“THE FINEST OF ALL FOOD WRITERS”: FIRST EDITION OF M.F.K. FISHER’S FIRST COOKBOOK, SERVE IT FORTH, INSCRIBED BY HER

FISHER, M.F.K. Serve It Forth. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1937. Octavo, original pale orange cloth, original dust jacket. $4900.

First edition of M.F.K. Fisher’s first cookbook, praised as “a delightful book… erudite and witty and experienced and young” (New York Times), in scarce original dust jacket, inscribed by her, "This is the first book I ever wrote, 1937. For Albert Marquand and Andy ——-. M.F.K. Fisher Glen Ellen 1990."

The publication of Serve It Forth announced the delightful debut of M.F.K. Fisher, "one of the finest of all food writers" (Barile, 127). Serve It Forth earned immediate high praise as "a delightful book… erudite and witty and experienced and young. The truth is that it is stamped on every page with a highly individualized personality… And it really is a book about food… The young author goes back to the simple and democratic food of the Egyptians and their simple lives; she dwells a bit on the Greeks… She explains how good cooking, like learning, was kept alive in the monasteries in the Dark Ages. She has surprising notes from Elizabethan England and Catherine de' Medici's France… The first adjective for Serve It Forth must certainly be 'different" (New York Times). "In a properly run culture, M.F.K. Fisher would be recognized as one of the great writers this country has produced in this century" (Raymond Sokolov). With eight full-page illustrations.

Book with only minor toning to spine; rare dust jacket with a bit of wear to spine ends, foxing to rear panel. Quite rare inscribed.