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Middleton. John - With a distinquished provenance
Five Hundred New Receipts
IN COOKERY, CONFECTIONARY, PASTRY, PRESERVING, CONSERVING, PICKLING; AND THE Several Branches of these ARTS necessary to be known by all good HOUSEWIVES. By JOHN MIDDLETON, Cook to his Grace the late Duke of Bolton. Revised and Recommended by Mr. HENRY HOWARD. LONDON: Printed for THO. ASTLEY, at the Rose against the North Door of St. Paul's. M DCC XXXIV.
FIRST & SOLE EDITION OF 1734. 8vo. Title Page. (i-iv) (1-249) 8pp 'Index' 1p 'Advertisement' Fully bound in contemporary light brown calf (sometime re-laid) with gilt lined borders. Spine with raised bands and faded gilt lines and a green label wit gilt lettering. Internally very clean - almost as new. The paper is unusually thick. With three bookplates, one of which is Claudia Q. Murphy's. A very scarce item.
- There appears to be two types of first issues. This one which is the large and thick papered version. A thinner paper issue also exists. The title page is featured in MacLean's 'Catalogue of Household and Cookery Books 1701-1800' She states that it is her favourite eighteenth century cookery book title page, among all others. It is very distinctly laid out with the printer 'Thomas Astley's' emblem of a Rose featured predominately. (The rose could also be mistaken for an artichoke!) The whole is surrounded by a two line border. This copy was sold, April 19th. 1926, at the auction rooms of Anderson Galleries, New York City, from Claudia Q. Murphy's cookery book collection. It went for $2.50. The sale also featured many other rare items for around the same prices. How one wishes 'time travel' was possible.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10949

Moffet (Muffett). Thomas - Very good condition.
Healths Improvement;
OR, Rules Comprizing and discovering The Nature, Method, and Manner of Preparing all sorts of FOOD Used in this NATION. (A single flat line) Wriiten by that ever Famous THOMAS MUFFETT, Doctor in PHYSICK: (A single flat line) Corrected and Enlarged BY CHRISTOFER BENNET, Doctor in Physick, and Fellow of the College of Physicians in London. (A single flat line) LONDON, Printed by Tho: Newcomb for Samuel Thomson, at the sign of the white Horse in Pauls Churchyard, 1655.
FIRST EDITION. Small 4to. 190 x 146 mm. 1fep. Title page. [2] Imprimatur page. (1)2-8 The Table. 2pages To the Reader. 1-296. 1 fep. Full dark brown sheep. Blind tooling to covers and spine. Gilt lettering and red leather label with gilt lines. A very light small water stain on upper corner of the title page and next four pages, not affecting text, otherwise, almost as new. Some occasional marginalia in a neat hand. Many bibliographical sources printed in margins. An exceptionally nice clean copy of a very scarce book.
- There exists a varied number of ways that Muffett (as spelled in this edition) is written. Cagle shows at least six ways. He also states Moffett is preferred by NUC, Mouffet by BMC, and Muffett by BNC. For the sake of filing them together on this site, I have used the later 'Moffet'. In an interesting historical thesis featuring Thomas Muffett, written and posted online by Christopher A. DeAngelo of Haverford College, PA, USA, who starts his dissertation with the famous poem:- “Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet / Eating her curds and whey / Along came a big spider / And sat down beside her / And frightened Miss Muffet away!”. Mr DeAngelo further states; "Thomas Muffet, the 16th century English natural philosopher, is best known today for the above nursery rhyme. He apparently wrote it about his daughter. Some people have even suggested that the poem refers to Muffet’s experiments on his daughter with spiders, which led to her being deathly afraid of them for the rest of her life. Despite the wide acceptance of these claims, there is no historical evidence to support any of them. Whether or not Muffett had anything to do with the actual writing of the poem, it is undeniably linked to him. The poem includes two concrete allusions to Muffett’s work. The spider is a direct reference to Muffett’s ‘Theatrum Insectorum’, in which the largest section deals with the classification of spiders. The curds and whey come straight out of ‘Healths Improvement’, where Muffett named curds and whey (both milk products) as essential to a good diet". Thomas Moffett was born in 1553 and died in 1604, so it must be assumed that the Christofer Bennet mentioned in the title page of ‘Healths Improvement’ who corrected and enlarged the book, was the first one to edit Muffett’s manuscript notes. One must then wonder how much he added and what exactly is Muffett’s original work. Whatever the truth, this is a very interesting work. It is also the first work to list British wild fowl and to comment on their migrations.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11232

Mollard. John - The rare first edition with very rare menu.
