Physiologie du gout

ou méditations de gastronomie transcendante; ouvrage théorique, historique et a l’ordre du jour, dédié aus gastronomes parisiens par un professeur membre du plusieurs societés savantes. Edition précédée d’une notice par M Le Baron Richerand; suivie de La Gastronomie, poème en quatre chantes, par Berchoux. Paris : Charpentier, 1840. Octavo, in a fine Swedish binding (very much in the French style) by G. F. Possman of Stockholm in 1877, in quarter-morocco over marbled papered boards (panels with a couple of very light marks), spine in compartments with gilt ruling and ornamentation, contrasting red morocco title label lettered in gilt, vellum tipped corners; Possmann’s bookbinding label to verso of front free endpaper with his note that the design of the binding was created by the librarian and writer Christoffer Eichhorn; marbled endpapers with the armorial bookplate of Christoffer Eichhorn (1837-1889) to front pastedown, pp. [iv]; 455, internally crisp with some pale foxing, a fine copy. Loosely enclosed, is a contemporary photograph of a statue erected in honour of Christoffer Eichhorn.

Brillat-Savarin’s Physiologie du gout was first published in Paris in 1825 and has not been out of print since. The lifework of gastronome Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, the book describes ‘the science of cooking and the art of eating’ in a way which elevates the functionality of food to the art of cuisine. This early edition is exquisitely bound to order by Swedish bookbinder Possman for bibliophile Eichorn.