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Gouffe. Jules - Rare first edition in beautiful original binding.
THE ROYAL COOKERY BOOK
(LE LIVRE DE CUISINE) BY JULES GOUFFE CHEF DE CUISINE OF THE PARIS JOCKEY CLUB TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH AND ADAPTED FOR ENGLISH USE BY ALPHONSE GOUFFE HEAD PASTRY-COOK TO HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN COMPRISING DOMESTIC AND HIGH-CLASS COOKERY ILLUSTRATED WITH SIXTEEN LARGE PLATES PRINTED IN COLOUR, AND ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-ONE WOODCUTS FROM DRAWINGS FROM NATURE BY E. RONJAT. [with an illustration of a fore-rib of beef] LONDON SAMPSON LOW, SON, MARSTON CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET 1868 (All rights reserved)
FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. 245x170mm. 2feps. Half title with advertisement on verso. [1] Coloured Frontispiece with tissue guard. Title page in red and black text (with illustration of a beef forerib). [1] 1+vi Translators preface. (1)viii-xiii Preface. [1] (1)xvi Illustrations. (1)xviii Contents. 1p Part the First. [1] (1)4-671. [1] (1)674-677 Appendix. [1] (1)680-700 Index. (1)702 Index to Woodcuts. (1) Index to Cloured Plates. [1] 1fep. With the full original dark burgundy cloth binding and the elaborate gilt tolling on the spine and front boards. The spine has been expertly re-laid and strengthened and the gilt tooling is nice and bright all over. All edges gilt. Text block is tight and very clean. A fantastic copy in the original state.
- Jules Gouffe wrote very eloquently - "Having, from my earliest youth, embarked upon a career of cookery, I saw much, observed much, practised much in every sense of the word. I am not one of those who declare that French cookery, that part of our national heritage of which we have reason to be proud, is lost today and that it will never recover. The good and true things never die. No doubt there may be periods of decline, but sooner or later, with hard work, intelligence and good will, there must be a recovery. If, thanks to the reforms and the methods which I propose, I find that in a few years' time everyone, whatever his rank in society, is eating as well as he possibly can. On the one hand, household cookery is at last being carried on with care, economy and comfort; on the other hand, the ‘grande cuisine' goes forward under progressive conditions, and with that good taste and brilliance which is so appropriate to a century of enlightenment and luxury like our own; then I shall have truly attained the goal which I have set myself, I shall feel myself well paid for all my pains.” Gouffe wrote four major works in French. They have all have been translated into English by Alphonse Gouffé, his brother who was also the Head Pastry Chef of Queen Victoria. 1. Le livre de cuisine – the ‘The Royal Cookery Book’ in English it was rated as one of the finest cookbooks ever written. 2. Le livre de patisserie- The Royal Book of Pastry and Confectionery highlighting the methods of creating ‘pièces montées’ was published in 1873 by Librairie Hachette. 3. Le livre des conserves- The Book of Preserves by Jules Gouffe was also published in 1873. 4. Le livre des soupes et des potages- This book by Gouffe contained more than 400 soup recipes. He died at Neuilly in 1877.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11199

Green Thomas - 2 volumes - 1824.
THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL;
VOLUME 1: OR, BOTANICAL, MEDICAL, AND AGRICULTURAL DICTIONARY. CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF all the known Plants in the World, ARRANGED ACCORDING TO THE LINNEAN SYSTEM. SPECIFYING THE USES TO WHICH THEY ARE OR MAY BE APPLIED, WHETHER AS FOOD, AS MEDICINE, OR IN THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. WITH THE BEST METHODS OF PROPAGATION, AND THE MOST RECENT AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENTS. Collected form indisputable Authorities. ADAPTED TO THE USE OF THE FARMER - THE GARDENER - THE HUSBANDMAN - THE BOTANIST - THE FLORIST - AND COUNTRY HOUSEKEEPERS IN GENERAL.. BY THOMAS GREEN. THE SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND IMPROVED. VOL.1. (Printers device) LONDON: PRINTED AT THE CAXTON PRESS, BY HENRY FISHER, Printer in Ordinary to His Majesty. PUBLISHED AT 38, NEWGATE-STREET; AND SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. VOLUME 2: THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; OR, BOTANICAL, MEDICAL, AND AGRICULTURAL DICTIONARY. CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF all the known Plants in the World, ARRANGED ACCORDING TO THE LINNEAN SYSTEM. SPECIFYING THE USES TO WHICH THEY ARE OR MAY BE APPLIED, WHETHER AS FOOD, AS MEDICINE, OR IN THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. WITH THE BEST METHODS OF PROPAGATION, AND THE MOST RECENT AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENTS. Collected form indisputable Authorities. ADAPTED TO THE USE OF THE FARMER - THE GARDENER - THE HUSBANDMAN - THE BOTANIST - THE FLORIST - AND COUNTRY HOUSEKEEPERS IN GENERAL.. BY THOMAS GREEN. THE SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND IMPROVED. VOL.11. (Printers device) LONDON: PRINTED AT THE CAXTON PRESS, BY HENRY FISHER, Printer in Ordinary to His Majesty. PUBLISHED AT 38, NEWGATE-STREET; AND SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS.
Large thick 4to. 2x275x220mm. VOLUME 1: 2feps. [1] Hand-coloured allegorical frontispiece of Wisdom and Activity collecting Vegetables. An engraved allegorical hand-coloured vignette title. [1] Title Page. [1] 2p Preface. (1)2-10 Introduction. [1] 1 hand-coloured plate of simple leaves. 11-790. 3 feps. VOLUME 2: 3feps. [1] Hand-coloured allegorical frontispiece of Elements producing Plants & Flowers. Title Page. [1] (1)4-883. (1)2-56 Apendix. 4feps. Both volumes hold a total of 109 -- 3 frontispieces and 106 very finely coloured botanical plates. Each plate is dated, also with the Latin name from the Linnean System and common English name given for each plant. Both volumes finely and fully bound in modern dark tan calf with blind tooling on the edge of the boards. The spines have raised bands with gilt lines and devices in the compartments. Each has a dark red morocco label with gilt lettering. Internally very clean. A very handsome set.
- Thomas Green was a British author who published this massive herbal dictionary in 1816. Little is known about him, but he may be the same Thomas Green who wrote Extracts from the Diary of a Lover of Literature (1810), Memoirs of her Late Royal Highness Charlotte Augusta (1818) and A Biographical Memoir of the Late Edward Pearson DD (1819). These books on show here are illustrated with three fine allegorical frontispieces by William Marshall Craig and stipple-engraved (a method of engraving in which a grainy effect is produced by a series of tiny dots or flecks) by R. Hicks. Craig was a fashionable miniature painter who illustrated London Cries (1804) and exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1788 to 1827. The 106 botanical plates were engraved by F. Dixon, G. Dobie, W. Swift and others. Most of the plates depict two or four plants, and many were copied from originals by famous botanical artists such as Merian, Ehret and Miller. The pineapple, melon, lemon and pepper were copied from Maria Sybilla Merian's Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium (1705); the orchid, carnation, papaya, etc., were copied from Philip Miller's Gardener's Dictionary (1755). This handsome book 'The Universal Herbal' is an encyclopedia of herbal knowledge, augmented with gardening and cooking information, this popular book was re-issued in this second edition revised format in 1824 at the Caxton Press, London, and Henry Fisher, Liverpool. The BL has 4 copies. Surprisingly three are odd variants -- an 1820 and a n/d, both printed in Liverpool. One of 1923 has no place of printing, also one dated 1924. The BL does not have a first of 1816.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11079

Gunter. William
Confectioner's Oracle
CONTAINING RECEIPTS FOR DESSERTS ON THE MOST ECONOMICAL PLAN FOR PRIVATE FAMILIES, AND ALL FOUNDED ON THE ACTUAL EXPERIMENTS OF THIRTY YEARS. WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING THE BEST RECEIPTS FOR PASTRY-COOKS, AND AN ELUCIDATION OF THE PRINCIPLES OF GOOD CHEER. BEING A COMPANION TO DR. KITCHINERS COOK'S ORACLE. BY W. GUNTER. Palmam qui meruit ferat. LONDON: ALFRED MILLER, 137, OXFORD STREET. 1830.
