L' ART DE BIEN FAIRE LES GLACES D'OFFICE; OU LES VRAIS PRINCIPES Pour congeler tous les Rafraichissemens. La Maniere de préparer toutes sortes de Compositions, la façon de les faire prendre, d' en former des Fruits, Cannelons, & toutes sortes de Fromages.

Paris: Chez Le Clerc, 1768. First Edition. Hardcover. Vellum covered boards, raised bands, spine title missing. Very good. [2], i-viii, 1-242, [4] pages. 16.5 x 10 cm. Engraved frontispiece titled "L' Art de bien faire les glaces" and two engraved plates of utensils. Elizabeth David's oval bookplate at verso of front cover. Annotated in pen (not David). Laid in: Three page of Elizabeth David's notes plus notes on previous sales of this publication. This is the first and only edition of the first treatise devoted to frozen desserts. The author, Emy, traces the history of freezing since Antiquity. Nearly one hundred and fifty ice cream and ice recipes are followed by twenty recipes for whipped cream mousses. Coloring techniques are explained in detail and uncommon fruit combinations and preparations are discussed. An example of some of these unexpected flavors include saffron, truffle, rye bread, spinach, bergamot, violet, and many more. This book contains one of the earliest references to the use of pineapples.

Elizabeth David's interest in this work dates back to the mid 1970s when she began researching early ice-cream recipes, and the links between Levantine sherbets and the sorbets and ices of Europe. David wrote a number of articles on early ice and sorbets before turning her interest to the role of ice and snow as both luxury and necessity in warmer countries. David later investigated the seventeenth-century inventors and scientists who had experimented with freezing and producing cold by artificial means. David's notes - laid in - comment on some of these topics as well as early Chinese use of salts for freezing. Light water staining to head 3 cm. from approx. pg. 60-100. All edges red. [CAGLE 182] [VICAIRE 328] [BITTING 144-145] (Inventory #: 4556)