La Cuisine Chinoise.

Pékin: Albert Nachbaur,, 1925. The first book in French on Chinese cuisine First edition, one of 40 copies on papier Honan, this copy out of series, of the first work written in French on Chinese cuisine. A further 10 copies were issued on papier Coréen, and 500 copies released as the trade issue on papier pelure Chinois, with the pagination errors from this earlier printing corrected. A scarce and important work in beautiful condition. This in-depth study of Chinese cuisine was written by a master French chef, Henri Lecourt, who was was "head of the French post at Tianjin and a member of the Order of the Cloud of Jade Green" (Shurtleff & Aoyagi, p. 432). He was married to a Chinese chef with whom he conducted the research for this pioneering work, and was a learned connoisseur of both French and Chinese cooking. The work includes a chapter on smoking vegetables, which spices to use and what to replace them with if unavailable, and many recipes using tofu. It also includes detailed accounts on the origins of the recipes, and on table manners and dining etiquette. The publisher notes that "In the enormous bibliography devoted to cooking, one would seek in vain, written in European language a document on Chinese gastronomy. We must therefore praise Mr. Lecourt, one of our compatriots residing in China for many years, knowing Chinese and Chinese inside out, for having filled this gap". The work was distinct in its praise for Chinese cuisine, contradicting the scarce reviews which are known up to this time, almost all of which were overwhelmingly negative and couched in racist and imperialist viewpoints. The first gourmet Chinese restaurants to open in Paris were Chung Fat Lung (1920-1939), rue des Carmes and Wan Hua (1921-1940), street of the medical school, whose clientele was made up of diplomats, wealthy Americans, and Japanese teachers, in contrast to the restaurants opening in the Latin Quarter in the following years and catering to Chinese students in the area. It was a further 20 years until the first comparable book on Chinese cooking in the English language, How to Cook and Eat in Chinese by Buwei Yang Chao (1945), was published. Quarto. Unopened in the original richly decorated paper wrappers, the inscription on the pediment reading "Tong tch'ou sou ming" [the one who commands the eastern kitchen]. With the glassine wrapper. A near-fine copy of this incredibly fragile publication, in the notably well-preserved glassine wrapper. William Shurtleff & Akiko Aoyagi, History of Soybeans and Soyfoods in France (1665-2015), 2015.