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Savoy Hotel. London. - Signed by Silvino Trompetto & Anton Adlemann & James Pare.
Food and Drink Book
THE SAVOY FOOD AND DRINK BOOK (With a picture of a Raspberry sorbet in a biscuit tulip 'en cage') PYRAMID
FIRST EDITION 1988. 210x275mm. 1fep with a b/w photo of Escoffier in top hat at an exhibition. On the verso is a photo of a signed drawing of Francoise Latry, the Savoy Maitre Chef de Cuisines, from 1919 to 1924. Also on the page is the the signature of the Executive Chef, James Pare. Half title with a planche with Trompetto’s signature and a photograph of him in the Savoy kitchen. Frontispiece of Richard D’Oyly Carte. Title page with Adelmann’s signature. Verso with ISBN. 1p Contents. Verso with foyer photograph. 7-9 Introduction. 10-36 + (1) One hundred glorious years. Verso with photograph of chefs. (1)40-207. Verso with photograph of barman. (1)210-221 Cocktail recipes with photographs. 222-224 Index. 1fep. D/J in fine condition. With white cloth binding and gilt writing on spine. Also enclosed are seven pages of nicely produced banqueting menus and a 1916 Savoy leaving certificate of a former Sous Chef; A. Cadier. Very fine condition; as new.
- The Savoy Food and Drink Book is a fine testimony to the excellence of its cuisine. From the historical introduction by Kingsley Amis and the twenty-eight pages detailing ‘One Hundred Glorious Years’ we learn that Richard D’Oyly Carte, originally the impresario behind the Savoy Theatre, was making so much money he invested in the building of the Savoy Hotel on land next to the theatre. The hotel opened in August 1889 and D’Oyly Carte then extended his Midas touch by hiring Cesar Ritz and Auguste Escoffier. Within its first year the Savoy was recognised as the standard for all hotels to emulate. Escoffier and Ritz stayed for ten years and then moved to the newly opened Carlton Hotel in 1899. Their noble and distinguished clientele followed them there. The Savoy never lost its true mystique as a great Hotel and institution. It has been a place of meeting and prominence with members of Royalty, the British establishment, the Arts and Entertainment since its inception. With every recipe in the book accompanied by a fine coloured photograph one gets an honestly great cookbook. The enclosed ephemera, further enhances; the Private Room menus are from the time of Anton Edlemann’s tenure. The other item of ephemera is a Savoy leaving certificate (written in French!) for Adolphe Cadier who was a Sous Chef from July 1915 to August 1916. Also attached to the certificate is a photograph of Cadier and a copy of a letter from Escoffier to Cadier, ironically written by Escoffier while he was at the Carlton. The book is also unique in having the signatures of three of its maitre-chefs de cuisines; Silvino Trompetto and Anton Adlemann, and the signature of the most recent Executive Chef, James Pare, who finished his tenure there on 24th October 2014. In 1938 Hugh Wontner joined the Savoy hotel group and he became managing director in 1941. Under Wontner's leadership, the Savoy appointed its first British head chef, Silvino Trompetto, who was maître-chef de cuisine from 1965 to 1980. Anton Adlemann came to England from Munich in 1971 and started at the Savoy under Trompetto. When he became maitre-chef, Adelmann oversaw the rebuilding of brand new kitchens at a cost of £3.5 million. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth visited them on 5th December 1985. Escoffier’s old ovens which had been in continuous use from 1895 to1985, were finally mothballed. The Savoy has a world-wide reputation and a great history. I have tried every recipe in the book when I was in charge of my own kitchens. Every one worked, and produced very good results. Unlike many other cookery books that have recipes incorporated after maybe one trial at most, the Savoy recipes have been tried and tested over many years. This in-house sumptuously produced signed book with added ephemera is a real collector’s item.

