Tratado General de Carnes, que comprende todo lo concerniente al conocimiento de sus clases, especies y calidades, a su fomento y uso
Madrid: Don Miguel de Burgos, 1832.
First Edition. Hardcover (Full Leather). Very Good Condition. Item #CAT001016
Contemporary acid calf, marbled endpapers. Scattered minor foxing; a clean, wide margined copy. xiii, (3), 255pp with folding plate of cow skeleton with description at rear.
An interesting and rare book on meat. It begins with definitions and a discussion of the idea of meat and its place in society - beginning with meat as food and its affect (somewhat remarkably in 1832) on the humours. Elements of it read like a 200+ years after the fact defense of Spanish colonialism - freeing native peoples from their humour runing reliance on raw food, the wrong food (cats, bears, beavers, llamas). Others go into the art of butchery (and how it should be more highly esteemed), the spoiling of meat (and the chemistry of turning spoiled meat into good meat through a "decoction of carbon"), cattle speculation, a long section on very specific butchering techniques and theories. It finished with an interesting section on "rare meats" eaten in other parts of the world such as China, the Americas, Siam, the Philipines, Russia, Norway etc where he goes on at some length on the inappropriate meats and methods involved, mentioning bats, cats, mice, snakes, caiman and their eggs, neaver, bears feet, reindeer, vermin. Size: 4to. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilo. Category: Cooking, Wine & Dining; Inventory No: CAT001016.
Price: $2,000.00