The Art of Cookery
MADE EASY AND REFINED; COMPRISING AMPLE DIRECTIONS FOR PREPARING EVERY ARTICLE REQUISITE FOR FURNISHING THE TABLES OF THE NOBLEMAN, GENTLEMAN, AND TRADESMAN. BY JOHN MOLLARD, Cook; One of the Proprietors of Freemasons’ Tavern, Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields. LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, AND SOLD BY J, NUNN, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS. 1801. T. Beasley, Printer, Bolt Court, Fleet Street.
FIRST EDITION. Large octavo. 1fep. Half-Title. [1] Title page. [1] 1p Engraved Dedication leaf to the Original Proprietor of The London Tavern, very slightly browned. [1] (1)vi-viii Preface. (1)x-xxiv Contents. 12 Plates of Monthly Table Settings with each verso blank. (1)2-314. 21p Index. 1fep. The whole text block with wide margins. Modern dark brown full calf with with elaborate gilt tooled edges to the boards and the inner edges of the paste-downs. The spine with raised bands with elaborate gilt tooling and gilt devices in the compartments. With a black leather label and gilt letters. ALSO enclosed: A Freemason's Tavern Menu enclosed: Dated January 18th 1890. Mr E. Stanford’s Dinner. Consisting of six courses and seventeen dishes. Written in English. Printed on cream coloured card with gilt edges and fine decorative text. A very clean handsome copy of the very rare first edition, with the equally rare enclosed menu.
- Before John Mollard owned the Freemason's Tavern he had been Head Cook at the London Tavern. In this book the beautifully scripted and engraved page is dedicated to the London Tavern Proprietor - Laurence Laforest, therein Mollard proclaims Laforest as a man of high reputation in the same Profession. In the Old Bailey records for May 14th 1777 at the trial of a George Hawkins who had stolen an engraved silver bowl and spoon from the London Tavern, we learn that Laforest was the owner of the Tavern with three other partners, Thomas Simkins, John Bladen and Henry Caridge. The unfortunate George Hawkins was found guilty, branded with a hot iron and received 8 lashes of the whip. In the same records we learn that two ladies were sentenced to be carried and whipped for 100 yards along Bishopsgate Street past the London Tavern. The contrast between the fine dining establishment of high standards and repute and the raw life-scenes outside are startling in the extreme. Lieut-Col. Newnham-Davis in his book 'Victorian London' 1899, writes extensively of the Freemasons' Tavern, and it is worth repeating parts here to give a glimpse of Mollard's past workplace and jointly owned establishment. -- The Tavern is not what the name implies. It was a restaurant, with a large public dining-room, with a fine ballroom, and with many private dining-rooms. Its outside was imposing (see picture 1 below). Two houses stand side by side. Built of red brick, with windows set in white stone and Elizabethan in appearance. At the entrance to the Tavern stand two great janitors. Facing the doorway, at the end of a wide hall, is a long flight of stairs broken by a broad landing and decorated with statues. Up and down this ladies and gentlemen are passing, and I ask one of the janitors what is going on in the ballroom. "German Liederkranz. Private entertainment. What dinner, sir? Victory Chapter. Drawing-room,” is the condensed information given by the big man, and he points a white-gloved hand to a passage branching off to the right. On one side of the passage is a door leading into a bar where three ladies in black are kept very busy in attending to the wants of thirsty Freemasons. On the other side is a wide shallow alcove in the wall fitted with shelves and glazed over, and in this is a curious collection of plate, great salvers, candelabra, and centre-pieces. Beside the alcove is a glass door, and outside it is hung a placard with “Gavel Club. Private” upon it. At the end of the passage a little Staircase leads up to higher regions, and on the wall is an old-fashioned clock with a round face and very plain figures, and some oil paintings dark with age. On the first landing there is a placard outside a door with “Victory Chapter” on it, and higher up outside another door another placard with “Perfection Chapter” on it. From the stream of guests and waiters which is setting up the stairs it is evident that there are many banquets to be held to-night. The drawing-room is white-and-gold in colour. Four Corinthian pillars, the lower halves of which are