PARMENTIER (Antoine-Augustin). - Lot 28

PARMENTIER (Antoine-Augustin). Le Parfait boulanger, ou traité complet Sur la Fabrication & le Commerce du Pain. Paris : imprimerie royale, 1778. - In-8, marbled fawn basane, ornate spine, red edges (period binding). Highly sought-after first edition of the second French treatise on baking, after Paul-Jacques Malouin's "Description des arts du meunier, du vermicellier et du boulanger" published in 1767. This work is part of the series of treatises or memoirs that Parmentier published on economical, inexpensive and above all nutritious foods for the people, such as potatoes, corn, milk, grains, and so on. After a long introduction, the author deals successively with wheat, flour, leavening, dough and bread baking, ending with "some considerations relating to the Bread Trade". Waxing and minor worm damage to binding, splitting of jaws, head cover missing, title page detached. Very good interior condition except for a repaired tear at the bottom of the title, with a small loss and damage to the address and date.