FIRST & SOLE EDITION. 12mo. fep. Frontispiece of Gunter. Title Page. III-VI PREFACE. VII-XXXII INTRODUCTION. 4p. Engraved Table settings, 1 folding. 1-238. fep. Fully bound in modern mid-brown calf with blind tooling on boards. Spine with gilt fleur-di-lis, gilt lines and gilt dots. Also with red and green labels, gilt lettering and raised bands. Internally very clean. An extremely nice copy. Not in Bitting nor Oxford.
- In the Introduction, the Author states -- I remember when I last dined with that eccentric but amiable and intelligent man, the late Doctor Kitchiner, in Warren-street, he said to me as the dessert made its appearance, "Gunter, you ought to write a book on Confectionery as a companion to mine on the Art of Cooking. You would have an advantage over me, in as much as you are professionally famed, and your Work would be popular, for it is of as vital importance in perfecting the jouissances of life, as my own" A very interesting book. Unusual, in that it has a long Appendix, running from page 123-238. The Gunter family came into ownership of the famous Negri Confectioner's shop in Berkley Square, London and at one point employed Guglielmo Jarrin, the author of the wonderful book, 'The Italian Confectioner'. The shop continued to trade well into the twentieth century.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10956

Hall. T.
The Queen's Royal Cookery:
OR,Expert and ready Way for the Dressing of all Sorts of Flesh, Fish: Either Bak'd, Boil'd, Roasted, Stew'd, Fry'd, Broil'd, Hash'd, Frigasied, Carbonaded, Forc'd, Collard'd, Sous'd, Dry'd, etc. After the Best and Newest Way. With their several Sauces and Salads. And making all sorts of PICKELS. ALSO Making Variety of Pies Pasties, Tarts, Chees-Cakes, Custards, and Creams, etc. WITH The ART of Preserving and Candying of Fruits and Flowers; and making of Conserves, syrups, Jellies, and Cordial Waters. Also making several sorts of English Wines, Cyder, Mead, Metheglin. TOGETHER, With several Cosmetick or Beautifying Waters: And also several sorts of Essences and Sweet Waters, by Persons of the highest Quality. By T. Hall, Free Cook of London. The Second Edition. Lonodn: Printed for C. Bates, at the Sun and Bible in Gilt-spur-street, in Pye-corner: And A. Bettesworth, at the Red Lion on London-Bridge, 1713. Licenses according to Order.
12 mo. Woodcut frontispiece with the head of Queen Anne above three sections. On the recto of the Frontis there is a manuscript note in ink -- ' Elizabeth Lidlow her book 1796 Given by her Grandfather' Title page. 5-6. The Preface. 7-180. 2 feps. A full page woodcut of pies on p.133. The whole text lightly age browned throughout. Contemporary full dark brown calf boards neatly relaid, with a nice patina. The spine is modern dark brown calf with raised bands and gilt lettering. A very scarce book.