painted old-gold colour, with gold outlining the curves of their capitals, support a highly-ornamented ceiling, the central panel of which is painted to represent clouds, with some little birds flitting before them. The paper is old-gold in colour with large flowers upon it. There is some handsome furniture in the room— a fine cabinet, a clock of elaborate workmanship, and some good china vases. The curtains to the windows are of red velvet. At the end of the room farthest from the door is a horseshoe table with red and white shaded candles on it, ferns, chrysanthemums, and heather in china pots, pines, and hothouse fruits, and at close intervals bottles of champagne and Apollinaris. At the other end of the room, where stands a piano, with a screen in front of it, the gentlemen in evening clothes are chatting, having put their coats and hats on chairs and piano wherever room can be found. The waiters, in black with white gloves, are putting the last touches to the decorations. I have eaten some good dinners at the Freemasons’ Tavern, and others not so good. Tonight the cook is not up to his best form, and has not responded to the inspiration of the meuu --- Crevettes - Tortue clair - Filets de sole Meunière - Vol-au-vent aux huîtres natives - Faisan Souvaroff - Selle de mouton - Céleri braise Bordelaise - Layer. Pommes Parisienne - Poularde rôtie - Lard grillé - Salade - Bombe glacée Duchesse - Os à la moëlle - Dessert - Café. The turtle soup is not like that of the excellent Messrs. Ring and Brymer, or that of Mr. Painter; the faisan Souvaroff is dry, and the cook’s nerve has failed him when the truffles had to be added; but, on the other hand, the sole Meunière and the vol-au-vent are admirable, and the marrow-bones are large and scalding-hot. After dinner, one by one the guests who have appointments elsewhere, or who are going to the theatre, say good-night and go off; but a remnant still remain, and these make an adjournment to a cosy little clubroom on the top story of Freemasons’ Hall, where good stories are told, and soda-water-bottle corks pop until long after midnight. There is a small Masonic dining-club, called the Sphinx Club, which dines at the Freemasons’ Tavern, and which I mention because the dinner I last ate in company with my brother Sphinxes was one of the best efforts of the chef and of the manager Mons. Blanchette — which means that it was very good indeed. The club was founded as an antidote to the large amount of soft soap that Freemasons habitually plaster each other with in after-dinner speeches. No Sphinx is allowed to say anything good of any brother Sphinx, and when a candidate is put up for the club his proposer says all the ill he knows or can invent about his past life. A candidate can only become a member of the club by being unanimously blackballed. It is needless to say that the best of temper and good fellowship is the rule amongst the Sphinxes, and the Freemasons’ Tavern seems to always have a very good dinner for them. This was the menu of their last banquet --- Huîtres - Tortue clair - Rouget à la Grenobloise - Caille à la Souvaroff - Agneau rôti - Sauce menthe - Choux de mer - Pommes noisettes - Bécasse sur canapé - Pommes paille - Salade de laitues - Os à la moëlle - Petit soufflé glacé rosette - Fondu au fromage - Dessert - Café. THE MENU enclosed with this book: Dated January 18th 1890. Mr E. Stanford’s Dinner at the Freemason's Tavern; Consisting of six courses and seventeen dishes. Written in English, the menu offers relatively plain sounding fare compared to the more elegant dinner of the above Sphinx Club, that is presented in French, by Lieut-Col. Newnham-Davis, nine years later, in his book of 'Victorian London' dated 1899. The bibliographies have their usual variance. Oxford & Vicaire have each a first of 1801 and Oxford a 3rd of 1807 and a new edition, 1836. Bitiing has a 2nd of 1802. Cagle also has a 2nd and a 4th of 1808.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11121

Montagné. Prosper A handsome copy in the original state.
Larousse Gastronomique
Paris, France, Librairie Larousse, 1938
FIRST EDITON. 4to. Patterned paste-downs and endpapers. Preface by A. Escoffier and Ph. Gilbert. 1850 engravings and 16 full page plates in colour. French text. Black and white photos & illustrations throughout. Contents very clean and bright with very little sign of use. Original embossed and decorated cloth boards and spine. Gilt lettering is bright and clean. A wonderful copy.
