ROSSETTI (Giovanni Battista). Dello scalco, nel quale si contengono le qualità di uno scalco perfetto, et tutti i carichi suoi, con diversi ufficiali à lui sottoposti. Ferrara, Domenico Mammarello, 1584. In-4, stiff vellum, smooth spine, gilt title cartouche, mottled edges (18th century Italian binding). First edition of this important Cinquecento culinary treatise. The work is divided into three books: the first teaches the duties of the scalco or butler in charge of a princely table; the second details, month by month, the banquets prepared by the author over the course of the year; the third deals with the many ways of cooking meat and other dishes. The author practised his art at the court of Ferrara as scalco to Lucrezia d'Este, Duchess of Urbino, to whom the work is dedicated. A very fine copy, despite a few scattered brown spots. Long handwritten note in Italian on one endpaper. From the library of Raymond Oliver, with bookplate. Vicaire, 752 - BING, 1713.