- This second edition is very scarce with only a handful of copies located in the US; at Cornell, Kansas State, the Lib. Of Congress and a private owner. In UK there are three recorded; one each in the BL, Cambridge and the Wellcome Institute. Cagle was not able to locate a first and Bitting’s copy is 1730. There were six editions up to 1734. The Queen's Royal Cookery, by T. Hall, was first published in 1709 (with the BL also holding one of only three known). As well as a wide variety of basic culinary recipes, the book contains instructions for preserves, candies, cosmetics and beautifying waters. It is one of a number of books claiming to reveal the secrets of the royal kitchens, a highly fashionable subject during the 17th and 18th centuries. Queen Anne, who reigned from 1702-1714, was a rich source of gossip, and the public seemed to have an endless fascination for any information gleaned from beyond the palace walls. The production of art and literature prospered during Her reign. Throughout this period booksellers churned out popular recipe books, fully aware of the commercial viability of recipes linked to prestigious chefs. Unfortunately many of the books were thrown together by money-making charlatans who had simply filched their material from existing publications. Forty of T. Hall's recipes were taken directly from 'The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelm Digby' (1669). Never the less an interesting book with the 17th century styled frontis of three engraved sections; A woodcut portrait of Queen Anne over a working kitchen scene, a pastry kitchen scene and a chymistry (chemistry) scene, which actually looks like a small distillery. Mrs Pennel - p145, describes Hall as a Free Cook of London, with little else known about him. Oxford p52, Cagle p719, Maclean p65.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11031

Harrison. Sarah - The extremely rare first edition
The House-keeper's Pocket-Book
The House-keeper's Pocket-Book, and Compleat FAMILY COOK, CONTAINING above Three Hundered curious and uncommon receipts in Cookery, Pastry, Preserving, Pickling, Candying, Collaring, etc. With plain and easy instructions for preparing and dressing everything suitable for an Elegant Entertainment, from Two Dishes to Five or Ten, etc. And directions for placing them in their proper order. CONCLUDING with many excellent prescription of the most eminent physicians, of singular efficiency in most distempers incident to the human body: And to the whole is prefix'd such a copius and useful bill of fare of all manner of provisions in season for every month of the year, that no person need be at a loss to provide an agreeable variety of dishes. By Mrs. Sarah Harrison of Devonshire. LONDON: Printed for T.Worrall, at Judge Coke's Head, over against St. Dunstans Church, Fleet Street. 1733. (price 2s 6d. bound.)
FIRST EDITION. 12mo. Pp. Title Page. (v-xii) (2-217) 20 pp of engraved Table Settings. 13 pp of Contents. Contemporary dark brown calf boards with blind tooling, nicely polished. Relaid tan calf spine with raised bands and red label with gilt lettering. Pages lightly browned throughout. A good copy.
- Atthough first published in 1733 and now extremely rare, all editions are very scarce, with only 12 copies in total of the five earlier editions recorded in the UK. Sarah Harrison, of Devonshire, provides recipes and suggested menus (bills of fare) for a year, as well as general housekeeping directions for removing stains, cleaning dishes, managing animals and livestock, as well as some instructions for distilling and brewing. For a typical October meal, she recommends a first course of haunch of doe venison with salted and boiled cabbages, cauliflowers and roots, neat's tongue and udders, or stewed carps, or fish to be garnished with spatch-cocked eels and sliced lemon and horseradish. The second course, like the first, takes advantage of the hunt, offering wild ducks to be served with gravy and claret sauce, larks, or chine of salmon. This meal concludes with seasonal fruits - apples, pears, nectarines, plums, mulberries, and grapes. MacLean states on page 66 of this first edition of 1733: "no copy located in the British Isles". The B.L. Integrated Cat. cites one incomplete copy of the 1733 edition. Considering MacLean's bibliography was printed as recently as 1981, her research leaves question marks. Nevertheless an extremely rare book.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10915

Hartman. George - Sir Kenelm Digby's former Steward.
The True Preserver Of Health
BEING A CHOICE COLLECTION OF Select and Experienced REMEDIES for all Distempers incident to Men, Women, and Children. Selected from, and Experienced by the most Faamous Physicians and Chyrurgions of Europe. TOGETHER WITH Excellent DIRECTIONS for COOKERY; AS ALSO FOR PRESERVING, and CONSERVING, and making all sorts of METHEGLIN, SIDER, CHERRY-WINE, &c. WITH THE Description of an Ingenious and Useful ENGIN for Dressing of Meat, and for Distilling the Choicest Cordial Waters without Wood, Coals, Candle, or Oyl. THE SECOND EDITION WITH ADDITIONS. Published for the Publick-Good by G. Hartman, Chymist. London: Printed for A. and F. Churchill, at the Black-Swan in Pater-Noster-Row. 1695.- Bound With: EXCELLENT DIRECTIONS FOR COOKERY; TOGETHER WITH The Description of an Useful ENGIN serving for the fame; and likewise for Distilling the Choicest and Best Cordial Waters AS ALSO SELECT RECEIPTS FOR PRESERVING, CONSERVING, and CANDYING,&c. WITH A COLLECTION Of the Choicest Receipts for making of METHEGLIN, SIDER, CHERRY-WINE,&c. THE SECOND PART. LONDON, Printed by T.B. for G. Hartman Chymist. 1682.
