CURNONSKY - ROUFF, Marcel - LE RALLIC: "La France gastronomi - Lot 139

CURNONSKY - ROUFF, Marcel - LE RALLIC: "La France gastronomique. Guide to French culinary wonders and good inns. L'Anjou." Paris, ed. Chez Rouff, 1921, ORIGINAL EDITION, in-16, softbound, black text and design on gray cover, 128 pp. including 6 pp. of advertising, nb. ill. in black by Le Rallic, initials, table of contents. "His real name was Maurice Sailland, born in Angers in 1872. He lost his mother almost at birth, and his father abandoned the family home at an early age. His maternal grandmother, a great reader, took charge of his education. At the age of 18, he left Anjou for Paris, where he studied literature. From 1895 onwards, while working for various Parisian newspapers, he began writing novels, which he signed Willy (Colette's husband). Shortly afterwards, under the first pseudonym of Perdicass, he published a few novels, but it was under another name, Curnonsky (Latin for "why not sky?", which his friend Alphonse Allais is said to have suggested to him) that he became famous for his wit and penmanship (he was responsible for a number of advertising slogans, including the invention of the Michelin "Bibendum"), as well as for his fork. Over the course of the century, he established himself as a connoisseur of French cuisine. His meeting with Marcel Rouff, a Genevan author based in Paris, gave rise to "La France gastronomique", a series of 28 books which, from 1921 to 1933, compiled regional recipes (as well as good addresses) and ensured his reputation, further enhanced by the title of "Prince of Gastronomes" awarded to him in 1927 by over 3,000 chefs. In addition to his literary activities, he launched a number of culinary magazines, set up gastronomes' clubs and contributed to the creation of the Michelin guide". Paper in very good condition, slightly yellowed; spine restored and small loss to front cover, a few small pencil over-lines.