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Modern category

ref number: 11096

Savoy Hotel. London. - Printed a month before Escoffier joined Ritz.
A framed advert - circa 1890.
Victoria Embankment. LONDON. PERFECTION OF LUXURY AND COMFORT. Artistic Furniture. Shaded Electric Lights everywhere at all hours of night and day. NO GAS. The Finest River and Garden View in London, giving a Panorama of the Thames from Battersea to London Bridge. All the Corridors thoroughly Warmed in the Cold Weather by Hot Water. Suites of rooms on every Floor, with Private Bath Rooms, &c. Sixty-seven Bath Rooms. No charge for Baths. Large and Luxurious “Ascending Rooms” running all night. Top Floor Rooms equal in every respect to the Lowest. Large Central Courtyard with Plants, Flowers, &c. (A black and white finely detailed etching of the Savoy as seen from the Thames.) THE RESTAURANT Open to the Public. Luncheons and Dinners served on the Terrace overlooking the beautiful Embankment Gardens and River. This Terrace is enclosed by glass, and warmed during the winter. In the hot weather, dinners, &c, , are served in the open air. THE ONLY OPEN AIR RESTAURANT IN LONDON. The Restaurant has been organized under the superintendanceof M. RITZ, the well-known Hotel Manager from Monte Carlo, Cannes, and Baden-Baden, and of the popular Maitre d’Hotel “Francois” (M. RINJOUX), of the Grand Hotel at Monte Carlo. Manager of the Restaurant – M. ECHENARD. Chef, -- M. CHARPENTIER. The cuisine rivals the most famous Cpntinental Cafes. For tariff and rooms apply to the Manager of the Hotel, Mr. HERDWICKE.
247 x 177mm. A one page light brown advertisement for the Savoy Hotel, London. Circa 1890. A small part of the top right hand corner missing. A small chip missing on the side. Not affecting the text. Nicely mounted and framed in a fine gold frame with a 2” cream coloured cloth mount. The whole measuring 415 x 325mm. Overall very nice condition. A very rare item of ephemera.
- The facts behind this Savoy Hotel advertisement are very interesting and can be dated quite accurately. The names and the places are all extensively recorded in the numerous biographies of Escoffier and Ritz. It starts with a very persuasive and intelligent entrepreneur named Richard D’Oyly Carte who had built and opened the Savoy Theatre between the Strand and Thames embankment, London. It was the most modern theatre in London with the newly invented electric lighting. The theatre was very popular and D’Oyly Carte wisely realised that the theatre-goers needed a nearby place to dine after the performances. The land behind the theatre was known as the old ‘Savoie Mannor’. A sloping field overgrown with weeds and littered with bottles that looked out upon the coal wharves, barges and general flotsam of the Thames Embankment. D’Oyly Carte purchased the land, drew up plans for a hotel and started construction on 1884. The Savoy Hotel was opened on the 6th August, 1889. It was extremely popular in the beginning but D’Oyly Catre noticed that the clientele numbers had started to drop after three months. It was obvious that the food was not up to scratch nor the management capable of dramatically improving the needed standards. Lilly Langtry was a good friend of D’Oyly Carte. She urged him to approach Cesar Ritz the famous hotelier, to take advantage of Ritz’s fame after he had established and managed some of the most luxurious hotels in the world such as the Ritz Hotels in London and Paris, also the Grand Hotel in Rome, the L’Hotel Salasamaggiore in the province of Parma etc etc. Ritz also had a longstanding partnership with Auguste Escoffier who managed the kitchens of those famous hotels. Both of them were dedicated to the highest standards, and they were as famous as the establishments they served. Ritz was initially opposed to going to England as he and Escoffier were already very committed and busy. D’Oyly Carte paid him handsomely just to visit and in 1889 Cesar stayed in and inspected the Savoy. On returning home he told his wife the food was terrible and weather was worse. Equally, he was very excited about the wealth of the clientele and the beauty of hotel. In January 1890 Cesar signed a contract to manage the Savoy Hotel. His first task was to convince Escoffier to come and manage the Kitchens and Restaurants. The manager of the restaurant, M. Echenard, (at the bottom of the advert) was a Master of Wine and became Cesar’s assistant. Another name at the bottom is the Manager of the Hotel – Mr. Hardwicke. He proved unable to keep the initial business nor manage the Hotel as it needed to be. Another name is the Chef. M. Charpentier. Before coming to the Savoy he had worked for Rothschild but did not have the notion to run a large restaurant with a’ la carte menus. The Prince of Wales complained that the cooking was as dull as Windsor Castle’s. Escoffier finally accepted the position of Maitre Chef de Cuisine and started in the Kitchen on April 1890. It was not without drama. There was very bad feeling about the dismissals and when Escoffier walked into the kitchen on his first day he found everything destroyed. To save the day he asked his friend Louis Peyre who managed the Kitchens of the Charing Cross Hotel to help. Peyre supplied everything that day and gave Escoffier time to organise the kitchen for the next day. As the advertisement also has Ritz’s name on it as the manager of the Restaurant, it must have been printed between January 1890 (probably on Cesar’s initiative) and April 1890, sometime just before Escoffier started.

