151 - LEBAS, Jean. *Festin joyeux, or La Cuisine en musique*, in free verse.

LEBAS, Jean. *Festin joyeux, or La Cuisine en musique*, in free verse. Paris: Lesclapart père et fils, 1738. In-12 (16 x 9 cm), granite calfskin, ribbed spine decorated with panels. Red edges. Contemporary binding. XCIII-189-24-27-(2) pp. Missing a page at the top; three corners pierced. Two tears with no loss to the margins of the fold-out plate. Restoration to the margin of folio I-II. Fine provenance: from the library of Viollet-le-Duc; then from the composer and musicographer Jean-Baptiste Weckerlin (bookplate on the upper inside front cover). The latter subsequently gifted it “to the lovely Suzanne de Violaine,” with a hand-signed ex-dono on the upper endpaper. A rare first edition. Attributed to the French poet and cook Jean Lebas, who signed the dedicatory epistle, *Festin joyeux* is dedicated “to the Ladies of the Court”; it is the first collection of recipes set to song. This work, the author writes in the dedicatory epistle, “may serve as amusement and recreation, as useful as it is pleasant, since by singing, you, Ladies, will be able to teach some of your subordinates how to make stews and sauces to delight you." This culinary manual, featuring some 145 recipes, is written in verse and intended to be sung; to this end, the author had 24 pages of sheet music engraved, with indications of the melodies to which the recipes should be sung. It also includes instructions on the order in which dishes should be served at the table and other information related to the art of entertaining. A fine copy, complete with the notated music booklet (24 pp.)