Most people who are obsessed with all things culinary have a friend whose cookbook collection they covet. I know I greedily eye bookshelves in my fellow gourmand's houses and in restaurants. After all, who wouldn't want to get their mitts on an original copy of Larousse Gastronomique. Surely Fritz Blank, the 64-year old chef of Philadelphia's Deux Cheminees, is one of the most prolific collectors of cookbooks, periodicals and other culinaria. Blank has amassed a collection that spans some 15,000 volumes, including hundreds of issues of Gourmet magazine from 1943 to 1990.Now as Chef Blank prepares to retire, the University of Pennsylvania is getting ready to acquire some 10,000 items from his trove, including cookbooks from 1678 and 1747. Currently his entire collection is housed in the restaurant, which serves upscale French cuisine. One of Deux Cheminees five dining rooms houses the chef's library lined with shelves of French and Italian cookbooks. The stacks are located across the hall and include such diverse volumes as An Illustrated Guide to Shrimp of the World, The All-American Cookie and Cattle Fever Ticks and Methods of Eradication.
And I thought I was well-rounded because I have a copy of The Mafia Cookbook and a 1950 edition of Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook.
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