White House Chef François Rysavy 1957 Eisenhower Cookbook with Dust Jacket

White House Chef is François Rysavy's account of his years running the White House kitchen for President and Mrs. Eisenhower, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1957 and illustrated by Artur Marokvia. The jacket carries the subtitle With Favorite Recipes of the President and Mrs. Eisenhower.

This copy still has its dust jacket, stained and worn along the top edge and spine, and it did its job of protecting the book. The yellow hardcover underneath is in good condition. The top page ends carry spotting, and there is a small handwritten 7 near the top of one inside page.

The recipes run from Martha Washington's meat loaf and string beans almondine to President Eisenhower's ham steak in milk, with the printed menus for a stag dinner and a special luncheon held in March 1955. It suits a shelf of presidential history as well as a working kitchen collection.

Details

• Item: Cookbook
• Title: White House Chef
• Author: François Rysavy, as told to Frances Spatz Leighton
• Illustrator: Artur Marokvia
• Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York
• Publication Year: 1957
• Format and Binding: Hardcover with dust jacket
• Dust Jacket: Yes, present
• Genre: Cookbook, presidential history
• Language: English
• ISBN: None printed, Library of Congress catalog card 57-14521
• Dimensions: 8 in. by 6 in. by 1 in.

Condition Grade: Good

Positives

• Graded Good: a complete, readable copy, sound and square, with clean interior pages and its original jacket still along for the ride.
• The yellow hardcover boards under the jacket are clean and square, with only a few faint specks on the front.
• The dust jacket is still with the book, with the front panel, spine, inside flap and back panel all intact.
• The spine still reads Rysavy at the top and Putnam at the bottom.
• The copyright page prints the 1957 copyright line, Made in the United States of America and Van Rees Press, New York.
• The title page credits Artur Marokvia as illustrator and G. P. Putnam's Sons as publisher.
• The back panel carries the original About the Book blurb.
• Pages are flat, clean and easy to read, with no writing in the text.
• The recipe pages read cleanly throughout, from the Chicken Tarragon and Petits Fours pages to the printed stag dinner and luncheon menus of 1955.

Issues / Wear

• The dust jacket is stained and worn, with dark staining across the top edge and brown marks on the spine and covers.
• The jacket has small tears and chips along the top edge, and a tear with paper loss at the bottom right corner.
• The jacket corners are bumped and the bottom edge is curled and lightly soiled.
• Small foxing spots are scattered across the jacket surface.
• The top page ends carry spotting and foxing along the full edge.
• There is a small handwritten 7 near the top of one inside page.
• A liquid stain runs along the top edge of the title page and the blank facing it.
• Page edges are tanned and yellowed with age.

A 1957 Putnam cookbook of the Eisenhower White House table, useful both as a piece of presidential history and as a working kitchen book. If it's the right copy for you, it's ready to come home.