Gassicourt, Charles-Louis Cadet De (sold)
Charles-Louis Cadet De Gassicourt (January 23, 1769 - November 21, 1821) was the illegitimate son of Louis XV and Marie-Thérèse Boisselet, wife of Louis-Claude Cadet. Known as 'Cadet,' he was a prolific author, lawyer, chemist, and pharmacist. He was also a gourmand, whose efforts to apply science to gastronomy resulted in several books - notably his 1809 Cours Gastronomique and his 1806 Dissertation on Coffee.
Cadet was trained in the law and would practice, but in his youth he had been introduced to the many scientists who visited Louis-Claude and he would become fascinated with the new discipline of modern chemistry - to the extent of quitting law to become a pharmacist. Both on the strength of his family connections and his own abilities, he gained such prominence as to become a founder of the Bulletin de pharmacie. He would be appointed pharmacist to Napoleon himself. He authored many works to popularize the New Chemistry - notably his four-volume 1803 Dictionnaire de chimie, but also wrote on other political and scientific subjects - not least on issues of health, hygiene and food.
Cadet was trained in the law and would practice, but in his youth he had been introduced to the many scientists who visited Louis-Claude and he would become fascinated with the new discipline of modern chemistry - to the extent of quitting law to become a pharmacist. Both on the strength of his family connections and his own abilities, he gained such prominence as to become a founder of the Bulletin de pharmacie. He would be appointed pharmacist to Napoleon himself. He authored many works to popularize the New Chemistry - notably his four-volume 1803 Dictionnaire de chimie, but also wrote on other political and scientific subjects - not least on issues of health, hygiene and food.
First Cartographic Celebration of Gustatory France.
Carte Gastronomique de la France.
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This 1809 map of France, beautifully drawn and engraved by Jean François Tourcaty for author Charles Louis Cadet de Gassicourt, is the earliest instance of a carte gastronomique - a map devised not to show its subject country's cities or topography, but to show the foods characteristic to it. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the topic, the map is of France. It presents an open outline map of the country, with simply hachured coastlines. Rivers are shown in order to contextualize the regions and the chief cities but the bulk of the detail shown in the map are attractive pictorial vignettes each region's main produce. These range from the salt pans of the western coasts, fisheries, cattle, fowl (both before and after plucking), wheels of cheeses, and beehives. But overwhelmingly, wine and spirits dominate the map in a multiplicity of vineyards, stills, barrels and bottles. At a glance, one can characterize any one of the regions on the map by what one might find there to eat, in broad variety. (more details)