French Country Cooking. ***RARE FIRST EDITION in ORIGINAL DUST-JACKET***

Elizabeth David, French Country Cooking: an excellent, very clean, bright, and well preserved example, with the lovely dust-jacket designed by John Minton. A beautiful first edition book, and a highly collectable rarity. The book presents very well indeed in its original oatmeal cloth boards which are surprisingly clean and free from soiling or bumping. The binding is square and true. Internally, there are no prior ownership names or inscriptions and with the pages clean throughout and without any age-related foxing. Just a couple of very minor flat corner creases (page 186 and page 200) though these are trifling blemishes I mention only for the sake of completion. Perhaps the hint of an old price erasure (top right of front blank endpaper) though, again, extremely minor. It is nice to see is that the original errata paper slip from the publisher is still present - to the foot of the contents page as originally issued. I suspect many of these are now absent. The beautiful dust-jacket, featuring the colourful, full wraparound artwork by John Minton, retains its charm and vivid, unfaded colours well, and shows the correct, first issue price of "12s 6d net" as it should. The corners and edges of the jacket do show some chipping, however, with a couple of areas of loss as well, though overall the jacket is a handsome and attractive one. I have fitted a removeable jacket protector to ensure it remains in the present condition. Dimensions: approx. 13.5cm x 20.5cm. "French Country Cooking" is filled with Elizabeth David's authentic recipes drawn from across the regions of France - showing how each area has a particular and unique flavour for its foods, derived as they are from local ingredients, Elizabeth David explores the astonishing diversity of French cuisine. Her recipes range from the primitive pheasant soup of the Basque country to the refined Burgundian dish of hare with cream sauce and chestnut puree. A rich and enticing cookbook indeed, Elizabeth David (1913-1992) is the woman who changed the face of British cooking. Having travelled widely during the Second World War, she introduced post-war Britain to the sun-drenched delights of the Mediterranean and her recipes brought new flavours and aromas into kitchens across Britain. After her classic first book, "A Book of Mediterranean Food", there followed more bestsellers, including, of course, "French Country Cooking", "Summer Cooking", "French Provincial Cooking", "Italian Food", "Elizabeth David's Christmas" and "At Elizabeth David's Table." David taught herself Mediterranean-style cooking while living abroad in the 1940s and began writing a food column for Harper's Bazaar in 1949. …