"BON APPETIT!": MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH COOKING VOLUMES ONE AND TWO, SIGNED BY JULIA CHILD

CHILD, Julia, BECK, Simone, and BERTHOLLE, Louisette. Mastering the Art of French Cooking. WITH: Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume Two. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1961, 1970. Two volumes. Large octavo, original patterned white cloth, original dust jackets. $7800.

First editions of both volumes of Julia Child's indispensable cookbook, volume two boldly inscribed by the legendary chef on the half title with her signature phrase: "Bon Appétit! / Julia Child."

Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking remains arguably the most influential work on French food ever published in the United States and Child herself was undoubtedly French cuisine's most enthusiastic and successful ambassador. Child was the girl from Pasadena who revolutionized American cooking with her irrepressible humor, genial expertise, and her signature phrase, "Bon Appétit!" Winner of three Emmys, the Peabody Award, the National Book Award, and the French Légion d'Honneur, she was the first woman ever inducted into the Culinary Institute of America's Hall of Fame and her kitchen has been installed in the Smithsonian. A "self-confessed ham, she became a darling of audiences…. almost from the moment she made her debut in 1963 at the age of 50" (New York Times).

Books in fine condition; first dust jacket extremely good, second dust jacket very good with edges chipped, each jacket with minor toning and short closed edge tears. An unusually nice signed set.