First Edition of "A Treatise on the Art of Baking"
Treatise on the Art of Baking. with a Preliminary Introduction, shewing the Various Productions of the Different Quarters of the Globe.- Observations on the Present State of Agriculture.- the Farmer and Middleman.- Strictures on the Corn Bill, &c. With a Number of Valuable Receipts, Original and Selected, for the Baker and Domestic Circle.
Edinburgh: Printed by Anderson & Bryce, 1828.
First edition. Octavo (8 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches; 215 x 135 mm). xxiv, [9]-376, [3, appendix], [1, blank] pp. We could find no copies at auction in the last 45 years, and no copies at all on ABPC.
Contemporary half cloth over marbled boards, rebacked with original spine laid down. Bound by "W. Smith Edin." Spine lettered in gilt. Top edge dyed brown, others speckled brown. With some splitting to back outer hinge, but still joints still strong. Head and tail of spine with some shelfwear and minor chipping. Some mild toning, mainly to preliminaries and final leaves. A minor wrinkle in the text of the first 10 leaves of preliminaries. From the Edinburgh Select Subscription Library, with its stamp and call number in gilt on the spine. Front pastedown with the Library's small bookplates. Title-page, preface page and first page of text with Library's small oval ink stamp, not affecting text. Previous owner's old ink inscriptions on front free endpaper and verso of title. Overall a very good copy with text very clean.
"The following Treatise upon the Art of Baking is the production of one who is a baker himself, and whose knowledge has been acquired, not by listening to other people's reports, but by years of incessant toil and application... This, I believe is the first attempt made by a regular baker to make his art public. The attempt perhaps, may awaken inquiry, and lead others better qualified than I am to devote some of their spare time and talents to the improvement of such an useful art." (From the Preface).
HBS 68188.
$850.
Price: $850.00
Item #68188