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Ephemera category

ref number: 11189

Scappi. Bartolomeo - Excedingly rare first edition, 1st issue. A Renaissance classic with stunning plates.
OPERA DI M. BARTOLOMEO SCAPPI
CVOCO SECRETO DI PAPA PIO QVINTO, DIVISA IN SEI LIBRI. Nel primo si contiene il ragionamento chef a l’ Autore con Gio.suo discepolo. Nel secondo si tratta di diverse viviande di carne, si di quadrupedi, come di volatili. Nel terzo si parla Flatura, e Flagione de pesci. Nel quarto si mostrano le liste del presentar le vivande in tavolo, cosi di grasso come di magro. Nel quinto si contiene l’ordine di far diverse forti paste, & altri lavor. Nel sefto, & altimo libro si ragiona de’convalescenti, & molte altre sorti di vivande per gli infermi. Con le discorso funerale che fu fatto nelle effequie di Papa Paulo 111. Con le figure chef anno bisogno nella cucina, & alli Reuerendissimi nel Conclave. [A square Tramezino printer's device showing a picture of Sibylla with large lettering around it]. QVAL PIV FERMO E IL MIO FOGLIO E IL MIO PRESAGGIO. Col priuilegio del summo Pontefice Papa Pio V. & dell’Illustrifs. Senato Veneto per anni XX.
FIRST EDITION – FIRST ISSUE. n/d 1570. Inside board and fep with marbled paper. +1fep. Title Page. [1] 2p PIVS PAPA V. 1p 1570.22.Martij in Rog. 1p Cosmos Medices. 2p ALL’ILLVESTRE, ET MOLTO REVER. SIG. 1p A I LETTORI. [2] Frontispiece Illustrated portrait of Scappi. 1-12(1) RAGIONAMENTO CHE L’AVTORE. 13(1)TAVOLA DEL PROMO LIBRO. 14-369 leaves, as unusually the recto and verso of each leaf count as one page.(1). (This also includes a section of curious pagination between a second page, numbered 123 and titled Libro Quatro Delle Liste, to page 141. There is a first correct page 123 before the mis-pagination. This anomaly is present in other 1st editions, with correct foliation, and no text loss). 6p TAVOLA. 8p HAVENDO. 27 Engraved Plates (one double page) [1] 1 fep. Inside board and end paper with marbled paper. Bound nicely in a full dark brown sheepskin. Spine with two tone black raised bands and dark brown compartments all with fine blind tooling, and a dark red label with text in gilt. The finely blind tooled dark brown boards are two tone, with black centre compartments and with finely tooled edges. The title page and the illustrated plates are very slightly age browned. The whole text-block in very good condition with edges coloured green. In excellent overall condition.
- The best known earliest printed Renaissance cookery books start in 1475 with Bartolomeo Sacchi's - Platina, De Honesta Voluptate et Valetudine. Next came the oldest cookery text, believed to have been compiled in the late 4th or early 5th century AD and called Apicius - De re Coquinaria, and first printed in January 1498. Followed by Cristoforo di Messisbugo's - Di Bhanchetti, which was published posthumously in 1549. This first edition of Scappi’s Opera, (meaning Work) was printed 21 years later in 1570 and memorably eulogised by Anne Willan - “Bartolomeo Scappi is to cooking as Michelangelo is to fine arts; in its beauty as a printed work, in its ordered presentation and comprehensiveness, his cookbook ‘Opera’ exemplifies the practical elegance of the High Renaissance.” - As Willan alludes to, no other book has matched ‘Opera’ for its twenty seven handsome and scrupulously accurate drawings, depicting the ideal renaissance kitchen setup with all the equipment of the expert cook. This is the first issue of two editions of 1570, undated and with 369 pages rather than the 444 numbered leaves of the dated second issue. Harvard Catalogue gives the first issue priority. Due to differences between settings, there is a suggestion the undated issue may have been printed by Maurice Tramezino’s brother Francesco, in Rome. This bears out because Scappi was in service in Rome and the plates and some initials were made and transferred from Venice and then back for Maurice’s dated edition which was also set from manuscript. It was Pope Pius V who personally gave the Tramezino brothers the privilege on March 29th 1570 to print Scappi’s book. Reprints of ‘Opera’ were continually published up to 1643. Bartolomeo Scappi, born c.1500 whose origins have been discovered due to fairly recent research, came from the town of Dumenza in Lombardy, with an inscription on a stone plaque inside the church of Luino. Prior to this, the first known fact of his life was in April 1536, when he cooked a dinner afforded by Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio for the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Already Scappi at thirty six years old is serving exalted guests. He served as a cook to several other cardinals after that, and then started to serve Pope Pius IV in the Vatican papal kitchen. He continued