First Edition. Original cloth in the rare original Dust Jacket, which reproduces the design on the front cover. 349pp.
“Oriental” refers, not to Asia, but to the Middle East, a common misnomer before the 1930s. This is apparently the first general book of Middle Eastern cookery published in America. (See also, in this sale, the first book publication of Syrian-Lebanese recipes, which appeared three years later).
The author, an Armenian, was actually an expert on “Oriental” rugs, having edited a monthly magazine on that subject in Boston. In this book, he includes recipes from the entire region still under the sway of Ottoman Turkey during World War I – including Persia (Iran), Arabia, Egypt, Syria (Lebanon), Mesopotamia (Iraq), even parts of the Balkans and Caucasus. The chapters give recipes for soups, pilfas, fish (baked, fried, boiled and pickled), oysters and lobsters, macaroni, meats, vaegetables, stuffed dishes, sauces, eggs, salads, pastries, fruits, creams and other deserts, plus a “list of special oriental ingredients”. Being the first of its kind, Keoleian’s cookbook was popular in America, but is now rarely found in the original simple Dust Jacket.