- Alongside Georges-Auguste Escoffier's ‘Le Guide Culinaire’ and Louis Saulnier's ‘Le Répertoire de la Cuisine’, the Larousse Gastronomique became one of the key reference works on French national and regional cuisine for the professional chef. It is a reference text that codifies a history of the French culinary arts from the distant past to the present day in encyclopedic form. Entries cover such items as culinary terminology, foods, kitchen equipment, techniques, national cuisines, regional French cuisines, and historically significant chefs and restaurants. Philéas Gilbert was a collaborator in the creation of this book and also 'Le Guide Culinaire' with Escoffier, leading to some cross-over with the two books and causing Escoffier to note when he was asked to write the preface that he could “see with my own eyes, and Montagné (a Chef himself) cannot hide from me the fact that he has used 'Le Guide' as a basis for his new book, and certainly used numerous recipes.” Montagné's work signaled a break with the preceding era of French cookery (albeit with a big helping from his collaboration with the true Master; Escoffier) as exemplified by the architectural creations of Marie Antoine Carême. Montagné emphasized dishes that were simple by Carême's standards, and the shortened menus were delivered in the Russian style of service; meals served in courses on individual plates. This philosophy inspired the name of his culinary encyclopedia. Montagné covered the range from the relatively new haute cuisine to French provincial and home cooking with some attention to classic dishes of other nations Three editions of the Larousse gastronomique have been published in English. The first edition was published in 1961. Jennifer Harvey Lang edited the second English edition, published in 1988, from the 1984 French edition compiled and directed by Robert J. Courtine. Courtine's introduction describes the first edition as a monumental work, albeit one in need of some refurbishment. The new editions take into account technical innovations, advancements in food science, and a new culture of dining characterized by simpler meals and a dietary palette expanded through travel and global commerce. Yet the core achievements of Montagné including his recipes and technical advice on classical and regional French dishes are preserved. For the third English edition, published in 2001, Jennifer Harvey Lang worked from a new French edition edited by Joël Robuchon, the president of the Gastronomy committee of the Librairie Larousse. This edition claims to have retained the classic dishes and techniques of the original edition with a new found sensitivity to global influences in technique, presentation, ingredients, and recipes. It is 1,350 pages, over 150 pages longer than the preceding English edition and it includes two hundred new recipes and four hundred new entries. The Larousse Gastronomique no longer sits alone —- if it ever did. It does not provide the detail of the more narrow but specialized cookbooks. Nevertheless, it covers an immense breadth of culinary material, justifying its continued importance as a great volume of reference of French gastronomic tradition.

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Modern category

ref number: 11020

Moxon. Elizabeth - With an intriguing bookplate
English Housewifery
EXEMPLIFIED In above Four Hundred AND Fifty RECEIPTS, Giving Directions in most Parts of COOKERY; And how to prepare various SORTS of SOOPS, MADE-DISHES, PASTES, PICKLES, CAKES, CREAMS, JELLIES, MADE-WINES, etc. With CUTS for the orderly placing the Dishes and Courses; also Bills of Fare for every Month in the year; and an alphabetical INDEX to the Whole. A book necessary for Mistresses of Families, higher and lower Women Servants, and confined to Things Useful, Substantial, and Splendid, and calculated for the Preservation of Health, and upon the Measures of Frugality, being the result of Thirty Years Practice and Experience. By ELIZABETH MOXON. With an APPENDIX. Containing upwards of Seventy Receipts, of the most valuable Kind, (many never before printed) communicated to the Pub-lisher by several Gentlewoman in the Neighbourhood, distin-guished by their extraordinary Skill in Housewifery. To this Edition is now added, an INTRODUCTION, giving an Account of the Times when River Fish are in Season; and a Table, shewing at one View the proper Seasons for Sea Fish. The ELEVENTH EDITION, Corrected. LEEDS: Printed by GRIFFITH WRIGHT, For GEORGE COPPERWAITE, Bookseller in Leeds; and sold by Mr. E. Johnson, Bookseller in Ave-Mary-Lane, London; and by most Booksellers in Great Britian. 1775. ---- [with a SUPPLEMENT TO MOXON's COOKERY CONTAINING Upwards of Sixty Modern and Valuable RECEIPTS ----- The FOURTH EDITION. M,DCC,LXXV.]
12mo. Title page. iii-iv Preface. v-viii Introduction. ix-x Folding table of fish in season. 5-203. The Supplement. 2-33. 7pp. Bills of Fare. 8pp. Table settings. [2 folding] 8pp. Index. 2feps. The Title page lightly age browned. Text very lightly age browned. Table settings quite browned in places. Full contemporary dark brown calf. Relaid spine with raised bands and black label with gilt lettering. The boards have also been relaid but have a nice old patina. Overall an pleasing copy of a very scarce old book.