work in the service of Pope Pius V as his ‘cuoco secreto’ – private cook. Pius V himself, described Scappi as ‘peritissimus Magister’ (a most skilled Master). Indeed he was. Great thanks must be conveyed to Terence Scully who wrote and published in 2008, a fantastic full English translation of ‘Opera’. To read Sculley’s book is to see how Scappi was indeed an incomparable Master cook. Opera is laid out with astonishing practicality, detail and precision that is not, arguably bettered nor equaled, until Escoffier’s ‘Guide Culinaire’ of 1903. Pope Pius instructed Scappi to teach his two able apprentices, Francisco Reinoso and Giovanni, everything he knew and to also write a book so all his secrets would be preserved. Reinoso was trained as a Steward and Giovanni in the kitchen with Scappi. Pope Pius's instructions to Scappi to undertake the trainings and record his knowledge on manuscript were taken up by him with sincere enthusiasm and diligence. Sculley's English translation acknowledges this and also clearly conveys that two prime ingredients that cannot be divorced from great cooking or a Master Cook; great passion and love. Scappi's Opera achieves its greatness because of that. The Opera comprises 6 books that clarify precisely everything the two apprentices needed to emulate the Master. Bartolomeo lists approximately 1000 recipes of the Renaissance cuisine and describes cooking techniques and tools, giving the first known picture of a fork. He declared Parmesan to be the best cheese on earth and noted that the liver of domestic goose raised by the Jews is of extreme size and weighs between two and three pounds, indicating that Jews of the time were practising the overfeeding of ducks and geese needed to produce Foie Gras. Recipe #140 of book 2 gives long, very detailed instructions for spit-roasting domestic Peacock. He also advises at the beginning of the recipe, that the White Peacocks have black flesh, but are more tasty than than all other fowl. It is treated using the same modern procedure for some game birds, being hung in this case, for eight days before plucking and drawing. Scappi thought that Caviar was better cooked. It came in sealed casks from Alexandria. He also serves it raw on warm toast with orange juice and pepper over it. In Book 3 there are recipes for Hermit Crabs. He informs us that there is not much meat in the claws, but the goodness lies in their viscera. It takes six crabs to fill one shell. Interestingly there were also soft-shell crabs, or as described in Opera; tender crabs, available only from early April to end of May. (These are the same as the famous seasonal soft-shell crabs, harvested on the eastern seaboard of the USA). There are also precise instructions for preparing and cooking Porcupine and baby Hedgehogs. Included are 230 recipes for pastry as well as for pizza and pasta; tortellini, tagliatelli, ravioli etc. All the recipes are very detailed, and the advice on how to keep all ingredients in their best state is exemplary. The qualities, personal and professional, needed to fulfill all positions in the household are comprehensively noted. There are even illustrations and instructions for the kitchen and the food service while the Cardinals are in Conclave. Scappi's detailed knowledge of the formal arrangements and procedures for them suggests he had observed and participated in many of them from the viewpoint of the kitchen. He observed and finely described the details of the ten weeks following the funeral of Pope Paul 111. Terence Sculley notes Scappi's account of the gratification he felt in fulfilling the grave and exceptional obligations of the various kitchens to serve the food to the conclave of 1549-50. It appears nothing is forgotten nor omitted from Opera. A fascinating account of elite gastronomic refinement. Bartolomeo Scappi died on the 13th April 1577 and was buried in the Guild church of SS. Vincenzo and Anastasio in Regola dedicated to cooks and bakers. The church was demolished in 1891 and the cook's' guild was moved to San Salvatore in Onda. What happened to Scappi’s remains is not recorded. Complete first editions of Scappi's Opera come up at auction extremely rarely. A 1570 edition was sold at Sothby's on June 5th 2013 for £37,500.oo. Cagle lists a 1570 2nd issue, a 5th of 1598 and a 9th of 1643. Bitting has a 1570 2nd issue with 16 plates missing, and 1605 folio ed and a 1590 ed with plates missing. Westbury had four 1570 2nd issues, two of 1610 and one of 1643. Vicaire records seven copies with only one 1570 2nd issue. Maggs Bros Cat.No 645 shows a 1570 2nd issue, a 2nd ed of 1581 and a 1605 ed. Mosimann has a 1570 2nd issue, thus proving the superlative rarity of this 1st issue of the 1570 1st edition.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11220

