Pékin: Editions Na Che Pao (Albert Nachbaur), 1925

4to, pp. 141, index bound in at rear, bound in stiff paper wrappers. Illustrated dust jacket. Unopened. French text.

First trade edition of the first French-language book on Chinese cuisine. INSCRIBED TO THE DISTINGUISHED GOURMET AND OENOPHILE ANDRE L. SIMON : 'To André L. Simon with keen admiration and every good wish! James P. Howe Walnut Creek California November 1957'. One of 500 copies printed on papier pelure, this copy unnumbered, of a total edition of 550.

The Parisian Henri Lecourt is thought to have arrived in China around 1900, and was chief clerk and later head of the French Post Office in Tianjin province between 1913 and 1930. Married to a Chinese cook, Lecourt's groundbreaking book (compiled with the help of his wife) was published in 1925. A collection of 243 Chinese recipes (as well as three for alcoholic drinks) La Cuisine Chinoise was published in China, but aimed to popularise Chinese cuisine in France -- the Chung Fat Lung, the first gourmet Chinese restaurant in Paris, had only opened in 1920, just five years before the book's publication. It covers all the traditional Chinese cooking methods and ingredients, but also includes more exotic recipes: cinnamon blossom compote, steamed turtle, swallow's nest soup. La Cuisine Chinoise received little attention on publication and it wasn't until the 1990s, when it was rediscovered by French food writer Raymond Dumay, that its place in French culinary history was recognised.

André L. Simon [1877-1970], whose copy this was, was a wine connoisseur and gourmet, and wrote extensively on both subjects. In 1933 he founded the Wine and Food Society, the world's first association for gastronomes (and still going strong).
The book was presented to Simon in 1957 by the foreign correspondent James P. Howe. Howe [1879-1970] joined the Associated Press in 1914 and was soon assigned to Europe, with Paris one of his many postings. Later on he worked for many years in Peking (now Beijing).

A very fragile book: a scarce survivor, and with an excellent association.