FIRST EDITION. 12mo. Pp. Title Page. 6pp Epistle. 7pp Index. (1-352) Fully Bound in dark brown calf with original boards and blind tooled borders. Original Spine with raised bands and red label with gilt lettering.-2ND PART; Pp. Title Page. (3-80) Engraved picture of 'Distillery Engine' 32 pp 'Select Receipts' Internally very clean with minimal aging to pages, with some pages a little more brown due to paper quality. Title page has a small brown stain that does not affect overall. An extremely scarce book.
- George Hartman was the steward and assistant to Sir Kenelme Digby. He published in 1669, from a compilation of Digby's notes, 'The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digby KT. Opened' One of the most important cookery books of the seventeenth century and considered an excellent source of period recipes, particularly for beverages such as mead. Sir Kenelme Digby died on June 11, 1665. Hartman then published the first edition of this work 'The True Preserver' in 1682.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10921

Hazlemore. Maximilian Rare to extremely rare.
DOMESTIC ECONOMY
OR A COMPLETE SYSTEM OF ENGLISH HOUSEKEEPING CONTAINING The most approved Receipts, confirmed by Observation and Practice, in every reputable Book of English Cookery now extant; besides a great Variety of others which have never before been offered to the Public. Also a va-luable Collection, translated from Productions of Cooks of Eminence who have published in France, with their respective Names to each Receipt; which, together with the ORIGINAL ARTICLES, form th emost com-plete System of HOUSEKEEPING ever yet exhibited, under the following Heads, viz. ROASTING, BOILING, MADE-DISHES, FRYING, BROILING, FRICASSES, ROGOUTS, SOUPS, SAUCES, GRAVIES, HASHES, STEWS, PUDDINGS, CUSTARDS, CAKES, TARTS, PIES, PASTIES, CHEESECAKES, JELLIES, PICKLING, PRESERVING, and, CONFECTIONARY. To which is prefixed, in order to render it as complete and perfect as possible, AN ELEGANT COLLECTION OF LIGHT DISHES FOR SUPPER,ADAPTED FOR EVERY MONTH OF THE YEAR. ALSO THE COMPLETE BREWER; CONTAINING Familiar Instructions for brewing all Sorts of Beer and Ale; including the proper Management of the Vault and Cellar. LIKEWISE THE FAMILY PHYSICIAN; Being a Collection of the most valuable and approved Prescriptions by Mead, Sydenham, Tissot, Fothergill, Elliot, Buchan, and Others. BY MAXIMILIAN HAZLEMORE. LONDON: PRINTED FOR J.CRESWICK, AND CO. 1794.
FIRST AND SOLE EDITION. 8vo. 1fep. Title page. [1] (1)+4 To the Public. (1)vi-xxiz Contents. (1)xxvi-xxxii Proper Articles to cover the Table every Month. (1)2-392. 2feps. Modern dark brown calf, with marbled boards and calf tips. Spine with raised bands gilt lines with a red label and gilt writing. Externally very good, internally age-browned throughout. Overall a nice copy of a extremely scarce book that rarely appears on the market.
