145 - HÉMARD, Joseph, and ROUFF, Marcel. The Life and Passion of Dodin-Bouffant, the Gourmet.

HÉMARD, Joseph, and ROUFF, Marcel. The Life and Passion of Dodin-Bouffant, the Gourmet. The author’s personal copy on Whatman paper (No. A), in a unique binding painted by the illustrator, enhanced with an original watercolor bearing a signed dedication and a letter from Joseph Hémard regarding the design of the binding. Paris, Librairie Stock, Delamain, Boutelleau & Cie, 1924. In-8 (260 x 185 mm), full vellum, spine with four raised bands bearing the author’s name and title in handwritten script, panels adorned with original compositions (orange, steaming soup tureen, bottle of wine), upper front cover adorned with a rich painted decoration featuring the elegant gourmet Dodin-Bouffant at the center (composition signed by Joseph Hémard), lower cover adorned with a central composition (set table and fish on a fork), gilt head on endpapers, covers and spine preserved (and front cover of the set in black). 283 pp., partially untrimmed, 8 color plates enhanced with stencil coloring. Spine and edges of the covers slightly faded, a few discreet signs of handling. A complete edition and the first illustrated edition of the most famous of French gastronomic novels, adorned with 8 witty illustrations by Joseph Hémard reproduced in photogravure and fully hand-colored using stencils. Composed in part before the war, the novel had been the subject of a first, limited edition in 1920 by the Société Littéraire de France. Marcel Rouff decided to publish this final 1924 version with Stock, which was considerably expanded and augmented with five pivotal chapters. A true masterpiece of culinary literature, the novel recounts Magistrate Dodin-Bouffant’s relentless quest to replace his beloved cook, the late Eugénie Chatagne. After numerous culinary disappointments, he finally discovers a rare gem in the person of Adèle Pidou. It is within these pages that Dodin-Bouffant’s legendary pot-au-feu makes its appearance—a dish that has become a benchmark of French gastronomy. Limited to 622 copies, this is one of 12 numbered proofs on Whatman paper and the first out-of-commerce copy (No. A). Our copy is complete with the original watercolor mentioned in the colophon, here enhanced by an autographed dedication reading, “To Marcel Rouff, this enthusiastic illustration,” and the black-and-white sequence of 6 illustrations mounted in the text (the last two inserts are missing). This copy is also enhanced by a beautiful autograph letter signed by Joseph Hémard to Marcel Rouff, his “dear master” (1 page, in-8, obliterated with green ink, “April 24, 1925”). He humbly confides that all the inspiration and structure of his painted binding stem solely from the quality of the text: “Graphically speaking, the taste and spirit—I am not the one who brings them; it is your text that makes them come to life. ” A very fine copy on large-format paper, partially uncut, in a unique binding.