# Is "The Physiology of Taste (Physiologie du goût)" by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Physiology of Taste (Physiologie du goût) by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (A. Sautelet et Cie, Paris, 1826) is identified by: The true first is the Paris, A. The French original is the true first; there is no earlier English.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first is the Paris, A. Sautelet et Cie edition in 2 volumes octavo, published anonymously in an edition of about 500 copies printed at the author's own expense; the title-pages are dated 1826 but the book actually appeared in December 1825, weeks before Brillat-Savarin's death
- Both title-pages carry a woodcut device, with the printer David's name on the verso, and the earliest issue shows the letter 'E' in the word 'Bourse' set horizontally within the publisher's address on the volume I title-page
- Volume I collates half-title plus xiv preliminaries and pages 5–390; volume II runs to 442 pages
- Publisher imprint reads A. Sautelet et Cie, Paris
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin |
| Publisher | A. Sautelet et Cie, Paris |
| Year | 1826 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first is the Paris, A. Sautelet et Cie edition in 2 volumes octavo, published anonymously in an edition of about 500 copies… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The true first is the Paris, A. Sautelet et Cie edition in 2 volumes octavo, published anonymously in an edition of about 500 copies printed at the author's own expense; the title-pages are dated 1826 but the book actually appeared in December 1825, weeks before Brillat-Savarin's death. Both title-pages carry a woodcut device, with the printer David's name on the verso, and the earliest issue shows the letter 'E' in the word 'Bourse' set horizontally within the publisher's address on the volume I title-page. Volume I collates half-title plus xiv preliminaries and pages 5–390; volume II runs to 442 pages.

## Is this the true first?
The French original is the true first; there is no earlier English. The celebrated English rendering is M. F. K. Fisher's translation, first issued by the Limited Editions Club, New York, in 1949 and afterward by the Heritage Press — a 'first thus,' not the true first; earlier Victorian English abridgements exist but are neither the original text nor the standard collected translation.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Nineteenth- and twentieth-century French reprints (Charpentier and others) and the many illustrated Fisher / Limited Editions Club / Heritage Press printings are all later; a title-page reading 1826 alone does not confirm the Sautelet first without the Sautelet imprint and the horizontal 'Bourse' title-page point.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Physiology of Taste (Physiologie du goût)* by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-physiology-of-taste-physiologie-du-go-t
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.