The Physiology of Taste -
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, M.F.K. Fisher (translator)
1949 - The Limited Editions Club, New York - No. 1085 of 1500 copies
A wonderful example of the first and definitive issue of Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher's brilliant translation of Brillat- Savarin's classic work on gastronomy and 'a well balanced expression of one thinking man's attitude towards life'.
Mary Fisher, considered the 'poet of the appetites' by John Updike, and hailed by W. H. Auden as the greatest American prose writer, was renowned, not only as one of the finest writers on gastronomy, but also with a style of her own. A reviewer of a previous work by Fisher said ‘She writes about food the way some people do about love - only better.’
Fisher took more than two years to work on the translation, which was financed by the Limited Editions Club, who pulled out all the stops to present it in this beautiful large leather binding and slipcase. Wonderfully illustrated by Sylvain Sauvage. Included is the publisher’s promotional flyer.
Considered to be the woman who legitimised the art of eating in America, M. F. K. Fisher’s oeuvre of work renders her one of the world’s foremost food writers. Among the many admirers Fisher accrued during her illustrious and varied career was W. H. Auden, who said of her, ‘I do not know of anyone in the United States who writes better prose’. Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher was born in Michigan in 1908. She wrote hundreds of stories for The New Yorker, and more than 25 books during her lifetime, in addition to translating the 1949 edition of Brillat-Savarin’s gourmet classic, ‘The Physiology of Taste’.
References: O’Neill and Glen Ellen, ‘Pungent wisdom from a kitchen Olympian’, New York Times [1990], and ‘M.F. K. Fisher, writer on the art of food and the taste of living, is dead at 83’, New York Times (1992). Cagle A Matter of Taste 107. Axford, English Language Cookbooks 320. Wheaton & Kelly 881.
Quarto (binding size 27.2x18.5cm), pp. xvi 471 [5]. Publisher’s promotional flyer loosely inserted at the beginning. Bound in the original publisher s quarter tan pigskin over patterned paper covered boards, spine lettered and decorated in blind, housed in matching patterned slipcase with white paper title label. Condition: Fine, apart from some light marks to spine, in near fine slipcase with matching toning, and a little wear to edges. Ref: 112095 Price: HK$ 8,000
Mary Fisher, considered the 'poet of the appetites' by John Updike, and hailed by W. H. Auden as the greatest American prose writer, was renowned, not only as one of the finest writers on gastronomy, but also with a style of her own. A reviewer of a previous work by Fisher said ‘She writes about food the way some people do about love - only better.’
Fisher took more than two years to work on the translation, which was financed by the Limited Editions Club, who pulled out all the stops to present it in this beautiful large leather binding and slipcase. Wonderfully illustrated by Sylvain Sauvage. Included is the publisher’s promotional flyer.
Considered to be the woman who legitimised the art of eating in America, M. F. K. Fisher’s oeuvre of work renders her one of the world’s foremost food writers. Among the many admirers Fisher accrued during her illustrious and varied career was W. H. Auden, who said of her, ‘I do not know of anyone in the United States who writes better prose’. Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher was born in Michigan in 1908. She wrote hundreds of stories for The New Yorker, and more than 25 books during her lifetime, in addition to translating the 1949 edition of Brillat-Savarin’s gourmet classic, ‘The Physiology of Taste’.
References: O’Neill and Glen Ellen, ‘Pungent wisdom from a kitchen Olympian’, New York Times [1990], and ‘M.F. K. Fisher, writer on the art of food and the taste of living, is dead at 83’, New York Times (1992). Cagle A Matter of Taste 107. Axford, English Language Cookbooks 320. Wheaton & Kelly 881.
Quarto (binding size 27.2x18.5cm), pp. xvi 471 [5]. Publisher’s promotional flyer loosely inserted at the beginning. Bound in the original publisher s quarter tan pigskin over patterned paper covered boards, spine lettered and decorated in blind, housed in matching patterned slipcase with white paper title label. Condition: Fine, apart from some light marks to spine, in near fine slipcase with matching toning, and a little wear to edges. Ref: 112095 Price: HK$ 8,000