- This copy has an interesting bookplate, showing a coat-of-arms and the name W. Moxon. It has obviously been tipped in to the paste-down since the original binding. View a jpeg of the bookplate below, and I would appreciate anyone throwing some light on this intrigue.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10971

Mrs Nourse. An early Edinburgh cookery school. Rare.
MODERN PRACTICAL COOKERY,
PASTRY, CONFECTIONARY, PICKLING AND PRESERVING. (two small double lines) By MRS NOURSE, TEACHER OF THESE ARTS, EDINBURGH. (two small double lines) ILLUSTRATED WITH COPPERPLATES. FOURTH EDITION IMPROVED AND ENLARGED. (two small double lines) EDINBURGH printed by Michael Anderson. SOLD BY THE AUTHOR, 6, GEORGE STREET; MACREDIE SKELLY & CO; 34, PRINCESS STREET; BRASH & CO. GLASGOW; GEORGE COWIE & CO. LONDON; J. CUMMING, DUBLIN; AND ALL OTHER BOOKSELLERS. (one small line) 1821
Small octavo. 179 x 108 x 14mm. 2feps. [1] Frontis of trussing. Title page. [1] (1)iv Preface to the 2nd edition. (1)Advertisement to the 3rd Edition. (1)Advertisement to the 4th edition. (1)viii - xxiv Contents. (1)2 - 335. 3 plates of An Elegant Dinner with approx a sixth missing. 2feps. Internally a little smudged and age dusted. With a quarter brown calf and marbled boards and brown calf tips. The spine with raised bands, gilt tooling and lettering.
- In a fine article online by Eleanor Harris of the Episcopal Congregation of Charlotte Chapel website, she has written a quite detailed article about Mrs Nourse. She was born Elizabeth Burn to Walter Burn, a gardener in Hawick and Janet Ker. Her birth date not found. She married her husband John Nourse on November 18th, 1793 at Hawick. They had four children in quick succession from 1794,95,96 and 1797. Mrs Nourse practised her trade as a pastry-cook and confectioner in partnership with her husband until his death circa 1805. She then became proprietor of a New Town, Edinburgh pastry school. Due to encouragement from Pupils, Customers and friends, and to finance the publication she cannily opened a subscription book at her shop on 38 Princess St, to which a large number subscribed, and in 1809 she self-published the 1st edition of Modern Practical Cookery. In Eleanor Harris's article an unusual snippet records that in 1811 she was living in George St, in a house with 15 windows and a rent of £70 and received allowances for her children. Modern Practical Cookery was popular and reached its 3rd edition on 1813, with this improved and enlarged 4th edition of 1821. Another addition appeared in 1832. It also achieved wide commercial publication and distribution by William Blackwoods, and widely advertised and sold at Cadell's in the Strand, London. A Belfast edition also appeared around this time. It is not clear when she passed away but in1845 an edition was published by Armour and Ramsey of Montreal, Canada. This assured Mrs Norse posthumous fame, her curried chicken and rice soup appearing at heritage events at the Campbell House Museum, Toronto and the Culinary-Tourism Symposium. In writing this condensed version of Eleanor Harris's article I'm struck by Mrs Nourse's industriousness. She is of the same mould as other women cooks who also became cookery book writers like Hannah Glasse, Mary Kettilby, Eliza Smith, Mary Eales, Agnes Marshall, Elizabeth Moxon, Elizabeth Raffald et al, who extended themselves, because of sheer necessity, from the hot demanding kitchens to publishing. Full lives indeed, to our benefit. Oxford also had a 4th Ed. dated 1820. He states that Blackwoods published an edition in 1838, but could not trace any earlier editions. I have not seen any copies at auction going back to 1926. One must assume rarity.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11260

Murray. Ross - rare recipes for Swan.
THE MODERN HOUSEHOLDER:
A MANUAL OF DOMESTIC ECONOMY IN ALL ITS BRANCHES. COMPILED AND EDITED BY A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS. With original Illustrations Printed in Colours by Tronheim. AND NUMEROUS WOODCUTS. (A round printer’s device for Warne and Co.) LONDON: FREDERICK WARNE AND CO. BEDFORD STREET, COVENT GARDEN. NEW YORK: SCRIBNER, WELFORD, AND ARMSTRONG.
