OP: The Four Seasons

Simon and Schuster, New York, 1980. Hardcover. Very Good. Signed first printing. 

The Four Seasons in New York City (opened in 1959), during its heyday, was the distillation and the symbol of the great culinary revolution of the mid-20th Century. Maintaining the highest possible level of culinary technique and presentation, it was a distinctly American restaurant, devoted to original dishes, the best possible ingredients, American wines, and, as its name implies, seasonality. Its decor and menu changed every three months. 

The Four Seasons (1980) cookbook—published by the restaurant’s second, and most successful, set of owners—is an extravagant celebration of the establishment and its guests, with recipes from ramp soup to pike with sorrel sauce and handwritten testimonials by everyone from Rudolph Nureyev and Lily Tomlin to Paul Bocuse, whose autographs are printed throughout in second color.

Our copy is a Very Good first printing with a Four Seasons bookplate to the front free endpaper verso signed by all four contributors—Tom Margittai, Paul Kovi, Chef Josef Renggli, and Barbara Kafka. A rare example. Other than some splatters to the fore edge, the book block and case are clean and sturdy. The jacket is price clipped and lightly discolored about the edges.