Dining in New York First Edition - Rian James - Bauman Rare Books

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Dining in New York

Rian JAMES

Item#: 116931 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Dining in New York

"ESSENTIAL… THE BEST BOOK ON NEW YORK RESTAURANTS"

JAMES, Rian. Dining in New York. New York: John Day, (1930). Octavo, original black cloth, original pictorial cover plate, original paper spine label.

First edition of the celebrated New York columnist's witty guide to popular restaurants and celebrity haunts—from Sardi's to the Algonquin, the Cotton Club to the Central Park Casino, and Broadway to Brooklyn—with pictorial endpapers displaying "A Gastronomical Map of Manhattan."

Brooklyn Daily Eagle columnist James "ate his ate his way through the 1920s, sampling an extraordinary array of foods. In Dining in New York, he discussed broiled eel at Miyako and tortillas and frijoles at the Chili Villa. He reveled in rose-leaf wine at the Rajah. He liked the Greek food at Athena, too, at least until it was time for dessert. 'You might as well know right now,' he warned his readers, 'that yogurt is something that looks too terribly like sour milk'" (New York Times). His Dining in New York is "essential… the best book on New York restaurants" (Kirkus). James begins with Sardi's, where the headwaiter whispers, "Don't look now—but… that's Ronald Colman," and later takes his readers to Chumley's in the Village, "the headquarters of New York's choosier literati." Also featured at the book's over 120 eateries are the Ritz Carlton, the Cotton Club, "the aristocrat of Harlem," and even a restaurant called the Wivel, which has "the awfullest three-pieced stringed orchestra you've ever heard." James would later become a success in Hollywood, writing the screenplay for 42nd Street (1933) and many more films. With illustrations by Alex Gard, famed for his caricatures of the famous at Sardi's. "Vincent Sardi and Gard signed a contract that provided a meal a day in Sardi's for Alex Gard in return for his caricatures. It was stipulated that Sardi could not complain about the caricatures and Gard could not complain about the food" (New York Public Library: Billy Rose Theatre Division). Without scarce dust jacket. Small early bookseller inkstamp to rear blank.

Interior very fresh, toning to spine label. A beautiful about-fine copy.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
Armorial Used to describe a binding bearing the coat of arms of the original owner, or with bookplates incorporating the owner’s arms.
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Boards Hard front and rear covers of a bound book which are covered in cloth, leather or paper. “Original boards” refers to cardboard-like front and back boards, from about 1700 to 1840, used as temporary protection for books before their purchasers would have them bound. Of particular value to collectors as evidence of a very early form of the book.
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