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[Illustration: THE PLEASURES OF THE TABLE]
"The Garden's Story, or Pleasures and Trials of an Amateur Gardener." Illustrated by Louis Rhead.
"The Story of My House." With a frontispiece by Sidney L. Smith.
"In Gold and Silver." Illustrated by A. B. Wenzell and W. Hamilton Gibson.
"The Rose." By H. B. Ellwanger. Revised edition, with an Introduction by George H. Ellwanger.
"Idyllists of the Country Side." With a title-page by George Wharton Edwards.
"Love's Demesne: A Garland of Contemporary Love Poems Gathered from Many Sources."
"Meditations on Gout, with a Consideration of its Cure through the Use of Wine." With a frontispiece and title-page by George Wharton Edwards.
From the painting by Gabriel Metzu, 1664]
AN ACCOUNT OF GASTRONOMY FROM ANCIENT DAYS TO PRESENT TIMES.
WITH A HISTORY OF ITS LITERATURE, SCHOOLS, AND MOST DISTINGUISHED ARTISTS; TOGETHER WITH SOME SPECIAL RECIPES, AND VIEWS CONCERNING THE AESTHETICS OF DINNERS AND DINNER-GIVING.
Copyright, 1902, by DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO.
FANTAISIE CULINAIRE: LE POISSON PRÉVOYANT
TO HER, TRUE COMRADE, WHOSE VERSANT TOUCH AND ARTFUL HAND HAVE KEENED MY ZEST FOR GASTRONOMIC LORE, THIS VOLUME IS DEVOTEDLY INSCRIBED. ]
"Gasteria is the Tenth Muse; she presides over the enjoyments of Taste."
"The History of Gastronomy is that of manners, if not of morals; and the learned are aware that its literature is both instructive and amusing; for it is replete with curious traits of character and comparative views of society at different periods, as well as with striking anecdotes of remarkable men and women whose destinies have been strangely influenced by their epicurean tastes and habits."
_It is far from the purpose or desire of the author to add another to the innumerable volumes having practical cookery as their theme--the published works of the past decade alone being too numerous to digest._
_The following chapters, therefore, though touching upon the practical part of the art, will be found more closely concerned with the history, literature, and æsthetics of the table than with its purely utilitarian side. Indeed, a complete manual of practical cookery is one of the impossibilities, for no person would have the patience to compile it; and even were such a work achievable, few readers could find sufficient time for its perusal. A glance at the portly "Bibliographie Gastronomique" of Georges Vicaire, in which English contributions to the subject are so meagrely represented, will suffice to show the difficulties such a task would impose. To classify properly the multitudinous dishes which, virtually identical, figure under so many different names, would of itself require years of severe application and laborious research. It may be observed, notwithstanding, that the world stands much less in need of additional inventions as regards the utilisation and preparation of foods than of an expert anthologist to garner the most worthy among recipes already existing in such bewildering profusion._