Valentina Wasson’s upbringing in mushroom-loving Russia inspired this work, although directly Russian-related material is scant compared to the masses of international lore compiled here. Befitting a labor of love, the volume was handsomely printed by the prestigious Stamperia Valdonega (following Hans Mardersteig’s design) on heavy paper with deckle edges. Its pochoir plates reproduce beautiful life-sized watercolor paintings of mushrooms done by naturalist Jean-Henri Fabre, and other numerous plates depict other works of interest such as Gainsborough’s “Mushroom Girl.”

Provenance: From the library of chef and culinary collector Louis I. Szathmary, with the laid in, retained carbon of a letter from him to Ralph Geoffrey Newman (the late, noted, Chicago bookseller); this thanks Newman for “the interesting information on the Mushroom book.” A duplicate copy of Newman’s purchase invoice, with Szathmary’s cheque photocopied onto it, is also present.

This is copy number 412 of a limited edition of 512.

•  Green publisher’s cloth, spines with gilt-stamped labels, housed in the original neat buckram-covered slipcase. Corners and spine extremities show slight traces of wear with bindings otherwise crisp and clean; slipcase likewise shows only the faintest of wear. (In our rather bad photograph, the slipcase looks a tad bowed; in real life, it is NOT.) Glassine wrappers present (somewhat yellowed, a bit short as issued, and one with a bit missing at top of that spine). Top edges gilt. Pages and plates clean. A lovely association copy of this significant and uncommon mycological text.

Click the images for enlargements.

The author was physically disabled from childhood, but admired by his fellow students at Cornell both for his fierce independence and for his enthusiasm for outdoor life: “On more than one occasion the young fellow who could not walk a foot without his crutches, or swim a stroke, has paddled his frail canoe from Ithaca to Syracuse . . . sleeping under his boat at night and with no other companion than his dog” (Chi Phi Quarterly, vol. XI, no. 2, 74–75).

This is the original second edition, not a modern reprint or facsimile.

Binding:  Publisher's blue cloth, front cover with gilt- and black-stamped title and pictorial vignettes, spine with gilt-stamped title.

•  Brown, Culinary Americana, 2521.   Binding with minor rubbing to corners and spine extremities, spine slightly sunned. Front free endpaper with pencilled gift inscription. A beautiful copy of an unusual and intriguing testament to the pleasures of Nature and its offerings.  (26676)