Gilliers (joseph) - The French Cannamelist. Leclerc And Merlin, 1768, Half-vellum Binding.

GILLIERS (Joseph) - The French Cannamelist or new instruction for those who wish to learn the office written in the form of a dictionary including the names, descriptions, uses, choices & principles of everything that is practiced in the office, the explanation of all the terms we use; with the way of drawing, & forming all kinds of outlines of tables & frames. Nancy, Paris, Chez Jean-Baptiste Hyacinthe Leclerc and Merlin, 1768; in-4, IV-238-14 pp., period half-vellum binding, smooth spine, paper title label, mottled edges. Vicar 405 – Simon 759 – Bitting 185 – Cagle 215 – Oberlé 122. By Mr. Gilliers, head of office, and distiller of his majesty the King of Poland, Duke of Lorraine and Bar. One of the most famous cooking treatises of the 18th century. The work is dedicated to the Duke of Tenczin-Ossolinski, first grand officer of the Household of the King of Poland. It is a dessert cooking manual in the form of a dictionary (hence a large table of contents) and with numerous recipes for jams, pastes, biscuits, candies and nougats, so many treats for which Gilliers had used his colleagues of Nancy, Cécile, Travers and Touchard. The book is also of great interest because it explains how to set a table and present the dishes well as well as how to cook well. The term cannamelist comes from both sugar cane and honey, we can therefore deduce that the cannamelist is the one who handles these two materials. This volume is the second edition published in 1768, it is unfortunately missing its title page, its frontispiece, its 4 introduction pages, as well as the fourth plate, but it has 12 folding plates of models of tableware, glasses , cups, table tops, coffee makers, various cakes and bowls. Work of the greatest rarity.