Vincenzo Corrado's much-revered tome on Italian cooking is among the star attractions at National Book Auctions, next month.
Il Cuoco Galante, the 1778 work by the Italian cook-cum-philosopher, is estimated at $2,000 to $3,000 ahead of its Ithaca, New York auction on January 8.
Corrado was among the most famous chefs in Naples in the 18th century. Il Cuoco Galante was his seminal work, detailing the mix of Mediterranean and Italian influences to be found in the city at the time.
This specimen is a rare early edition from 1778, published by Stamperia Raimondiana. The book was first published in 1773.
The auction will also feature Paulinus Bartholomaeo's Orientalist compilation, valued at between $2,500 and $3,000.
Printed between 1790 and 1793, it provides several key writings on Sanskrit Indian culture.
A first edition of Ernest Hemingway's 1927 work The Sun Also Rises will also appear, with a $600 to $750 estimate.
 Vincenzo Corrado’s 18th century cookbook has a $2,000 to $3,000 estimate |
A first American printing of Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange from 1963 is also on offer. It is expected to achieve between $400 and $600.
It's not just the books themselves that are highly valued by collectors.
The autographs of famous novelists are also much in demand.
We're currently offering a superb autograph of Thomas Hardy in addition to two handwritten letters signed by Charles Dickens.
One is to author and journalist Charles Mackay, the other to the Athenaeum Club in London.
The value of a Dickens handwritten signed letter has risen from £795 ($1,250) in 2000 to £3,950 ($6,200) in 2011, at a rate of 15.69% pa, according to the PFC40 Autograph Index.
