OP: To Begin Again (hardcover)

Pantheon Books, 1992. Hardcover. Very Good. First printing.

“[M]y family has teasingly warned me and other gullible listeners that I never spoil a story by sticking to the truth. This is a plain lie, because I do not lie. But I have never seen any reason to be dull, and since I was less than four I have enjoyed entertaining and occasionally startling anyone who may be listening,” opens M. F. K. Fisher’s (1908–1992) retrospective on her earliest years, To Begin Again (1992).

And that might be all you need to know about Fisher’s life and writing—her quick wit and appreciation of life’s sensorial pleasures inevitably led to a good story.

Divided into twenty-one essays, written across decades of adulthood, the firebrand author reflects on the formative years of her youth. Few pieces foreshadow Fisher’s career arc as a definitive food writer, but allusions to her future are there. In a chapter called “Grandmother’s Nervous Stomach,” she begins, “One of the fine feelings in this world is to have a long-held theory confirmed. It adds a smug glow to life in general. When I was about five, I began to suspect that eating something good with good people is highly important.”

Ours is a Very Good first printing with a price clipped jacket. A lovely addition for the Fisher collector.