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2 vols. 10¼x6¼", period half-calf & mottled boards, gilt-lettered spine, raised bands. Illus. with engraved frontispiece portrait of Dumas and a portrait of contributor D. F. Vuillemot, both by Paul-Aldophe Rajon.

Famed French novelist Alexandre Dumas (author of the swashbuckling tales The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, most famously) was equally devoted to gastronomy, creating a culinary masterpiece in “The Great Dictionary of Cuisine”, published posthumously in 1873. Part reference, part cookbook, Dumas’ massive tome includes his reflections on dining: “It is not enough to eat,” he writes, “[but] to dine, there must be diversified, calm conversation. It should sparkle with rubies of the wine between courses, be deliciously suave with the sweetness of dessert, and acquire true profundity with the coffee.” In French and unabridged. Bitting, p.135.