Wow! eBook
The Well-Set Table in France: Furniture and Settings for Meals from the Gauls to the Eighteenth Century
Author(s): Pierre Jean-Baptiste Le Grand d'Aussy (Author), Jim Chevallier (Translator)
- Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
- Publication Date: May 21, 2014
- Language: English
- Print length: 104 pages
- ISBN-10: 1499553188
- ISBN-13: 9781499553185
Book Description
OverviewThe Gauls sat on hay (or maybe dog skins) to eat; the Romans lay on couches; the Franks preferred benches and stools. For a long time, lighting came from candles and torches. Dishes could be made of metal, marble, glass, porcelain, earthenware, and other materials. Silver and gold were used not only for platters but sometimes even for tables. The eighteenth century writer Le Grand d’Aussy takes a sweeping look at the furniture and furnishings used for meals over hundreds of years in France. In the process, he highlights some key developments in French industry: the introduction of faience, the development of what became the famous porcelain of Sèvres. He ends his account with a glittering inventory of one medieval king’s collection of objects in silver and gold.This new translation makes yet another portion of Le Grand’s monumental work on food history available to English-speakers and provides ample insight for food historians, lovers of fine antiques and students of industry alike.
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Pierre Jean-Baptiste Legrand d’Aussy (1737- 1800) was a Jesuit who became a medieval and cultural historian and may be considered one of the first great food historians. His work on French food, title “”History of the private life of the French from the origin of the nation until our days” remains one of the major sources for French food history. He also did an important study of French 12th and 13th century fables. Le Grand became the curator of French manuscripts at the French national library and labored on a complete history of French poetry, interrupted by his sudden death.