Schumacher-Voelker. Uta - A wonderful reference.
Front cover: CULINARY BOOKPLATE:
An annotated Picture Book.
150 x 150 mm. 1fep. No Title page. 53 pages of bookplates with owner's names underneath. [1] 2 empty pages for notes. 1 fep. Strong black carboard covers with Uta Schumacher-Voelker's bookplate on the front and Blanchet Magon's on the back. Very good condition; as new.
- This is an interesting and very unusual little book. All fifty-three pages full of nicely copied and presented bookplates. Some of the more well-known cookery book writers and collectors, Chefs etc; Alan Davidson, Elizabeth David, John Craig, Clarissa Dixon Wright, John Fuller, Pierre Koffmann, Waldo Lincoln, Eleanor Lowenstein, Anton Mosimann, Claudia Q. Murphy, Edouard Nignon, Raymond Oliver, Pierre Orsi, Cyril Ray, Harry Schremli, Luis Szathmary, Joseph Vehling, Robert Viel, Georges Vicaire, Lord Westbury, Anne Willan, Tore Wretman and finally John Yudkin. Uta Schumacher-Voelker has produced a wonderful book that is a useful reference guide and a quite comprehensive gathering of beautifully laid out bookplates.

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Modern category

ref number: 11334

Secundus. Dick Humelbergius
Apician Morsels;
OR, TALES OF THE TABLE, KITCHEN, AND LARDER: CONTAINING A NEW AND IMPROVED CODE OF EATICS; SELECT EPICUREAN PRECEPTS; NUTRITIVE MAXIMS, REFLECTIONS, ANECDOTES, &C. ILLUSTRATING THE VERITABLE SCIENCE OF THE MOUTH; WHICH INCLUDES THE ART OF NEVER BREAKFASTING AT HOME, AND ALWAYS DINING ABROAD. BY DICK HUMELBERGIUS SECUNDUS. "O vow qui stomach Iaboatis, accurate, et ego vow restaurabo!" Vide p.106. "Always breakfast as if you did not intend to dine; and dine as if you had not broken your fast." -- Code Gourmand. New York: PRINTED BY J. & J. HARPER, 82 CLIFF-ST. SOLD BY COLLINS AND HANNAY, COLLINS AND CO., G. AND C. AND H. CAR-VILL., W. B. GILLEY , E. BLISS, AND O. A. ROORBACH; --PHILADELPHIA. CAREY, LEA, AND CARRY, J. GRIGG, TOWAR AND HOGAN, U. HUNT, R.. COWPERTHWAITE, E. LITTELL, AND BROTHERS, AND M'CARTY AND DAVIS; -- ALBANY, O. STEELE. 1829.
12mo. 190X116mm. Paste-down and end-paper marbled paper. [1] 1fep. [1] Frontispiece of Mr Eatingtown. Title page. [1] 2p Contents, xxv chapters. [2]9-212. 1fep. [1] End-paper and paste-down marbled paper. Half tan calf with black and tan speckled paper boards with nice patina. the spine has raised bands, gilt lines and gilt tooled devices. with a red label and gilt lettering. Internally very lightly age-browned throughout. A scarce book.
- Dick Hemelbergius Secundus, was actually a sixteen-century annotator named Gabriel Hummelberger making a comeback in this tome of 1829. In 'The Literary Gazette and Journal' for the year 1829, in the book review section, the critic pans the author of 'Apician Morsels' for his performance as not equal to that of a true man. He further takes an arrogant broadside at the author and other scribes of the day, for their use of French or other languages, which they do not understand. He goes further, boldly stating --- "Their style is as full of French and other phrases as a plum pudding is of plums and currants -- you cannot tell which is the radical tongue or the principal ingredient. It might be supposed that the English was copious enough to express all the ideas of the learned, imaginative, and highly gifted, and infinitely too copious to be needed by these literary shrimps, who have neither original thought nor ideas of any kind to express; ----- of these faults our Apician scribe affords us plenty of specimens". Strong stuff indeed. Apician Morsels; or Tales of the Table, Kitchen and Larder has been attributed to the Gothic novelist William Beckford, though others suspect the hand of Richard Chenevix, reviewer for the Edinburgh Review, (which may account for the venom in the critique of The Literary Gazette). 'Apician Morsels' announces "a New and Improved Code of Eatics," with "Select Epicurean Precepts," and "Nutritive Maxims, Reflections, Anecdotes . . . illustrating the Veritable Science of the Mouth." In addition to original essays on various aspects of cookery and good-living, Humelbergius takes his "Nutritive Varieties" (without attribution) from Grimod, along with other treatments of meals, invitations, and bonne chère.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11154

Senn C. Herman - The best edition.
Practical Gastronomy
AND CULINARY DICTIONARY WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED 'RECHERCHE COOKERY" UP-TO-DATE DESCRIPTIONS of the FOLLOWING BRANCHES -- HORS-D'OEUVRES, SOUPS, DRESSED FISH, ENTREES, REMOVES, SAUCES, ROASTS, SECOND COURSE DISHES, VEGETABLES, SALADS, SWEETS, AND SAVOURIES. Sketches and Quotations of Culinary Literature. A COMPLETE MENU COMPILER AND REGISTER OF MOST KNOWN DISHES IN ENGLISH AND FRENCH. WITH PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE SAME. THIRD EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED BY CHARLES HERMAN SENN. INSPECTING AND CONSULTING CHEF DU CUISINE, NATIONAL TRAINING SCHOOL OF COOKERY, DISTINGUISHED WITH THE GRAND DECORATION OF "LE CORDON ROUGE" GOLD MEDALLIST AND MEMBER OF THE ACADEMIE DE CUISINE, PARIS. Published by SPOTTISWOODE & CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE, LONDON. [1895]
Very thick 8vo. 17.5 X 11.5cm. Black paste-downs and end-papers. 1fep. Half Title with illustration on verso of 'Cornet of Nougat' [1] Frontispiece printed in brown. Title page with top illustration of 4 fairies working in a kitchen. (The punctuation on the title page is inconsistent: a single quotation-mark precedes, and double marks follow 'Recherche Cookery') [1] 3-6 Preface. 7-10 Contents. 11-916. 917-926 Index. 1-9 Advertisements. 9 plates printed in brown. Many in text illustrations. Modern half black calf with marbled boards and calf corners. Raised bands with beautiful gilt lines, dots and dentelles. With two calf labels, red and green with gilt writing. A pristine copy with very slight foxing on the half title and back of frontispiece.
- Charles Herman Senn, born in Lirstal, Switzerland,1864, died at his desk at 110 Victoria Street, London on 18th October 1934. He was a prolific writer of cookery books. Driver lists thirty two separate titles with one hundred and forty three various editions. Driver states; "Considering Senn's stature in the culinary world and his remarkable output of cookery books, it is odd that there is no authoritative biography or evaluation of the man and his work. The richest source of information is LCoF which owns Senn's library. Most significant in the collection are Senn's working copies of his own books marked up with changes for subsequent editions. Also in the collection are review copies signed by their authors and sent to Senn for his comments, which as a group present a picture of the cookery-book publishing world of the time with an immediacy not found in the copyright libraries." This third edition of Senn's 'Practical Gastronomy' is considered the best and the scarcest and the most appreciated by collectors and chefs. This edition had the chapter 'Recherche cookery' added. This increased the book to 806 numbered recipes, in turn creating a very thick tome and a fascinating read.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11011

