Idwal Jones (1)Rezensionen

One of best foodie books and def worth a top ten on the list. Touches of Orwell's 'Down and Out...', Elizabeth David and Slater. As much about people as about food which for me is in the genre the difference between erotic and porn.

This delightful short novel about a young Frenchman setting out into culinary world kitchens of the restaurants of Paris was originally published in 1945. It had been out of print, though, for decades until 2001, when Modern Library brought it back as the first entry in their Modern Library Food Series. With its flashes of sly humor, enjoyable characterizations and, most importantly, extravagantly detailed descriptions of book the cooking and consumption of lavish, gourmet meals, this book, for me, was provided a sumptuous reading repast. Although the book is short in pages, it took me a bit longer than I expected to read through. That's mainly because the food descriptions are so lush and enjoyable that you end up slowing down to savor them, much as you would a good meal, which I think, maybe, was Jones' point. There's not much in the way of plot, here. It's more of a picaresque coming of age tale. It story takes place in the late 1920s/early 1930s. The ending, I though, was quite apt if somewhat sobering. At any rate, I highly recommend your searching this book out if you've an interest in the preparation and devouring of gourmet meals. Or if you just like descriptive writing. Or if you like to laugh.

Here's a serving of the writing style. An appetizer, if you will:

He served the Montepulciano. The aroma of it--a mellow, winy tapestry, woven patiently by six decades of time in some dark Apennine crypt--filled the room. We were not alone. History, art, and religion crowded in with the music of trumpets and gnawing horns. General Padiglione murmured as if in a prayer. The purple reflecting against his thin, marmoreal face colored it like a portrait in a church window. He drank reverently, in the minutest of sips. Pierre, in the silence, inaudibly slid before each guest a salad of cress lightly tumbled in oil.

"Wine is made to drink!" shouted Guido. "Pour it down!"

The very long 1945 M.F.K. Fisher D.J. blurb for Idwal Jones' High Bonnet
is the very first appearance of a Fisher blurb. A much later fine press edition
was printed by Yolla Bolly Press and used the blurb as an intro to the book.

Fisher's original jacket blurb from the 1945 edition of Jones' book (originally titled "High Bonnet")
was used as the "salutation" (introduction) for this gorgeous, fine press limited edition of 275 copies.
Illustrated by Milton Glaser, with an afterword by renowned chef Thomas Keller.
Signed by Glaser and Keller at the colophon.

Idwal Jones brings together circus performers and owners, cooks, gypsies, gendarmes, small town politicians, and a pair of lions, to create a story with very little plot and a great deal of heart. Contemporary foodies could learn a lot from this 60-year-old book.

Historical novel spanning 3 generations of Californians, from the days of the Mexican ranchos to the great San Francisco earthquake. Much of the setting is in the area of the New Almaden mercury mines and the San Juan Bautista area. Illustrated endpapers and a rather striking dustjacket illustration by Edgard Cirlin. Sm 8vo, 495 pp

M. F. K. Fisher.

Lovely book with vivid characters, dives into the history of California vineyards. Embossed with love and life in the vineyard, friends, family and staying up.

1st ed. Great art. Inside DW: "A Gay Book."

500.Limited to 275 numbered copies. SIGNED by Milton Glaser and Thomas Keller. Small 4to. [7], 167 pp. Monochrome frontispiece and 11 color plates by Milton Glaser.With a Salutation by M.F.K. Fisher; Afterword by Thomas Keller. The story of young Jean-Marie who buys a ripe melon from a cart at the Toulon wharf and is launched by the succulent fruit on an odyssey which takes him to the most fabled kitchens of Franch. The illlustrations are portraits of the principal characters drawn for the Press by Milton Glaser.

350. 1st ed. Three titles from this chef. See entries.