FIRST AND SOLE EDITION - 1st ISSUE. Thick 8vo. 194 x 135 mm. 1fep. [1] Frontispiece of Potatoes. 1 tissue-guard. Title page. [1] (1)vi Preface. (1)viii Contents. (1)x List of Coloured Plates. (1)x List of Woodcuts. (1)2-689. (1)691-722 Index. 2p Advertisements. 1fep. 19 Coloured plates. Many In-text woodcut Illustrations. Very clean internally. Modern ¼ leather binding with marbled boards. Flat spine with gilt lines and text. In very good condition.
- Interestingly, there are 2 exact same copies of this book except for the frontispieces. They are different in both copies. One has as a frontis of the colour plate that faces page 54, featuring various flower ornamentations. This copy has the frontispiece, illustrating the various types of potatoes. This was published first, and one suspects, that because the publishers did not issue a large print run, and due to higher demand, they inserted the other forntis for the second issue. The book format is similar to Beeton’s great household management book, especially with the fine colour plates and in-text b/w woodcut illustrations. In many ways it also as interesting as Beeton’s but quite different in content. An example is Ross Murray’s recipes on pages 338/9 for roasting and making gravy from Swan. As can be seen online, there are many articles on the cooking of Swans, with some of the information edited and reproduced here: Due to the law since the 12th century, all swans at liberty on open waters belong to the Crown by prerogative right, and are the property of the Crown. Mute swans (the common Eurasian swan we see in UK, having the familiar white plumage and an orange-red bill with a black knob at the base) also have statutory protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. By 1378 the office of 'Keeper of the King's Swans' was in existence and a document exists, entitled, "The Lawes, Orders and Customs for Swans", dating to 1482/3. From a gastronomic viewpoint, mature swans have little subcutaneous fat and their flesh is exceedingly dry, making them a tough and entirely unsuitable subject for barbecuing. This is what Ross Murray writes; “The cygnets when all hatched are of a slate-grey, which grows lighter as they grow older. The cygnets of the wild swan are white. But it is of the grey cygnets we have to speak. They are hatched in June. If they are intended for the kitchen, they are put into a separate swan pond at the end of August or the first week in September. After they have been "hopped or upped", as it is called, from their native place, grass is thrown to them twice a day with their other food for a fortnight. They are fattened on barley: a coomb (4 bushels) for each cygnet suffices for the fattening. Cygnets can only be fattened before the white feathers appear; after that no further feeding will do any good. As soon as a white feather shows they will cease fattening, no matter what food they have. They can consequently only be eaten in December, and they are a capital and magnificent Christmas dish. Their weight then will be from 25 lbs to 28 lbs.” They were slaughtered the moment their white adult plumage appeared, which pretty well coincided with Christmas. They were seven months old and very obese. Murray goes on to tell us that swan was a popular local dish in Norfolk and explains how they were roasted in homes in that county on a spit in front of the fire as a Christmas dish. He explains that the finished swan was garnished with four little swans carved out of turnips and 'a paper frill, nicely cut, about the shoulders. Other famous Chefs have recipes for swan in their cookery books. Published by the 17th century master cook Robert May, in his famous tome entitled; ‘The Accomplisht Cook’, (item # 10965 on this site) he gives recipes for 'A Swan roast' and 'A Swan Pye'. Nearly a hundred years after May published the bill of fare above, another Christmas dinner featuring a swan pie, this time as a centrepiece for the first course appeared in John Thacker's The Art of Cookery (Newcastle upon Tyne: 1758). Thacker was the cook to the Dean and Chapter at Durham Cathedral where there had been a swannery since well before the Reformation. Edward Kidder also published in his beautiful cookery book (see item # 10966 on this site), a small recipe for Swan Pye on page 6.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11243

Murrell. John - Rare early edition.
Mvrrels Tvvo Books of Cookerie and Carving.
