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• by:
• Child, Julia; Bertholle, Louisette; and Beck, Simone

For excerpts, recipes, illustrations, and more about this boxed set click here.

The classic--Volumes One and Two--two hardcovers in a hardcover slip case.

About Vol 1: Immediately hailed as a masterpiece when it was published in 1961, Mastering the Art of French Cooking was the first book to translate the subtleties of French cooking reliably and clearly for an American audience. It was also the first true teaching cookbook, leading its readers step-by-step through the preparation of each dish. It remains as essential today as it was then--a great teaching cookbook and the preeminent French cookbook for the American kitchen.

About Vol 2: Here is the sequel to the great cooking classic. Each of the new recipes is worked out step-by-step, with the clarity and precision that are the essence of the first volume. 5 times as many drawings as in Vol. I make the clear instructions even more so.

Julia Child, a native of California and a Smith College graduate; Simone Beck, French-born and -educated; and Louisette Bertholle, half French and half American, educated in both countries, represented an even blending of the two backgrounds and were singularly equipped to write about French cooking for Americans. Mrs. Child studied at Paris’s famous Cordon Bleu, and all three authors worked under various distinguished French chefs. In 1951 they started their own cooking school in Paris, L’Ecole des Trois Gourmandes, at the same time that this book was taking shape. After that, Madame Beck published two cookbooks, Simca’s Cuisine in 1972 and New Menus from Simca’s Cuisine in 1979, and she continued to teach cooking in France. Madame Bertholle also had several cookery books published.