Senn. C.Herman - With one of the original menus in the book.
The Menu Book
The Menu Book. FOURTH EDITION OF PRACTICAL GASTRONOMY. A MENU COMPILER AND REGISTER OF DISHES [Copyrighted 1892] BY C.HERMAN SENN, G.C.A., Inspector and Consulting Chef, National Training School of Cookery, 1892-1908. AUTHOR OF "RECHERCHE COOKERY" "THE NEW CENTURY COOKERY BOOK" RECHERCHE SIDE DISHES" "THE PRACTICAL COOKERY MANUAL," ETC., ETC. (A vignette with "Food & Cookery Publishing London SW) LONDON. S.W.: THE FOOD & COOKERY PUBLISHING AGENCY. WESTMINSTER. mdcdviii.
12mo. The paste-downs and end-papers marbled. 1fep. Title page & on verso - advertisements. 1p Preface & on verso - advertisements. 5-8 Principal Contents. 9-320. 6p Advertisements. 2p Cookery Books by Herman Senn. 1fep. Crimson morocco binding with wonderfully fresh gilt vingette of a woman sitting at a table and the book title. Re-laid spine with the original gilt lettering cut out and laid down. There are numerous illustrations of menus throughout. On page 53 there is a nicely illustrated facsimile 'Menu du Souper' dated 1908. Enclosed with this copy of Senn's book is a menu that is the exact same one as that on page 53. Everything, from the embossed gilt crest, the drawing and actual menu is the same except the date. Interestingly the date is 1892. It suggests that the date on the menu on page 53 has been changed to match the published date of the book. There are also some stamps and writing on the back of the real menu that suggests it may have come from an archive. A rare book especially in this condition and with the handsome menu.
- Charles Herman Senn (1864-1934) was one of the founders of the Universal Cookery and Food Association - UCFA. The UCFA was never a very large organisation, but was a very interesting one because its origins were linked with those of L'Art Culinaire in France, yet it developed a most peculiarly English slant of its own. It grew out of a small group of about two dozen members calling itself The Culinary Society which under the leadership of Eugene Pouard, organised cookery competitions based on the model of the Art Culinaire group. THe UCFA"s first committee of management had a predominance of London based French chefs, as well as Queen Victoria's chef, Monsieur J.Menager. There were also several other foreign and english names including that of Senn. He was the dominating figure from its inception in 1887 until his death. The association grew rapidly from the 186 members in 1892 to more than 1200 in 1902. Though this was scarcely a mass movement, it was too large for the dominance of French chefs to endure and by the early twentieth century there was a separate Association Culinaire Francaise - ACF in London. Senn and UCFA maintained cordial relations with ACF. Senn himself never questioned the supremacy of French cooking, but perhaps for that reason steered the UCFA away from any attempt to compete in that domain. The focus he gave to the association was an overriding concern with educational and charitable work. The notion that the standing of the cooking profession can best be advanced through ever-greater achievements in haute-cuisine for a social elite was entirely absent from the UCFA"s thinking and aims. Instead its object was 'to promote and encourage the advancement of cookery among all classes of the community' -- (Cookery Annual, 1908: 56) How this was to be achieved was spelled out in a list of aims and activities. First among these was the holding of exhibitions - an aim shared with L'Art Culiniare. The UCFA organised cookery exhibitions in London in direct line of succession from the first in 1885 until the 1930s, when the collaboration of a special sponsor was enlisted. Out of these exhibitions directly stem the biennial Hotelympia events of the present day, out of which the very popular and competitive (among chefs and pastry chefs) 'Salon Culinaire' still forms a part. Senn's influence on the whole educational and professional grounding of all British chefs, even today, should not be overlooked. Although a most dedicated cook (even training under Francatelli at the Reform Club) and a prolific writer, he was also a consulting Chef to the National Training School for Cookery, and through his connections with the Westminster Technical Institute, he was often called upon by government agencies to create 'syllabuses and examinations, notably setting standards for the training of army, navy, hospital and prison cooks' - Driver pp 540.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11010

