A Book of Mediterranean Food

David, Elizabeth [Cookery]

Published by Lehman, London, 1950

About this Item

(London: John Lehmann 1950). First UK Edition. Publisher's original pink tweed cloth, backstrip blocked in brown and lettered in gilt. Boards bright and clean. A former owner's name and contemporary date to the front free end-paper otherwise a VG++ copy in like price-clipped dustwrapper (with no wear, tears or pieces missing) and which is the nicest example that we have seen in the last 20+ years. A lovely copy. The first edition was printed in tiny numbers and is seldom found in collectable condition (as this is). The dustwrapper is notable for its stunning wrap-around John Minton illustration who also provided further black and white illustrations inside the text. # 30 in the Guardian's list of 100 non-fiction books described by them as a landmark recipe book (a horrified reaction to post-war rationing) and "one woman's response to the challenges of peacetime, a macedoine of elegy, joie de vivre requiem and manifesto. Mrs David (as she was known) never over-egged her prose, but her recipes were rich with loving evocations of rare and spicy ingredients. There are, she writes, endless varieties of currants and raisins, figs from Smyrna on long strings, dates, almonds, pistachios and pine kernel nuts, dried melon seeds and sheets of apricot paste which is dissolved in water to make a cooling drink.". Photographs/scans available upon request. Seller Inventory # 355490723232

Bibliographic Details

Title: A Book of Mediterranean Food

Publisher: Lehman, London

Publication Date: 1950

Binding: Hard Cover

Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket

Edition: First Edition.