My copy of Escoffier certainly doesn't have cobwebs on it. Neither does my Larousse. Julia studied at Cordon Bleu. She had a copy of Escoffier, and I'm sure it didn't have cobwebs either.
/john
Hehehehe . . . Just checked my copies. They're cobweb free, too!
My Escoffier and all Julia's books are cobweb free.