What should I bid?

Lot 31
[ROSSELLI (GIOVANNI)]
Il quale tratta del modo del cucinare ogni carne, uccelli, & pesce d'ogni forte [sic]. Et di piu insegna far sapori, torte, pastelli, almodo di tutte le provincie del mondo
Title with woodcut vignette of a man seated at a table, within typographical border (shaved at upper margin), lacks 4 leaves (G1/2, and G7/8 the final 2 index leaves), early inscription erased in ink, modern half morocco [this edition not in Bitting or Vicaire, only one copy recorded on WorldCat mentioning 51pp.], small 8vo.
Messina, Lorenzo Valla, 1606
£300 – 400

This is the entry in the catalogue of Books, Maps, Manuscripts & Photographs auctioned by Bonhams at Oxford on Thursday 29 November 2011.

The Prof[1] told me that he was definitely going: there were a number of lots that interested him. I asked him if I could go with him and he agreed. He advised me to set beforehand an upper limit beyond which I would not go. To do this I entered Epulario in the Title box on the Abe Books search page. Twenty books were listed.

Twelve of these were offered by booksellers in Australia (one), the UK (seven) and the USA (four) for a print-on-demand edition of the 1598 edition of a translation into English. Interesting: I must check the British Library catalogue to see the date of the edition that was translated, since it clearly could not have been the 1606 edition being auctioned. These were being offered at prices, inclusive of shipping, ranging from £10.48 by a dealer in Sussex to £31.90 by the Australian dealer.

Three were offered by Italian booksellers, but for a different title: Epulario e segreti vari. Trattati di cucina toscana nella Firenze seicentesca[2] by one Giovanni Del Turco. This appears to be an anastatic[3] reproduction, published in Bologna in 1992, of a book published in Florence in 1602: the price is about £32.

Four more were offered by Italian booksellers, slightly differently titled: Opera nova chiamata Epulario la quale tratta il modo di cucinare[4] etc. This appears to be an anastatic reproduction of a 1518 Venetian edition in two volumes, one in Latin in a gothic face and the other in Italian: the price is about £50. One bookseller adds this information about the author, Giovanni de Rosselli: cuoco di Casa Baglioni e valletto di papa Paolo III.[5]

It was the twentieth that was most interesting, however. Here is the entire description given by the bookseller in Miami.

Gioanne Padoano, Venice, 1555. Book Condition: Very Good. In small 8vo. 45 + (2) ff. Title page in red and black, with a woodcut engraving; woodcut initial letters. First and final blank. Somewhat browned, and a few insignificant stains, especially to the last leaves. Bound in full modern blue morocco gilt ruled on boards. Spine with gilt lettering. Blue slipcase. Nice and fresh copy of a very rare edition of a curious book, which was first printed in 1516. It is one of the first books of cooking and baking printed in the Italian language. It has the best recipes of several Italian provinces, very well explained. The title page shows a woodcut engraving depicting a kitchen, which is believed to be the earliest depiction of a kitchen in a printed book. All editions of this book are very rare; after the first edition, it was reprinted many times until the 17th Century. It was the translated into English and published in England before the end of the 16th Century. This book is now known to be almost a direct copy of the works of Maestro Martino. Not in Vicaire. Extremely rare copy. In Italian. Hardcover.

And the price? $20,000!

Surely Ayesha[6] will agree to me bidding over the top estimate, to, say, £500? She does.

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[1] Click [GO] to read, on my earlier blog, how the Prof, an endearing neighbouring bibliophile, foments literary activity.
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[2] "The banquet and various secrets: treatise on Tuscan cooking in seventeenth century Florence".
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[3] "Anastatic lithography is a form of transfer lithography, or zincography, by which prints, particularly old ones, may be treated so as to yield a transfer, which may be inked up and printed from." (for more, click [GO])
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[4] "New works entitled The Banquet which deals with all ways of cooking ..." etcetera.
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[5] "Chef at the Casa Baglioni and page [the Sansoni translation] to Pope Paul III" (1468-1549, the first pope [from 1534] of the Counter-Reformation).
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[6] Ayesha, or She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, was the puissant queen and protagonist in Rider Haggard's She. It was also the term used by Rumpole of The Bailey to refer to his wife.
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