OP: Dining at the Pavillon
Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1962. Hardcover. Near Fine. First printing.
Joseph Wechsberg (1907–1983), a Czech-born Renaissance man—musician, journalist, gourmand, international traveler, bon vivant—entertained readers for decades with his essays on the best of European food and culture, wine, music, and other ingredients of the good life. Long a resident of Vienna, he immigrated to America in 1938 and, following WWII, began writing for a variety of publications, including The New Yorker and Gourmet.
Dining at the Pavillon (1962) is Wechsberg’s laudatory biography and near-anthropology of the once most influential French restaurant in the US Le Pavillon and its proprietor and chef Henri Soulé (1903–1966). Used as a backdrop for Wechsberg’s musings on exclusivity, fine cuisine, and the social currency exchanged between proprietor and guest, Le Pavillon becomes a microcosm of the world at large.
Wechsberg fully engages his readers in the high-stakes environment of such a prestigious establishment and will delight those whose ears perk at the mention of Escoffier, Fernand Point, Brillat-Savarin, and their ilk. Magnificent insight into NYC fine dining.
Ours is a first printing with a Near Fine book block and case. The jacket is intact and lightly shelfworn with a 1-inch closed tear to the front panel.
