LAVOCAT, Antoine: "Le Vigneron expert, ou la vraie manière d - Lot 248

LAVOCAT, Antoine: "Le Vigneron expert, ou la vraie manière de cultiver la vigne. Ouvrage qui a concouru à l'Académie royale des Sciences, Arts et Belles Lettres de Nancy." Paris, et Nancy, chez Louis-Joseph Berthoud,, 1787, 2nd edition, in-12, full burgundy calf, hand-gilt title on smooth spine, modern binding, (7) - 112 pp. bandeaux et culs-de-lampes, "A messieurs de la Société Royale des Sciences ...", Avertissement, Approbation. Antoine Lavocat (1707 - 1788) was a former peasant who developed his inventive genius. He was "receveur buraliste" at the Bureau de Champigneulle and "mécanicien" at the Cour de Bruxelles for Duke Alexandre de Lorraine, governor of the Netherlands. The first edition dates from 1782. Our copy, the second edition, is as RARE as the first! A very useful work on planting, cultivation, vine diseases and the remedies needed to cure them, as well as ways to make a profit and, above all, several warnings against fraud by traffickers. Unknown to the major specialized bibliographies. Particularly RARE. This book was part of the culinary library of Victor Michon, one of the greatest cooks of the early 20th century. He was trained in his mother's kitchen. Even today, the Prix Victor Michon at the Concours International Gastronomique d'Arpajon is one of the honors bestowed on many "star" chefs. A cook for the great and the good, he was the chef for the Austrian-Hungarian Embassy, located at the Hôtel Matignon in Paris at the time of the First World War. He organized the 3,000-cover banquet for the Russian festivities, the menu offered to the King of the Belgians by President Félix Faure, and the lunch for Isabelle II of Castile. But his recipes reflect a cuisine that is both bourgeois and simple. He presided over the journal "Le cuisinier français" and the "Académie Culinaire de France", founded in 1883. His private library included the greatest names in French gastronomy: Grimod de La Reynière, Vincent La Chapelle, Jules Gouffé, Brillat-Savarin, Antonin Carême, Etienne, Urbain Dubois, Escoffier and many others, including our copy! The "2" imprint is explained by the fact that three volumes with the same binding, featuring the "crème de la crème" of 18th-century oenology, were brought together! The handwritten signature of the former owner, Victor Michon, appears on the first blank page. The binding is in very good condition; there is some old dampening and a few foxing marks, as well as a few small paper tears in the margins, but without affecting the text!