Shackleford. Mrs Ann - The very rare Dublin imprint.
THE Modern Art of Cookery IMPROVED:
OR, Elegant, cheap, and Easy Methods, of preparing most of the Dishes now in Vogue; In the Composition whereof Both Health and Pleasure have been consulted. BY Mrs Ann Shackleford, of Winchester. TO WHICH IS ADDED. An APPENDIX; Containing a Dissertation on the different Kinds of Food, their Nature, Quality, and various Uses. By a PHYSICIAN. AND A MARKETING MANUAL, And other useful Particulars. By the EDITOR. ----- She turns, on hospitable thoughts intent, What choice to chuse for delicacy best; What order, so contriv’d as not to mix Tastes, not well join’d, inelegant, but bring Taste after Taste, upheld with kindliest change. MILTON. ----- DUBLIN: Printed for William Colles, in Dame-Street. [c. 1771]
12mo. 1fep. 2p Advertisements. Title Page. [1] iii-iv Preface. (1)vi – xxiii Marketing Manual. xxiv – xxiii. xxiv - xxv 2 pages of Marketing Tables. [1] 1-281. P15 Index. 1fep. Modern binding with half brown cloth with gilt tooling separating the marbled boards. Gilt lines on the spine and two black leather labels with gilt writing. Very light age browning to the first and last few pages and some minor staining to some of the pages. Overall, a nice bright copy of a very elusive book.
- Nothing is known about Mrs Ann Shackleford but her cookery books appear to be extremely scarce. MacLean [p130] displays Mrs Shackleton’s title page of the first English addition of 1767 and interestingly, reckons it has a crafty worded description in “Modern Cookery Improved”. She also notes that Milton’s quote gives the mere cookbook a literary fillip. MacLean also cites a Dublin edition that had been owned by the BLB, undated without printer’s details but destroyed. (Confirmed in a letter from the BL Ref. Div. to MacLean). She also references (Pub. Adv. of 23rd Jan 1771) another London edition of 1771 printed for T. Carnan and F. Newbury. Oxford also notes an undated Dublin edition. Cagle has an English first of 1767 but unusually misquotes Oxford as stating the London edition instead of the Dublin one. Besides MacLean, all of the other bibliographies give sketchy or no information about this Dublin edition. One must assume great scarcity.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11116

Shirley. John - Very rare.
The Accomplished Ladies Rich Closet OF RARITIES.
OR, THE Ingenoius Gentlewoman and Servant-Maids Delightful Companion. Containing many Excellent Things for the ACCOMPLISHMENT of the FEMALE SEX, after the exactest Manner and Method, viz. (1) The Art of Distilling. (2) Making Artificial Wines. (3) Making Syrups. (4) Conserving, Preserving, etc. (5) Candying and Drying Fruits, etc. (6) Confectioning. (7) Carving. (8) To make Beautifying waters, Oyls, Pomatums, Musk-balls, Perfumes, etc. (9) Physical and Chyrurgical Receipts. (10) The Duty of a Wet Nurse; and to know and cure Diseases in Chirldren, etc. (11) The Compleat Chamber-Maids Instructions in Pickling, making Spoon-meats, Washing, Starching, taking out Spots and Stains, Scowring Gold or Silver-Lace, Point, etc. (12) The Experienced Cook-Maid, or Instructions for Dressing, Garnishing, Making Sawces, serving up; together, with the Art of Pastry. (13) Bills of Fare. (14) The Accomplished Dairy-Maids Directions, etc. (15) The Judicious Midwives Directions, how Women in Travail before and after Delivery ouht to be used; as also the Child; and what relates to the Preservation of them both. To which is added a Second Part, Containing Directions for the guidance of a Young Gentlewoman as to her Behaviour and seemly Deportment, etc. Together with a New Accession of many Curious Things and Matters, profitable to the Female Sex, not published in the former Editions. The Fifth Edition, with Large Additions, Corrected and Amended. LONDON, Printed by W. Wilde, for St. Bodington in Duck Lane; and J. Blare on London Bridge. 1699.
12mo. 1fep. [1] Frontispiece representing a Lady with seven different domestic scenes. Title page with rubbed edges but no loss. [1] A2-A3 Preface signed by John Shirley. 7-168 with 2pages of Pye shapes. 169-192 Second Part. 1fep. Internally lightly age browned throughout. The corners of the text block rounded and sometime cropped close with no loss. It looks like the original full dark brown calf binding has been relaid with the board corners rounded and rubbed. Blind tolling on the boards and spine. With a nice patina.
- This book is crammed. From the busy frontis to the very full title page and the packed text block one gets a feeling this is not so much a cookery book but a novel to be fully read and understood. Daunting.! It would have been better to have had it published in a larger format. How the housewife of that era used this book in a practical way, one wonders. The text is laid out very pragmatically without a thought for style. Oxford states that much of the second part seems to be adapted from Mrs Woolley's 'Gentlewomans Companion'. I'm unable to find a record of the first edition. Oxford cites a second of 1687. The BL also has a fourth edition with large additions of 1696 and a fifth edition with large additions also dated 1696. This copy on view here is also a fifth but dated three years later in 1699. No entries in Pollard & Redgrave STC, Cagle nor Bitting. An extremely rare book in any edition.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10967

