Descrizione

Three parts in one volume, 12mo (164x92 mm). 4, 315, [1 blank]; 352; 372 pp. Later light boards, lettering piece on spine. Uniformly browned, some foxing, lower outer corner of the final leaf in volume cut off with some loss of text.
Extremely rare first edition of the first modern Italian cookbook for the bourgeoisie. The author revised and adapted for a middle-class audience his first and major work, the Apicio moderno, still much influenced by the French cuisine, thus creating the first extensive recipe book of Italian regional cuisine 65 years before Pellegrino Artusi and 35 years before the unification of Italy. Leonardi was also the first to use the tomato in many recipes, thus definitively establishing it as one of the defining ingredients of Italian cuisine.
Francesco Leonardi started his career as a cook in Paris in the mid-18th century, working for the Marshal of Richelieu. He then returned to Italy and settled in Naples, where he worked for Michele Imperiale, the Prince of Francavilla and Marquis of Oria, who had been the King's Chief Steward since 1753. In 1772, Leonardi was hired by Cardinal de Bernis, the French ambassador to the Holy See. Leonardi then served on several of Louis XV's military campaigns and travelled throughout Europe with General Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov, Grand Chamberlain of Russia. As part of Shuvalov's entourage, Leonardi arrived in Saint Petersburg in 1778. There, he became steward to Prince Grigory Grigorevich Orlov. Following Orlov's death in 1783, Leonardi became the empress's personal chef and steward. Forced to leave Russia due to the harsh climate, he returned to Italy and set about writing his most famous work, Apicio moderno, first published in 1790 and revised in 1807. In 1791, he served as the personal chef of Cardinal de Bernis, Louis XV's plenipotentiary to the Holy See. For this role, he organised a sumptuous banquet for over 100 people to celebrate the birth of the Dauphin of France. In 1803, he was in Austria as part of Prince Soltikoff's entourage. In 1804, he was in Naples again, serving as master of the house to the Duke of Gravina until the French arrived and his employer departed for Sicily in 1806. He then appears to have returned to Rome, where he served as steward to Emperor Francis I of Austria during his state visit in spring 1816. He hosted a lavish banquet at the Quirinal Palace for this occasion.
Italian Union Catalogue, IT\ICCU\VIAE\009947.