Gastronomy – Eustis, Celestine. – Cooking in old Créole Days. La Cuisine Créole à l’Usage des Petits Ménages.

First edition of this classic collection of recipes in prose from Célestine Eustis (1836-1921). The recipes catered to renewed interest in the Old South and reflected Eustis’s privileged lifestyle, the author having grown up in a prominent Louisiana home. Her father was a chief justice and brother a U.S. Congressman. The book does pay tribute to the servants who provided the recipes, from Eustis’ own cook to a slave in the James Madison family. However, the stereotypical illustrations throughout the book strengthen the idea that while the recipe creators are credited, the compilation is of typical benefit to the white upper class Eustis on the backs of the black cooks. In any event, the collection provides a wonderful overview of Creole cooking at the turn of the century. Frontis and seven illustrations by Harper Pennington, each protected with a printed tissue guard bearing a musical motif. – A few pencil lines; spine a bit faded, edges a bit rubbed.