Simon. Andre Louis - A continous set dated 1934-50 with a 2 page letter signed 'Andre'.
The Wine and Food Society.
A GASTRONOMICAL QUARTERLY EDITED BY ANDRE L. SIMON Published for the Wine and Food Society by SIMPKIN MARSHALL, LTD. STATIONERS' HALL COURT LONDON, E.C.4. (1934).
17 Volumes. In each volume there are 4 quarterlies bound together and they all have individual title pages. All volumes bound at various times in half black calf with black cloth boards and gilt lines. The spines of volumes dated 1940 & 42 are slightly sunned. All spines with raised bands, gilt lines and tooling, with gilt lettering in three compartments. Overall all volumes internally and externally in good condition with a slight variance in standing size and thickness due to being bound at different times. ITEM #2: 222 x 152mm. 2p. Dated 15.11.56. A fine two page letter written and signed by Simon. In a nice agreeable cursive script in blue ink from his home address; to Mrs Prideaux, thanking her for the menu of the Pavilion Banquet, also explaining the meaning of 'Cafe double'. A very handsome set and rare with Simon's letter enclosed within the first volume of 1934.
- André Louis Simon (Image #1 below) born 1877 - 1970, was the charismatic leader of the English wine trade for most of the first half of the 20th century, and the grand old man of literate connoisseurship for a further 20 years. In 66 years of authorship, he wrote 104 books. For 33 years he was one of London's leading champagne shippers; for another 33 years active president of the ‘Wine & Food Society’. Although he lived in England from the age of 25, he always remained a French citizen. He was both Officier de la Légion d'Honneur and holder of the Order of the British Empire. A. L. S. was born in St-Germain-des-Prés, the second of five sons of a landscape painter who died of sunstroke in Egypt, while they were still youths. From the first his ambition was to be a journalist. At 17 he was sent to Southampton to learn English and met Edith Symons, whose ambition was to live in France. They married in 1902 and remained happily together for 63 years. A.L.S. was a man of good judgement, single-mindedness, and devotion. He was also a man of powerful charm. He became a champagne shipper, the London agent for the leading house of Pommery through his father's friendship with the Polignac family. It allowed him a base at 24 Mark Lane for 30 years, in the centre of the City's wine trade. From it he not only sold champagne; he soon made his voice heard as journalist, scholar, and teacher. Within four years of his installation in London he was writing his first book, ‘The History of the Champagne Trade in England’, in installments for the Wine Trade Review. He spoke English as he wrote it, with a fondness for imagery, even for little parables but with an ineradicable French accent that was as much part of his persona as his burly frame and curly hair. His first book of 'History' was rapidly followed by a remarkable sequel: ‘The History of the Wine Trade in England from Roman Times to the End of the 17th Century’, in three volumes dated 1906, 7 and 9. It was the best and most original of his total of over 100 books. None, let alone a young man working in a language not his own, had read, thought, and written so deeply on the subject before. It singled him out at once as a natural spokesman for wine, a role he pursued with typical energy, combining with friends to found, in 1908, the Wine Trade Club. There-after for six years he organized tastings and gave technical lectures of a kind not seen before; the forerunner by 45 years of the Institute of masters of wine. In 1919 he published ‘Bibliotheca Vinaria’, a catalogue of the books he had collected for the Club. It ran to 340 pages. Also in 1919, Simon bought the two homes he was to occupy for the rest of his life: 6 Evelyn Mansions, near Westminster Cathedral (where he attended mass daily), and Little Hedgecourt, a cottage with 28 acres beside a lake at Felbridge, Surrey. He also ended his association with Pommery after 33 years.. Simon began a second life at 55, with A. J. A. Symons he founded the Wine & Food Society (now International Wine & Food Society). Its first Alsace lunch at the Cafe Royal in London in the midst of the Depression caused a sensation. But its assured success came from the ending of prohibition in America. Sponsored by the French government, Simon traveled repeatedly to the US, founding its first Wine & Food Society branch in Boston in December 1934 and its second in San Francisco in January 1935. Starting in the spring of 1934 with the first Wine and Food Quarterly. A.L.S. immersed himself in the research, writing, and editing (and finding paper to print) the Society's Quarterlies that was to occupy him throughout the Second World War. In 1962, his friend Harry Yoxall suggested that at 85, daily responsibility for the Society and its magazine was too burdensome and bought the title from him for Condé Nast Publications. But in his 90s, Simon was still exceptional company at dinner and gave little picnics for friends beside his woodland lake. He passed away in 1970. On what would have been his 100th birthday, on 28th February, 1977, 400 guests at the Savoy Hotel in London, drank an exceptional claret to his memory, that he had with kind foresight left for the occasion; Chateau Latour 1945. (Hugh Johnson -- The Oxford Companion to Wine. 3rd edition.) These Wine and Food Society volumes provide a fascinating insight into the Catering industry and it's leading characters, for a tempestuous and epoch changing 16 years that included WW11 and after.

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Modern category

ref number: 11156