1st TITLE PAGE: (a straight line) The fifth time printed with Additions. (a straight line) LONDON, Printed by M.F. for John Mar-riot, and are to be sold at his Shop in Saint Dunstans Church-yard in Fleet-street. 1638. The text surrounding by a double line border. 2nd TITLE PAGE: THE SECOND BOOKE OF COOKERIE. (a straight line) VVherein is set forth the newest and most commendable Fashion of Dressing, Boyling, Sowcing, or Roast-ing, all manner either Fleash, Fish, or any kinde of Fowle. (a straight line) Together with an exact order of ma-king Kickshawes, or made-dishes, of any fashion, fit to beautifie either Noble-mans or Gentle-mans Table. (a straight line) All set forth according to the new English or French fashion. BY JOHN MURRELL. (a straight line) The fifth Impression. (a straight line) LONDON, Printed for John Marriot, and are to be sold at his Shop in Saint Dun-stans Church-yard. 1638. THE THIRD TITLE PAGE: A NEVV BOOKE OF CARVING AND SEVVING. (a straight line) A small printers device. (a straight line) LONDON. Printed by M.F. for John Marriot, and are to be sold at his Shop in Saint Dunstans Churchyard in Fleetstreet. 1638.
8vo. 1 fep with ink inscription –“Mary Freeman her Book 1715” on front free end-paper, the same, but dated “1733” on verso. 3 Title pages. First title within double rule border. [1] 2nd x 1st title page [1]. 2 pages The Epistle Dedicatorie. 1-82. 2nd Title Page [1]. 85-148. 3rd Title Page [1]. 151-188. 13 pages of Tables [1]. 1 fep. Text in black letter script with woodcuts and typographical head-pieces and ornaments in-text. Front and back covers with no paste-downs. Showing original leather edging. Light age yellowing, margins of title page fractionally dusty, small section torn away from blank lower margin of M4 with loss of signature letter, minuscule wormhole in upper margin, occasional marginal thumb mark. Crisp and clean in contemporary dark brown calf, covers bordered with triple blind rule, ink stain to upper cover, spine ends worn. A very good unsophisticated copy.
- This fifth edition is probably the original second edition with new editions of this hugely important and fascinating cookery book. One of only a handful of surviving copies of any of the early editions, and one of the first cookbooks to establish cookery as a fashion, rather than simply a practical guide to running a kitchen/household. The work is divided into three parts, each with its own title page, the first two on new recipes for cooking, and the third “a New Booke of Carving and Sewing”(The medieval translation for sewing is serving). The prefaces, and its dedications, are to Mrs Martha Hayes in the first book and to Lady Browne in the second. The Author disparages previous cookery books “the most of which nevertheless have instructed rather how to marre than to make good Meate”. Murrell’s work was new, in that it established a new spirit of cookery and promises it is set forth in the English and French Fashion . He openly appeals to “London Cookery” rather than to provincial cookery. Murrell included many recipes he brought back from his experience of the new cuisine emerging in France. Unfortunately, the complete absence of any new French cookery books between 1560 and 1650 leaves a gap in our knowledge of the pre-La Varenne phase of development. In the third part of his book, Murrell also re-published sections of the first printed carving manual in English, “The Boke of Kervyne” of 1513. Though he reclaims carving as a task suitable for wives in aspiring ‘gentle’ households, he groups it with what he declares to be the most current and chic methods of cooking. In some ways Murrell’s use of this older carving manual seems a nostalgic throwback to an older style of hospitality, which he compares both negatively and positively to the new French methods. Despite its disdain for tradition, Murrell’s work includes many of the classics of British and French cooking recognizable today, including such things as rice pudding (though his recipe calls for the inclusion of ‘the smallest guts of a hog’). It also includes recipes using new world produce such as Turkey. Murrell's 'Book of Cookerie' is particularly rare in any edition; Only a handful of copies are known. STC 18303 recording only 3 copies in the UK and Folger and Library of Congress in the US. The first edition is known only by a sub-title at the Bodlein and the New York Public Library copy. No other edition is recorded. Bitting 336. Hull, ‘Chaste, Silent and Obedient.’ pp. 43-4, 187-88. Not in Vicaire, Oberle, or Alden.L1353. Scarce indeed!

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11236

Napier. Alexander
A Noble Boke Off Cookry
FFOR A PRYNCE HOUSSOLDE OR ENY OTHER ESTATELY HOUSSOLDE. REPRINTED VERBATIM FROM A RARE MS. IN THE HOLKHAM COLLECTION EDITED BY MRS. ALEXANDER NAPIER. LONDON: ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. 1882.
