Il caseificio o la fabbricazione dei formaggi

8vo. 240 x 160 mm., [9 ½ x 6 ½ inches].4 leaves, 286 pages, 2 plates outside the text (one folding); original printed wrappers (minor signs of wear to the front wrapper). Ducal Estense censorship stamps on the first and last leaves. A fine, wide-margined copy, untrimmed with deckled edges.

$ 1,800.00

First edition. A "theoretical-practical memoir" on the method of cheese-making, "awarded in the scientific competition of 1836" organized by the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. The text, which became a standard reference on the subject, treats the topic comprehensively: from the selection and care of fields and cows, to the handling of milk itself, to the production of cheese and its distribution. The large folding plate, produced by the Pagani lithographic workshop in Milan, depicts the proper arrangement of the stable and the tools necessary for production.

Luigi Cattaneo and his brother Antonio were agricultural economists who specialized in the study of milk and the production of cheese. Luigi was an author of a scientific work in 1834 on the operations of the dairy farm, with descriptions of the chemistry which produced different cheeses of varying quality and taste. He was member of the Royal Institute of Science, Literature and Art for the provinces of Lombardy and the Veneto and wrote essays for the Milanese publication Politecnico. Antonio was a professor of rural economy and member of numerous local agricultural associations and the author of a 480-page book on the properties of milk and milk production.

Rare: OCLC list three copies, none in the United States. NUC lists copies at Boston Public Library and the University of Illinois. ICCI (Italian Union Catalogue) lists 13 copies in Italy.

Vittorio Niccoli. Saggio Storico e Bibliografico dell'Agricultura Italiana, p.566. Maria Paleria Henssler. Bibliografia Latino-Italiana di Gastronomia, I, p. 172. Lord Westbury. Handlist of Italian Cookery Books, p. 43-44. (1430)