Toadstools, Mushrooms, Fingi Edible and Poisonous. One Thousand American Fungi. How to select and cook the edible; how to distinguish and avoid the poisonouss.
signed first edition
Indianapolis
by McIlvaine, Charles.
Indianapolis: The Bowen-Merrill Company Book. (1900.) Thick royal 8vo, original green cloth gilt. Pp. xxxvii, 704. Colored frontispiece and 33 color plates, numerous half-tone plates, and textual illustrations. Spine sl. rubbed, occ. light foxing; a very good copy. First edition, one of 750 copies signed by the author. A classic of popular mycology, the first substantial American work of its kind. McIlvaine personally ssessed the edibility of every one of the mushrooms he includes, and he describes what might be considered rather harrowing near misses with charming offhandedness. The focus of his 20 year study of the field was culinary, and a chapter of "Recipes for Cooking and Preparing for the Table", is provided, immediately following a chapter on "Toadstool Poisoning and Its Treatment" contributed by Dr. W. S. Carter. Scarce. Cagle & Stafford 501.. (Inventory #: 509)