4to. Half title. Title Page. (v-xiii) (1-136) 3fep. Nicely bound in half tan calf with marbled boards. Plain spine with red label with gilt lines and lettering. Excellent condition externally and internally with minimal staining. Printed on large paper with wide margins and uncut edges. There is a very light round red library stamp (about the size of a 5p piece) on the Title page, but not affecting the text.
- This very nice book is transcribed from a manuscript in the Holkham Collection and is dated; circa 1467. Those recipes, in turn, closely resemble recipes in another famous cookery manuscript called the 'Forme of Cury' compiled about 1390. There is also on p.3. a printing of an aquatint engraving of the 'Peacock Feast' On Nov. 8th 1791, a bookseller was sued by the engraver of the 'Peacock Feast' for pirating the plate without permission. That aquatint plate was used to embellish a book called 'Antiquitates Culinaria' also about very old cookery manuscripts recording ancient Kingly Feasts. The original etching was done from a representation of a Saxon Feast on an ancient brass in St Margaret's Church, King's Lyn. It is also nice to find it as a head-piece, on p3. of this copy. On p.134, this book has an interesting glossary of obsolete medieval culinary words to be found in the 'Noble Boke of Cookery. A fascinating glimpse of English gastronomic history.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10925

NEWHAM-DAVIS. LIEUT.-COL. - A gastronomic tour of London 1914.
THE GOURMET'S GUIDE.
TO LONDON. BY LIEUT.-COL. NEWHAM-DAVIS. Author of 'The Gourmet's Guide to Europe" (small printer's device). LONDON GRANT RICHARDS LTD. PUBLISHERS
FIRST EDITION: 1914. 165 X 110 mm. 1fep. Half-title. Verso has frontis. Tissue guard then Title page. [1] 1p. Aphorism of Brillat Savarin. [1] 1p TO ALL GOOD GOURMETS. [1] ix - x Preface. xi - xiv Contents. xv List of four illustrations. [1] 1 - 386. 2feps. The text block very clean. Bound in a maroon cloth with gilt text on spine and front cover with bright gilt cartoon figure of a Maitre de Hotel. The whole book in excellent condition.
- Newham-Davis was an avid gastronome who checked out and dined at a huge number of London's eateries, hotels and restaurants. This was the time when Escoffier was ensconced at the Carlton Hotel on the corner of Haymarket and Pall Mall. One of the four illustrations in the book is a famous photograph of Escoffier, (see image #3 below) with a signed dedication to Newham-Davis [N-D]. One of the questions N-D was frequently asked is where is the best place in London to dine. He further states that he always replies with another question; "whom are you going to take out to dinner, because there are so many 'best places', If a man answers that he wishes to entertain some bachelors of his own ripe age and taste, where the food is excellent, the rooms comfortable and no band to interfere with conversation, then the diagnosis is a Cafe Royal one. Very astute. For a City Banquet he recommends on page 308 the Mercers Hall as most of his forbears had been of that guild. He explains in the beginning that he drank 1884 Pommery at one banquet and that his great-great-uncle who was Lord Mayor and Grandfather who was a very peppery and litigious old gentleman. His great uncle was in turn once the Master of the Company. On page 313 N-D goes to introduce himself the famous Mrs Rosa Lewis. She was known as the 'Queen of Cooks and the proprietress of the Cavendish Hotel that occupied three houses, 81 to 83 Jermyn St. He is given a shock on meeting Mrs Lewis. Due to his assumption that his family cook, whom he describes as a portly lady given to wearing church-going attire, he gets a huge shock on meeting Rosa Lewis. His vague ideas are shattered and sent spinning when a slim, graceful lady with a pretty oval face and charming eyes with hair just touched with grey. (see image #5 below). Her culinary skills were highly prized by Edward V11 with whom she was also rumoured to have had an affair. She tells N-D that her whole kitchen brigade consists of girls, believing that having accomplished woman cooks in the kitchen was far more preferable than having male chefs. She also tells of a dish of Quail pudding that is a big favourite of the KIng. N-D finally explains to Mrs Lewis that he considers she holds an equal and parallel position in the kitchen to that of the great French Maitre-Chef, Escoffier. Rosa replied that she admired him not only as a great cook but also as a great gentleman. This is an absorbing book of abundant factual detail, written very well by Lieut- Col Newham-Davis. He appears too be very well connected and a fascinating diligent net-worker. There is a slight gossipy edge to his observations that hold the attention admirably.

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Modern category

ref number: 11288