- Nothing seems to be known about Hazlemore. Cagle proclaims p530.- 'This is a word for word reprint of Mary Cole's 'Lady's Complete Guide, or Cookery in all its Branches' London 1791. Oxford states on p122 exactly the same thing and wonders who the author may be. I have a copy of Cole. (see item ref: 11302 on this site) I made a comparison and after reading the notes of Mary Cole's cookery book I am struck however, by the very unusual and honest habit of Hazlemore's, to attribute and note the names of previously published authors he used, against each of his receipts. This then leads me, as a chef myself, to state my own observation, that an extremely small amount of dishes and recipes, if any at all, are original. All dishes cooked are the sum of the cook's experience of recipes already existing. If the cook has a streak of innovation, and most do, then they will possibly enhance those learned recipes. Sometimes when the cook is very good, the dishes he or she cooks are exceptional and quite different and bear only a passing nod to the fundamentals of the original. The dishes cooked today by great chefs can still be ascertained in the recipes in this and other antiquarian cookery books, and this in turn reinforces a universal truism, that everything changes but ultimately remain the same.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11101

HENDERSON. William Augustus
THE HOUSEKEEPER’s INSTRUCTOR:
OR, UNIVERSAL FAMILY COOK, BEING A FULL AND CLEAR Display of the Art of Cookery in all its Branches. Proper Directions for dressing all Kinds of Butcher’s Meat, Poultry, Game, Fish, &c. The Method of preparing all the Va-rieties of Soups, Hashes, and Made Dishes. The whole Art of Confectionery, Pick-ling, Preserving, &c. The making and keeping in Perfection British Wines; and Proper Rules for Brewing Malt Liquor for large or small Families. TO WHICH IS ADDED, The Whole Art of Carving, ILLUSTRATED WITH ENGRAVINGS, Explaining by proper References, the Manner in which Young Practitioners may acquit themselves at Table with Elegance and Ease. ALSO, Bills of Fare for every Month in the Year. The Manner of decorating a Table, displayed by Copper Plates. Directions for Marketing. Observations on Culinary Poisons, and The Management of the Kitchen and Fruit Garden. By W.A. HENDRSON, Many Years eminent in the Culinary Profession. The Fifteenth Edition. CORRECTED, REVISED, AND CONSIDERABLY IMPROVED, By every modern Addition and Variation in the Art, By JACOB CHRISTOPHER SCHNEBBELIE, LATE APPRENTICE TO MESSRS, TUPP AND PERRY, Oxford-Street; afterwards PRINCIPAL COOK AT MELUN’S HOTEL, BATH; AND NOW OF THE ALBANY, LONDON. LONDON PRINTED AND SOLD BY J. STARTFORD, NO. 112, HOLBOLN-HILL. 1809.
Large 8vo. 1fep. [1] Frontispiece with engraving of Schnebbelie and The Albany. [1] 3-4 Introduction. 5-448. 16p Index. 1fep. Seven engraved plates illustrating carving, plus three plates, (one folding) showing table settings, as called for. Handsome dark brown half calf binding. Spine with gilt lines and a black calf label with gilt lettering. Marbled boards. The text block very good with very slight foxing occasionally. Overall a very good copy.
- It was one of the most popular English cookery books of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Henderson's work was premised on the need to provide inexperienced householders with a basic instruction manual to impart the principles of proper domestic economy to cooks, servers and other household and garden staff. It is an attractive work, with interesting recipes and menus for the different months of the year, including a lavish one for a ball supper for twenty. Jacob Christopher Schnebbelie had been the principal cook at Melun’s Hotel in Bath and Martelli’s Restaurant at The Albany, in Piccadilly, London. - Cagle 738 for the 1791 first edition.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11164

Henderson. William Augustus
THE HOUSEKEEPER’s INSTRUCTOR:
OR, UNIVERSAL FAMILY COOK, BEING AN AMPLE AND CLEAR Display of the ART OF COOKERY IN ALL ITS VARIOUS BRANCHES.CONTAINING PROPER DIRECTIONS for DRESSING all Kinds of Butcher’s Meat, Poultry, Game, Fish, &c. ALSO, THE Method of preparing Soups, Hashes, and Made Dishes; WITH The whole Art of Confectionary, Pickling, Preserving, &c. LIKEWISE The making and keeping in Perfection British Wines; AND PROPER RULES FOR BREWING MALT LIQUOR, as well for Family Consumption as the Regale of private Visitants.. TO WHICH IS ADDED, The Complete Art of Carving, ILLUSTRATED WITH ENGRAVINGS, Explaining by proper References, the Manner in which Young Practitioners may acquit himself at Table with Elegance and Ease. ALSO, BILLS OF FARE FOR EVERY MONTH OF THE YEAR. With COPPER-PLATES displaying The Manner of decorating a Table; DIRECTIONS FOR MARKETING, AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE KITCHEN AND FRUIT-GARDEN. The whole formed on so NEW a PLAN, that the Inexperienced will be instructed, and the professed Cook will receive that Information which has never been known by any previous Publication. THE FIFTH EDITION. By WILLIAM AUGUATUS HENDERSON, Who has made the Culinary Art his Study for upwards of Forty Years. LONDON: PRINTED AND SOLD BY W. AND J. STARTFORD, No. 112, HOLBORN-HILL.
