[Busk, Hans.] THE BANQUET: IN THREE CANTOS. London: Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, 1819. 8vo. Engraved frontispiece and additional engraved title, viii, 144 pp. Original plain paper boards, as-issued and untrimmed, with early printed circulation label to front (apparently for circulation among a small group, beginning with Mr. Renouard.) ************** FIRST EDITION. Rare. Founded on the French "Gastronomia" of Berchoux, being a witty poem on "the antiquity, utility, and vitality of the science of eating, as well as its anteriority and superiority to all other arts and sciences whatsoever" (Oxford, English Cookery Books to the Year 1850, pp. 146-7.) The frontispiece depicts the death of Vatel, who committed suicide because the fish did not arrive in time to be cooked. –

Hinges cracked with front board barely holding, binding chipped, worn and stained. Contents clean, with some very minor foxing in places.