Cuisine Creole, La

New York: Will H. Coleman, 1885. A classic of Creole cooking, and the first book published on the subject

[HEARN, Lafcadio]. La Cuisine Creole. A Collection of Culinary Recipes from leading chefs and noted Creole housewives, who have made New Orleans famous for its cuisine. New York: Will H. Coleman, [1885].

First edition (BAL state B with the Introduction on one page, and with the word Brulot with an umlaut instead of an accent).

Octavo (7 3/8 x 5 3/4 inches; 188 x 146 mm.). [ii, blank], [iii], [i, blank], [1]-268 pp. Over-opened at pp. 172/173, small marginal stain affecting front endpapers and first five leaves only, a few very small marginal stains on p. 217.

Publisher's brown cloth, front cover pictorially decorated with a tureen, crab, and crawfish in gilt and black, lilac endpapers. Plain spine as issued, a few stains on back cover, lower half of front inner hinge cracked and repaired. Chemised in a quarter black morocco slipcase, spine with five raised bands, lettered in gilt in compartments. A very good, almost untouched copy of a classic of Creole cooking and the first book published on this culinary tradition.

Published in 1885, this pioneering work compiles the recipes of New Orleans in one volume. Celebrating the range of ethnic influences on Creole cuisine, the book contains recipes for many of the classic New Orleans dishes. Having being written by Lafcadio Hearn, one of New Orleans greatest literary talents, it shows a more literary flair than most modern cookbooks.

An interesting mix of Northern imports, home grown recipes and French influenced dishes, with a nice selection of wines, sherries and champagne at the end.

Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) was an Irish writer, translator, and teacher who introduced the culture and literature of Japan to the West. Before moving to Japan and becoming a Japanese citizen, he worked as a journalist in the United States, primarily in Cincinnati and New Orleans. His writings about New Orleans, based on his decade-long stay there, are also well-known. Hearn lived in New Orleans for nearly a decade, writing first for the newspaper Daily City Item beginning in June 1878, and later for the Times Democrat. Hearn's writings for national publications, such as Harper's Weekly and Scribner's Magazine, helped create the popular reputation of New Orleans as a place with a distinctive culture more akin to that of Europe and the Caribbean than to the rest of North America. The vast number of his writings about New Orleans and its environs, many of which have not been collected, include the city's Creole population and distinctive cuisine, the French Opera, and Louisiana Voodoo. Hearn wrote enthusiastically of New Orleans, but also wrote of the city's decay, "a dead bride crowned with orange flowers". Hearn's best-known Louisiana works including La Cuisine Créole (1885), a collection of culinary recipes from leading chefs and noted Creole housewives who helped make New Orleans famous for its cuisine.

BAL 7913 (state B); Bitting, p. 221; Cagle, 348; Johnson, American First Editions, p. 94; Perkins, Lafcadio Hearn, A Bibliography, p. 10.