08/13/2026
CHILD, Julia & BECK, Simone. Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume Two.
First edition, first printing. Quarto. Original publisher’s cloth. Signed by both Julia Child and Simone Beck on the title page and warmly inscribed to Edward Robert Brooks. With Brooks’s distinctive “Gourmet on the Go” bookplate affixed to the front pastedown. Lacking jacket.
A highly desirable signed association copy of the second and final volume of the landmark culinary work that transformed American home cooking. Published in 1970, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume Two expanded upon the revolutionary approach introduced in the first volume, presenting more advanced techniques and recipes while maintaining the authors’ characteristic clarity and precision.
The present copy gains additional significance from its provenance. The recipient, Edward Robert Brooks, was a noted food, wine, and hospitality enthusiast whose library appears to have focused on gastronomy, restaurants, and wine-related subjects. Later known professionally as E. Robert Brooks, he became a respected figure in the fine wine trade, serving in senior positions at major auction houses and wine firms and authoring works on wine and collecting. The presence of his personalized “Gourmet on the Go” bookplate strongly suggests this volume formed part of a carefully assembled culinary library, rather than a casual accumulation of cookbooks.
Association copies linking Julia Child and Simone Beck to distinguished gastronomic collectors are seldom encountered. The combination of dual signatures, a personal inscription, and identifiable provenance creates a compelling artifact at the intersection of twentieth-century culinary history and the culture of serious food and wine collecting. Such copies are notably more desirable than unsigned examples and substantially scarcer than routine signed copies without meaningful ownership history.
