TOKLAS, Alice B. (1877-1967). The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book. New York: Harper & Brothers, [1954].
8vo. Illustrations by Sir Francis Rose. Original green and orange cloth; original unclipped dust jacket (light edgewear); folding cloth chemise; morocco-backed slipcase.
FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, WITH A HOLOGRAPH INSCRIPTION BY TOKLAS OF HER FAMOUS “HASCHISCH FUDGE” RECIPE IN FULL BEING THE FIRST CANNABIS EDIBLE RECIPE TO APPEAR IN THE UNITED STATES. Laid in with a TLS, dated 11 April 1974, from a close friend of both Toklas and Gertrude Stein, author Samuel M. Steward (1909-1993), to Ronald R. Randall (who evidently sold the book to John Howell Books) regarding the provenance of the inscribed recipe:
“When [this work] was first published in the United States in 1954, Harper was reluctant to include the so-called recipe for ‘marijuana brownies’ which had already appeared in the British edition. Noticing this omission, the following Christmas season when I went to Europe, I took along the American edition of the Cookbook and complained rather wistfully to Alice about the omission of the recipe (it was not included in the American edition until some time later). ‘Leave the book with me over night,’ she said, ‘and I will give it to you tomorrow.’ When she did, the next day, I noted with delight (and some consternation at the length of the recipe, which I had forgotten) that she had copied out the entire recipe on the back fly-leaves of the book, in her miniscule handwriting which had not then yet enlarged itself because of her failing eyesight. This is possibly the most famous recipe of the twentieth century, yet curiously enough, it was sent to Alice by Brian Gysen [sic], a friend”.
Its inclusion was a last-minute addition to the book and with a deadline mere months away and space to fill, Toklas decided to ask her social circle to contribute their own recipes including Gysin’s. The recipe appeared in the British version; however, Harper opted to omit it when it was published in the United States as it was deemed “too dangerous” according to a shocked Toklas in an interview on Pacifica Radio in 1963. The recipe was further solidified in popular culture by the 1968 film “I Love You Alice B. Toklas” where Peter Sellers’ character is seduced by a hippie and her hash brownies. The recipe, which Toklas states “anyone could whip up on a rainy day”, is considered to bring about “euphoria and brilliant storms of laughter; ecstatic reveries and extensions of one’s personality on several simultaneous planes are to be complacently expected”. A Horowitz high spot.