To receive our monthly eNews as well as event notices and other updates, just enter your email address.
Take a moment to learn more about NYAM's activities and events.
NEW YORK CITY, May 6???A whimsical exhibit celebrating and showcasing the extraordinary cookery books in the collection of The New York Academy of Medicine Library opened in the Library???s spectacular elegant, chandeliered Main Reading Room last night. Entitled A Feast for the Eyes: A Meal in Books, the exhibit presents an essentially French meal through exquisitely illustrated books on cookery and food dating from the 16th through the 20th centuries. The exhibit is free and open to the public, and was kicked off with a lecture by the noted food historian and top-selling author, Francine Segan.
The display begins with an exhibit case devoted to Preliminaries and featuring a second edition of Bartolomeo Scappi???s Opera???(Venice, 1596), an extremely rare and important cookery book authored by the chef to Pope Pius V. The first edition of Scappi???s Opera??? was printed in 1570 and contains the first illustration of a fork ever to appear in a printed book. The edition to be displayed in the Library is opened to that same woodcut image of the fork, or forcina. The Italians were apparently the first to utilize such an instrument for eating, a fact corroborated by Ben Johnson in his play, The Devil is an Ass.
|
| This 17th century book, depicting cherubs making and scooping ice cream is one of many exquisite cookery books on display at the Academy library exhibit. |
???Desserts were more often illustrated in cookery books than almost any other part of a meal,??? said exhibit curator Miriam Mandelbaum, explaining why two cases are devoted to desserts. ???And, desserts are fun.??? Books describing Vins and Liqueurs (wines and liqueurs), and Caf?? and Th?? (coffee and tea), fill the remaining exhibit cases.
A Feast for the Eyes: A Meal in Books officially opened on May 5 with a free lecture by noted food historian Francine Segan, top-selling author of Shakespeare???s Kitchen, Movie Menus, and The Philosopher???s Kitchen. In her lecture, DaVinci???s Table: Renaissance Feasts, Segan took the audience on a tour of the fascinating information and advice contained in the cookbooks of the Renaissance???everything from table manners, to cures for an earache, to suggested jokes, riddles, and puns to tell between courses.
The lecture began at 6 p.m. in room 440 of the Academy,followed by a reception and viewing of the exhibit in the Library Main Reading Room.
The exhibit will run through Friday, August 5. For more information, contact curator Miriam Mandelbaum at 212.822.7310.
Posted on May 6, 2005
Contact:
Andrew J. Martin
Director of Communications
The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10029
212-822-7285
amartin@nyam.org
Reporters: to arrange interviews with NYAM medical and urban health experts, contact
Andrew J. Martin, Director of Communications
212-822-7285 / amartin@nyam.org
The 2012-2013 Duncan Clark Lecture - The Affordable Care Act: An Insider’s View
Featured Speaker: Sherry Glied, PhD, former Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
November 19, 2012 - The NYAM Section on Health Care Delivery welcomes Sherry Glied, PhD, former Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who will deliver the 2012-2013 Duncan Clark Lecture on "The Affordable Care Act: An Insider's View."
Learn more »
The New York Academy of Medicine with support from the New York State Heath Foundation released a new report, Federal Health Care Reform in New York State: A Population Health Perspective.
This report identifies opportunities that build on both the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act (ACA) and New York’s ongoing efforts toward improving the health of its 19 million residents.
Read press release
Read report
