"YOU SHOULD KNOW BY NOW MY FAVORITE DINNER DISH. FILET MIGNON STANLEY, GOOD AND RARE" (JOAN CRAWFORD): FIRST EDITION OF FEEDING THE LIONS, AN ALGONQUIN COOK BOOK, 1942

CASE, Frank. Feeding the Lions. An Algonquin Cookbook. New York: Greystone, (1942). Octavo, original red cloth, original dust jacket.

First edition of the first cookbook by the famed Algonquin owner and manager, who prompted the formation of the famed Algonquin Round Table with members including Dorothy Parker, George S. Kaufman and Robert Benchley, this lively cookbook capturing the Algonquin's legendary spirit, featuring hundreds of recipes, along with the favorite dishes of celebrities and authors such as John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, George S. Kaufman, Edna Ferber, Gary Cooper and Orson Welles.

Frank Case was employee of the Algonquin when it opened in 1902 and "even named the establishment, arguing the owner Albert Foster out of the name The Puritan. Twenty-five years later, after he had managed the hotel as if it were his own, he purchased the building and land," having already acquired the hotel's business. Case, "a man of Edwardian poise and the soul of a poet… built much of the Algonquin's reputation on its kitchen… [and] was responsible for the formation of the Algonquin Round Table" (New York Times). Its members included Dorothy Parker, George S. Kaufman, Robert Benchley and Edna Ferber who, as Case notes, gave him the title for this, his first cookbook. In addition to the hundreds of Algonquin recipes in Feeding the Lions, Case includes notes from celebrities, actors, journalists and authors—such as John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Robert Nathan, George S. Kaufman, Lillian Gish, Edna Ferber, Hedda Harper, Gary Cooper, Orson Welles and many more—each writing of their favorite Algonquin dish, which is accompanied in the book by the recipe. Case's genial humor is especially evident in his introductory essays, "Boniface Bows from the Waist" and "Antipasto to This Book," and a helpful list of culinary "Don'ts." With 15 full-page illustrations after drawings by Otto Soglow.

Book fine with only expected kitchen soiling to one recipe; chipping to spine head affecting first word of title, toning to spine, slight damptstaining. tape reinforcement to verso of scarce very good dust jacket.