GIEGHER, Mattia

by Mattia Giegher

£12,500 · Offered by Sokol Books

Second edition of this very rare and beautifully illustrated collection of three culinary treatises on table service and food carving by Giegher, including the very first work on the art of folding table linen. Complete copies, remarkably including Giegher s portrait (often missing) are extremely rare. Li tre trattati was a popular book: this second (posthumous) edition contains a new letter to the reader by the printer Frambotto, warning of a plagiarised version. Giegher s plates have been reproduced and copied in many later cookbooks. The Bavarian Mattia Giegher (born Mathias Jäger, c. 1589-1632) was a native of Moosburg who moved to Padua at the age of 22. Here, he worked as a trinciante (meat carver) and scalco (banquet manager), organising banquets and waiting tables for the prestigious German community of jurists at the University of Padua. At the time, aristocratic banquets were of enormous cultural importance, organised by courts and as a way of displaying wealth and power, consolidating friendships and forming political alliances. Li tre trattati , first published in 1629, is a fascinating manual by Giegher containing all the information required for preparing and serving food to high-class clients. It comprises the expanded versions of two earlier treatises Lo scalco (1623) and Il trinciante (1621) with the addition of a new and innovative work on napkin folding (never printed separately). At the time, fine dining was becoming more formal and elaborate in presen

• Binding: Hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.