Author: Grimod de la Reynière, Alexandre Balthazar Laurent.
Title: ALMANACH DES GOURMANDS, Servant de Guide dans les Moyens de Faire Excellente Chêre; Par un Vieil Amateur.
Description: A Paris Chez Maradan ..., 1804-1812. Mixed Edition. Volume 1 3rd Ed. Volume 2, and 3, 2nd Ed. Volume 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 1st Eds. 8 vols. 12mo. Engraved frontiss. Half titles present. French text. Inner gilt dentelles, marbled e.ps. and edges, minor dulling to edges of exquisitely bound contemporary cats paw calf, with double gilt rule to boards with a gilt emblem to each corner, intricate gilt tooled compartments with gilt lettered title and volume labels to spines, minor signs of rubbing and wear. ¶ Vicaire 424-7. Alexandre-Balthazar-Laurent Grimod de La Reynière (1758-1837) lawyer by qualification who acquired fame during the reign of Napoleon for his sensual and public gastronomic lifestyle. As the first public critic of cooking, the first reviewer of the ambitious restaurants that cropped up in Paris in the later eighteenth century and flowered under the Napoleonic regime, his name is a by-word on a par with Brillat-Savarin and an equally rich source of quotations in French gastronomic literature through the eight volumes of his annual L'Almanach des gourmands, which, among other innovations, were the first restaurant guides. Pascal Ory considers Alexandre Grimod to be one of the founders of the modern French culture, grouping him with the Comte de Saint-Simon and Alexis de Tocqueville. He reestablished order, hierarchy, and distinctions in the realm of good taste through the publication of texts that helped to define the French food scene. While others at the time were focused more on art, literature and drama, Grimod opened the door to criticism of food and cookery, there was literature about food and eating before Grimod, but it was concerned only with technical aspects and recipes, while Grimod introduced the idea of epicurean criticism.

Keywords: ECONOMICS; COOKERY


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