Sep 30, 2021 - Sale 2580

Sale 2580 - Lot 302

Price Realized: $ 3,250
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
POSSIBLY THE FIRST MEXICAN COOKBOOK (MEXICAN COOKERY.) [Simón Blanquel.] Novisimo arte de cocina, ó Escelente coleccion de las mejores recetas. 2 plates. 245, xxii [of xxviii] pages. Small 8vo, contemporary speckled calf, moderate wear, staining; 2 holes in title page with loss of a letter, moderate foxing, minor dampstaining, lacking the last 3 leaves of the index; 1890 owner's inscription on front free endpaper. Mexico: Alejandro Valdes, 1831
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Additional Details

First edition of possibly the first cookbook printed in Mexico (Rivera's Cocinero Mejicano was issued the same year). Sections include soups, salads, meat, fish, baked goods, desserts, and candies. The recipes are not exclusively Mexican--they also include French, Italian, and English cuisine--but many recipes feature distinctly Mexican ingredients and preparations, such as stuffed avocados (aguacates rellenos) on page 28, mole poblano on page 34, and quesadillas on page 79. The engraved plates are adapted from the 1826 meat-serving pamphlet "Arte de trinchar y servir las viandas," which is included here as pages 231-245 (see Swann's Mathes sale, 6 November 2014, lot 464). Cagle 1197; this edition not in Bitting or Palau.