Veronelli's Biblioteca del Gastronomo
Milan, Veronelli Editore, [1959-1960]. (Various). Veronelli's Biblioteca del Gastronomo: volumes 1-7, & 10. Veronelli Editore: Milan, [ca.1959-1960]. Each (140x75mm) comb bnd, clear covers, colour stiff printed card wrappers, 36-40pp. In Italian. Light soiling, combs tiring
Second-hand hardcover
VERONELLI, Luigi (1926-2004) & CARNACINA, Luigi (1888-1981)
Veronelli's Biblioteca del Gastronomo [volumes 1-7, & 10]: Cocktails; Dizionario Gastronomico; I Vini Italiani; I liquori italiani; La Cucina di Notte; I Vini Francesi: Snacks; Le Salse
Milan : Veronelli Editore: Milan, [1959-1960]. First and only editions, each limited to 1000 copies. llustration and design by Alberto Manfredi. Priced at 800 lire each.
Each (140x75mm) white comb bound, clear plastic covers, colour stiff printed card wrappers, 36-40pp. In Italian. Light soiling, combs tiring, several partially sprung. Internally clean, crisp; corners gently bruised. Eight of the twelve volumes issued, lacking only I Gelati, La Cucina d'Amore, Le Uova, and Pastacinni da Te.
¶ Veronelli was an Italian gastronome, wine critic, self-proclaimed anarchist, poet, provocateur, television presenter, writer and publisher. One of the world's great wine intellectuals of the twentieth century, Veronelli was the first and probably remains the most influential Italian wine communicator to date. He was the 'mid-wife' of many of the great Italian wines and wine estates today, encouraging their establishment and promoting their output.
In 1956 he established a publishing house dedicated to Italian gastronomy, philosophy and politics, issuing several magazines including Il Gastronomico. He also published D'Annunzio, Marquis de Sade, Carnacina and a range of eclectic titles. Veronelli closed his publishing house in the 1960s due to poor sales and devoted the next decades to writing books, a television career, and promoting Italian wine.
He often collaborated with his good friend, the celebrated Italian restaurant critic and reviewer Luigi Carnacina. Together they published a large number of cookbooks, books on Italian gastronomy, wine books and guides, many of them considered significant important works in Italian gastronomic literature. In 1989 he established a new publishing house dedicated to wine, which continues today. There is a museum dedicated to his work, streets are named after him in a number of communes across Italy and a hospitality school is named after him. The number of Veronelli's published works on twentieth century wine and gastronomy is probably only surpassed by André Simon's output.
The Biblioteca del Gastronomo was published over two years. All of the books were written by Veronelli or Carnacina. Where another author was credited, the author was fictitious and it was written by Veronelli. ¹
"Veronelli has created the figure of the modern gastronome. With his cultured and sharp pen, he has been the first to identify a new path, and through his wondrous tales of wine, his travels, his walks in the land, he has inspired many people, me first."²
Scarce generally and rarely seen in a sizeable collection.
§ OCLC records all held by the Italian National Library, a few in the series by Purdue and otherwise only a very small number of individual volumes held by various institutions worldwide.
¹ Gian Arturo Rota, Chair & Curator for the "Camminare la Terra" exhibition for Luigi Veronelli held at Wine Italy/Triennale in Milan in 2015.
² Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food, at the Decennial celebration of Luigi Veronelli in 2015.
Item #11241
Price: $800.00 AUD