Richard Briggs. THE NEW ART OF COOKERY, ACCORDING TO THE PRESENT PRACTICE; BEING A COMPLETE GUIDE TO ALL HOUSEKEEPERS, ON A PLAN ENTIRELY NEW; CONSISTING OF THIRTY-EIGHT CHAPTERS... Philadelphia: Printed for W. Spotswood, R. Campbell, and B. Johnson, 1792. First American edition. Full leather, re-backed with large portion of original backstrip preserved. 12mo; [i-iii], iv-xiii, xii-xvi, [1]-557, [1]pp. Complete with final advertising page. Evans 24145; Lowenstein 14; ESTC W28680.

6 7/8 x 4 3/8 in.

First published in London in 1788, this Philadelphia edition of the cookbook is the first printed in the United States, with later editions following in 1798. Incredibly comprehensive, it is organized by both cooking method and type of dish, and includes everything from soups, to syrups, to wines, and even has a chapter on "Directions for Seafaring Men." A perfect book for learning how to cook pigeon, or for anyone searching for the best recipe for calf's head pie or "pigs petty toes."

Leather with typical age wear, boards with edgewear and corners heavily rubbed, headband slightly frayed, no tailband; paste-downs chipped and with typical staining from binder's glue, writing on front paste-down; front free endpaper replaced, small amount of worming here (repaired) and in hinge, likely lacking one front and rear free endpaper; title page frayed with loss at top edge and lower corner with resulting small loss of text; most of quire A slightly loose with portion of Contents completely detached, the rest of the volume extremely sturdy; pages toned with generally light to moderate foxing (with occasional heavy spotting at gutter), and occasional staining, light grime, edge chipping, small tear, and frayed edge; damp staining fairly heavy through p. 2 and then with only occasional small damp stains; M3 with small loss at lower margin not impacting text; good condition, especially for an early cookbook which rarely survive in this state; scarce and with this first American edition very rarely seen at auction.