OP: Pot Shots from a Grosse Ile Kitchen
Harper & Brothers, 1947. Hardcover. Very Good Minus, missing jacket. Signed first printing.
When Sidney Corbett, a WWI veteran then working as a General Motors national manager, was suddenly struck with paralysis, he pivoted to a career of writing. Corbett’s interests were “the philosophy of the Importance of what might be called by business men the Unimportant, and…the sheer fun of food and the concoctions of meals.” So food writing it was.
Pot Shots from a Grosse Ile Kitchen (1947) draws its title from a Detroit News column of the same name that Sidney wrote with his wife, Lucy. Each brief chapter paints a picture of the Corbetts’ quaint lives in their Grosse Ile, MI home, followed by a relevant recipe.
“The Elusive Fireplace,” for instance, describes Sidney’s determination to uncover, against Lucy’s recommendation, a bricked-over hearth in their kitchen. After whacking through the wall, the handyman finds himself outside, rather than in the center of an ancient fireplace. Lucy (eventually) shows her forgiveness by making pot roast “‘to be cooked on the kitchen range. Not in some mythical fireplace!’”
A recipe for pot roast follows.
Our copy bears a photo clipping of Sidney Corbett feeding his dogs taped to the page facing the half title—a bespoke frontispiece. Signed by both authors and gift inscribed by a previous owner. Stated first printing. Very Good Minus, carefully read but lacking the jacket. Detroit’s Hudson’s Book Shop label on the rear pastedown. Woodcut illustrations by William Thomas Woodward. A pleasant read, especially for a fellow Michiganer.
