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Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare detail view of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
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  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare detail view of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare image from the book of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare interesting detail of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare view of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare photograph of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare feature view of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare selected detail of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare image of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare notable image of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare interesting detail of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare interior highlight of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare detail view of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare image from the book of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare interesting detail of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare view of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare photograph of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare feature view of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare selected detail of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare image of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare notable image of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare interesting detail of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
  • Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits by Massialot, François, a rare interior highlight of the 1740 - gastronomy book.
Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits

Setting the Table in Style: Massialot’s Culinary Optics

Massialot, François

Nouvelle Instruction Pour Les Confitures, Les Liquers, Et Les Fruits
Où L'On Apprend À Confire Toutes Sortes De Fruits, Tant Secs Que Liquides, La Façon De Faire Différens Ratafias, & Divers Ouvrages De Sucre Qui Ont Fait Des Officiers & Confiseurs, Avec La Maniere De Bien Ordonné Un Fruit.

1740, Paris, Chez Joseph Saugrain

$550 USD

Overview

François Massialot’s Nouvelle instruction may be remembered for its recipes, but its true pièce de résistance lies in the four elegant folding plates, including the earliest known depiction of a dining table in perspective within a cookbook.
This was more than gastronomy; it was theatre. As chef to the French court, Massialot transformed presentation into visual rhetoric, arranging fruit, liqueurs, and fine tableware with architectural precision.

Inside the book

First published in 1692 as Nouvelle instruction pour les confitures, this early edition stands as the most comprehensive treatise of its time on pastry-making, distillation of liqueurs, and the preparation of tea, coffee, and chocolate. It includes the first perspective representation of a set table in a cookbook, with four folding plates showing lavish table settings and refined tableware.

Why La Fenice chose it

This early edition captures the 18th-century shift from kitchen to spectacle, where how you served was as artful as what you cooked. Massialot was less a cook than a stage director; his recipes fed the court, but his plates taught Europe how to eat with its eyes.
Condition Report

Pp. [1] f.e., [16], 518, [36], [6], [1] r.e., 4 folded engraved plates.

Full leather binding with five raised bands on the spine, gilt tooling (spine label missing), red edges, marbled endpapers. Small wear, especially to the spine. Ownership inscription on the front endpaper: “Veuve Chevenoz (?), Nancy.” Small, minimal wormhole in the inner margin, extending through the volume from about p. 360. Engravings in perfect conditions. Very fresh copy. Reference: Vicaire, 455; Oberlé, 96; Bitting, 584; Simon 1022.

Dimensions (inches): 6 3/4 x 4 x 1.5
About the author

François Massialot (1660 - 1733) was a French chef, famed for influential cookbooks and the first known use of "crème brûlée." He distinguished himself as both an innovator and an authority. His originality of presentation and authoritative voice confirmed him as heir to La Varenne and Lune, and his influence extended well into the following century. Massialot expanded the foundations of French cuisine, introducing recipes that would become enduring classics.

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