{"product_id":"1909-a-guide-to-modern-cookery-by-a-escoffier-autograph-presentation-copy","title":"1909 A Guide to Modern Cookery by A Escoffier -  Autograph Presentation Copy","description":"\u003cp\u003eThrilled with this find! Here is an unsigned autograph presentation copy of A Guide to Modern Cookery by A Escoffier. Being a second edition from 1909, published in English by William Heinemann, London. Has Escoffier's engraved visiting card tipped-in to the frontispiece tissue-guard onto which he has written \"Avec mes meilleurs compliments\". This would have been given as a presentation copy to somebody with the stature and status of an important guest or high-profile contemporary chef or reviewer. Contents in very good condition. Some water staining to the spine cloth being the main condition point to note. More details below.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA Guide to Modern Cookery is the single most important book in the history of modern professional cooking. Before Auguste Escoffier published this work, restaurant kitchens were chaotic, menus were overwhelmingly massive, and French cuisine was weighted down by heavy, impractical traditions. Escoffier used this book to completely reinvent how the world cooks, eats, and runs restaurants.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBefore Escoffier, a single chef would try to cook an entire meal from scratch, leading to mass confusion and slow service. In this book, Escoffier introduced the \"Brigade de Cuisine\" (Kitchen Brigade System). He divided the kitchen into specialized stations (e.g., Saucier for sauces, Garde Manger for cold foods, Pâtissier for desserts). This assembly-line efficiency is still used in every professional kitchen around the world today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt Invented À La Carte\" and Fixed Menu Dining. In the 19th century, meals were served Service à la Française, meaning dozens of heavy dishes were placed on the table all at once, cooling quickly. Escoffier used Le Guide to champion Service à la Russe, where courses are served sequentially, hot from the stove. This transition directly birthed the modern à la carte menu, allowing diners to choose individual courses.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt codified the five mother sauces. Escoffier simplified French cooking by organizing hundreds of complex sauces down to five foundational sauces: Béchamel (milk-based white sauce); Espagnole (brown stock sauce); Velouté (light stock sauce); Tomate (tomato-based sauce); Hollandaise (egg yolk and butter emulsion). By mastering these five formulas laid out in the book, a chef could create thousands of variations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt brought order and science to recipes. Prior cookbooks were vague, using measurements like \"a pinch\" or \"cook until done.\" Escoffier approached cooking like a scientist. A Guide to Modern Cookery contains over 5,000 precise recipes that standardized culinary terminology. It acted as the ultimate textbook, ensuring a dish tasted exactly the same whether cooked in London, Paris, or New York.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBecause this 1909 English edition was printed during Escoffier's actual tenure at the Carlton Hotel in London, it represents the exact moment British and American high society embraced this culinary revolution. The compliments card shows the book was a direct tool of networking used by the man who single-handedly created luxury dining as we know it today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInside the pages are clean and tightly bound. With a few folded corners. Apart from the card there are no other inscriptions or markings of previous ownership. Has a mildly cracked hinge at the front, partially at the back. But in no way effecting the binding of the text block which is good and strong. Has a portrait frontispiece, else unillustrated. The page edges are tinted pale-green.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOlive-green cloth over boards have gilt decoration and titles. With rubbing to the cloth around the outside edges to reveal boards beneath in places. The front and back board have some scuffs and scratches. Gilt titles remain bright.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe spine has some water staining - but this is to the surface cloth only and the pages are completely unaffected. With a little white paint near the bottom of the spine. Mild rubbing to the cloth on the spine ends. Gilt titles are also bright here.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYour presentation copy of A Guide to Modern Cookery will be wrapped with care in tissue and ribbon* and sent well packaged. I am always happy to add a gift card with a message to the parcel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eH 25 cm x W 18 cm, 891 pages, 1.3 kg. I dispatch worldwide daily from the UK. (There are just a very few countries which I am unable to ship to).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e* If you would prefer for your book not to be decoratively wrapped and sent simply in the full protective packaging please add a note to the order.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou can follow my news and updates on Instagram @bumperboxofdelights\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bumper Box of Delights Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50269539631341,"sku":null,"price":612.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0351\/1068\/2669\/files\/20260710-071818.jpg?v=1783687293","url":"https:\/\/bumperboxofdelights.com\/en-ie\/products\/1909-a-guide-to-modern-cookery-by-a-escoffier-autograph-presentation-copy","provider":"Bumper Box of Delights Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}