Culture and Cooking Art in the Kitchen Catherine Owen a few preliminary remarks Alexandre Dumas, p re, after writing five hundred novels, says, "I wish to close my literary career with a book on cooking." And in the hundred pages or so of preface-or perhaps overture would be the better word, since in it a group of literary men, while contributing recondite recipes, flourish trumpets in every key-to his huge volume he says, "I wish to be read by people of the world, and practiced by people of the art" (gens de l'art); and although I wish, like every one who writes, to be read by all the world, I wish to aid the practice, not of the professors of the culinary art, but those whose aspirations point to an enjoyment of the good things of life, but whose means of attaining them are limited. We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work.

We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.