OP: Home Cooking and More Home Cooking (2 vols)
Alfred A. Knopf, 1988 and Harper Collins, 1993. Hardcover. Very Good. First printings.
Author of five novels, torrents of short stories, and even some poetry, Laurie Colwin (1941–1992) has become known, perhaps even better known, as a person who wrote about food and the ways we acquire it, prepare it, and enjoy it.
And it was food—not cuisine—that was her interest.
Mostly, she got meals on the table for her family and friends. And she relives, in dozens of small, totally engaging essays, those meals and the simple adventures that surrounded them—joyful, frustrating, gratifying, terrifying. Many were written for Gourmet magazine, others just because she wanted, for her own reasons, to tell stories of triumphs and failures.
Her pieces were collected in two beloved volumes—Home Cooking (1988) and More Home Cooking (1993), published posthumously. The range of subjects that attracted Colwin is staggering. A sampling of the 76 little essays, each five or six pages long, might include in the first volume, “Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant,” “Repulsive Dinners: A Memoir,” “Stuffed Veal Breast: A Bad Idea.” And in her second volume: “Butter,” “The Duck Dilemma,” “In Praise of Pears,” and “Desserts That Quiver.”
They are by no means all funny, but each conveys the range of experiences that are at once everyday and distinctive. There are recipes, although much of the cooking is in the form of narrative—less regimented and more like telling somebody on the phone about something really good that, against all odds, you’ve just made.
We offer first printings of both volumes. The first is in Very Good condition with a VG, lightly worn jacket; the second is Fine in all aspects except for the inclusion of a gift inscription to the half title page. (Both are also available in paperback.)
