ink on the front panel, "16/10/92". The internal page-spread includes the handwritten menu items including, "Giblet Soup, Boiled Turbot ... , Sheep Head and Brains, Roast Turkey & Breast..., Boiled Beef & Carrots, Baked and Boiled Potatoes, French Beans and Turnip, Plum Pudding & Sweet ..., Lemon Jelly, Gorgonzola & Cheddar, Almonds & Raisins". Lightly soiled, but still very attractive. ~ The Anglo-Australasian Steam Navigation Co. was formed in 1883 to operate direct UK - Australia services via Antwerp, and the line was to later adopt the name "Milburn Line". There were two ships that plied the Milburn Line commissioned with the name Port Chalmers. This menu hails from the first, built in 1891, so it was a nice shiny new ship when the passengers on board had this meal. The ship was sold on in 1896 and lasted until 1956.… Read More

Boston/Cambridgeport: Chester D. Holmes/J.R. Drew, Printer, 1882. Handbill, 27.3 x 17.8 cm. Illustrated. One-page advertisement for Richard J Davie's "Animal Slinging Railway," patented on July 18, 1882. These meat hangers are "strong" and "light" and come in three sizes. Chester D. Holmes is indicated as the agent for the patentee and uses the lower quarter of the page to advertise various refrigerators for which he lays no claim for patent. Slight edge-wear and age toning, otherwise very good.