[BONNEFONS (Nicolas de). Les Délices de la campagne. Followed by Le Jardinier françois, in which is taught how to prepare for the use of life everything that grows on the earth and in the water. Paris, Pierre Des-Hayes, 1654. Small in-12, fawn calf, double gilt fillet, coat of arms in the centre, spine decorated, small coat of arms in the penultimate box, spotted edges (Binding of the period). Rare first edition, decorated with a title-frontispiece and 3 out-of-text figures engraved on copper by François Chauveau. This work, dedicated to the dames mesnageres, is a sequel to the Jardinier françois by the same author, published in 1651. It is divided into three books, the first of which deals mainly with bread, wine and beverages, the second with vegetables, fruit, eggs and dairy products, and the third with poultry, meat, fish and shellfish. A singular work among seventeenth-century cookery books, Les Délices de la campagne was written by a horticulturist specialising in vegetable gardens, rather than a cook. As such, it is "a compilation of possible ways of preparing foodstuffs commonly used in the Île-de-France region, for general use by the dames mesnageres and not to satisfy the particular tastes of the court's gourmets", writes J.-M. Chatelain, for whom "Les Délices de la campagne are a manifesto of enjoymentable frugality, elevated to a principle of pleasure" (Livres en bouche). A copy bearing the arms of the Norman bibliophile Émery Bigot (1626-1689), President of the Parliament of Rouen, with his engraved bookplate. He had inherited from his father Jean Bigot (1588-1645), lord of Sommesnil and Cleuville, councillor-dean at the Court of Aids in Rouen, a "magnificent library consisting of more than 6,000 sumptuously bound volumes" (Olivier), which he added to considerably. Acquired en bloc by three Parisian booksellers, the Bibliotheca Bigotiana was dispersed in 1706 (the present work does not appear in the catalogue). Binding restored, spine boards reapplied, minor marginal spotting and minimal foxing. Vicaire, 261 - En français dans le texte, n°94 - Livres en bouche, n°90 - Cagle, n°86 - OHR, 238.