PARMENTIER (Antoine): Avis aux bonnes ménagères des villes et des campagne sur la meilleure manière de faire leur pain, by M. Parmentier. Paris, imprimerie Royale, 1777. One volume. 13,5 by 21,5 cm. 106-(2) pages. Paperback, in contemporary dust jacket, untrimmed. Covers dusty, but condition as issued at the time. First edition of this text, which is an abridged version of a work published a year later, Le Parfait boulanger, ou Traité complet sur la fabrication et le commerce du pain (1778). Parmentier gave it away because the publication of Le Parfait Boulanger was dragging on. Covering topics such as the choice of wheat, its preservation, flour, water in bread, leavening, yeast and salt, the kneading trough, the oven and kneading the dough, this little work is a mine of knowledge about the French food par excellence. Parmentier's interest in bread is older and less well known than his concern to develop potato cultivation. "Antoine Parmentier (1737-1813), French pharmacist, apothecary, herbalist, agronomist and enlightened scientist, is famous for having popularised the potato by taking part in (and winning in 1773) a competition organised by the Academy of Besançon, the aim of which was to find a substitute for ordinary foods in the event of famine and famine. A rare text in its original edition...