Limoncello and Linen Water
Italian Cooking Regional Cuisine Travel Writing Culinary Memoir Food Photography Young Adult Nonfiction Reference Cookbook Gift & Coffee-Table Cookbook
Tessa Kiros’ 2012 first-edition hardback, Limoncello and Linen Water, is the cookbook that turns an armchair trip to Italy into supper on the table. Across 336 illustrated pages Kiros weaves more than 100 recipes—think silky panna-blood-orange tarts, rosemary-scented roast chicken, or her trademark lemon liqueur—with sun-drenched photographs and intimate family stories that explain why every Italian nona keeps a jar of vanilla sugar in the linen cupboard. The result is a kitchen reference that doubles as a travel memento: you learn the exact grind for espresso, the ratio for limoncello, and the trick of ironing sheets with lavender water so the whole house smells like Amalfi.
What makes this copy special is its first-edition status, still protected by its original dust jacket and in very-good, smoke-free condition. Murdoch Books packaged it as a hefty, gift-worthy hardcover that lies flat when you’re rolling out sfoglia, while colour plates show you how a proper tiramisu should look when it’s ready for the table. Young adults setting up their first pantry and seasoned cooks hunting for authentic regional details both keep this title on permanent display; it’s as much a design piece as a working manual.
Collectors value the 2011-2012 print run because later reprints trimmed page count and substituted matte paper, so the first edition’s saturated food photography and deckled chapter openers haven’t been reproduced since. Online recipe blogs routinely cite Kiros’ citrus-salting method and her potato-gnocchi ratios, pushing demand for pristine early copies that can handle actual kitchen use without falling apart. If you want a single volume that delivers week-night doable meals, celebratory feasts, and the nostalgic story of how food and linen closets both preserve Italian family life, this well-preserved copy is ready to ship straight to your kitchen counter.
Refer to our eBay listing for a full condition report and many more high-quality pictures of this item.
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