France

France is the category against which the rest of the cookbook world measures itself, and the largest section in the range by number of reference works.

In Le Guide Culinaire from 1903, Auguste Escoffier codified more than 5,000 recipes, the mother sauces and the brigade system, the division of labour in restaurant kitchens that is still used everywhere today. No single book has had a greater practical influence on the way professional food is cooked.

In 1961, Julia Child did the opposite in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, translating French cuisine into something a home cook could execute, with 524 recipes and a teaching method that still holds up today.

Richard Olney's Simple French Food from 1974 represents the third tradition, regional home cooking where a pot, wine and patience will take you further than technique.

Joël Robuchon, named chef of the century by Gault Millau, collected more than 800 recipes in his comprehensive work, while Jacques Pépin's La Technique shows the movements picture by picture rather than describing them.

The section also covers sauces, charcuterie, patisserie and French country cooking in its entirety.