Large 8vo. 1fep. [1] An interesting Frontispiece with an engraving of a kitchen scene and a Butler instructing an apprentice in the Art of Carving and a Lady presenting her servant with a copy of the Universal Family Cook. [1] 3-4 Introduction. 5-448.16 pages Index. 1fep. Seven engraved plates illustrating carving, plus four plates, (two folding) showing table settings, as called for. Original dark brown calf boards with rubbed corners. Sympathetically re-laid spine with raised bands, and two calf labels with gilt lettering and lines. The text block very clean with very slight dusting in places. Overall a very good copy.
- An early edition of Henderson's book. All early copies are uncommon. The first was issued 1971. This one is the fifth Edition of 1793. It is obvious that Henderson's book was very popular, publishing the 2nd, 3rd & 4th editions within 2 years of the 1st and 5th editions. How many of each edition was printed is nigh impossible to ascertain, but Henderson's successful book ran to many editions and after his death, and to quote the title page verbatim - "CORRECTED, REVISED, AND CONSIDERABLY IMPROVED, By every modern Addition and Variation in the Art, By JACOB CHRISTOPHER SCHNEBBELIE, LATE APPRENTICE TO MESSRS, TUPP AND PERRY, Oxford-Street; afterwards PRINCIPAL COOK AT MELUN’S HOTEL, BATH; AND NOW OF THE ALBANY, LONDON". Schnebbelie took up the 12th edition and continued until at least the 17th edition. In her bibliography the ever-frustrating MacLean dismisses Simon's p.81 claim, that this cookery book was probably the most popular of the late eighteenth century, and she further states negatively, it is a 'bold assertion'. Bold or not, the 10th edition of c1800 proves the overwhelming popularity a book that runs to ten editions in nine years and is then taken up by another famous cook and subsequently runs to another seven editions at least. The other unusual fact that cannot be dismissed lightly, is that Schennbelie even kept Henderson's name in the title page before his own. One cannot see that if the book continued to be anything less than hugely popular, Schennbelie would have persisted with Henderson's name on the title page. Because of the great scarcity of all early editions, one has to conclude that limited numbers of each edition were issued.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11208

Hill. Sir John - Rare large paper copy with 75 hand-coloured plates.
The British Herbal
AN HISTORY OF PLANTS and TREES, NATIVES of BRITIAN, CULTIVATED FOR USE, OR RAISED FOR BEAUTY. By JOHN HILL, M.D. LONDON: Printed for T. Osborne and J. Shipton, in Gray's-Inn, J. Hodges, near London-Bridge; J. Newbery, in St. Pauls Church-Yard; B. Collins, And S. Crowder and H. Woodgate, in Pater-noster-Row. MDCCLV1.
FIRST EDITION. Very large folio. 475x295mm. Marbled end-papers and front and back paste-downs. 1fep Frontispiece (hand-coloured allegorical full page engraving showing the "Genius of Health receiving the tributes---") Title page with red and black text and a coloured vignette (praised and illustrated by Henrey 11) 2pp dedication with coloured arms of the Earl of Northumberland flanked by the lion and the unicorn. [1] 2-533. 3pp index. 1fep. With 75 plates of multiple botanical and herbal specimens, all delicately coloured by a contemporary hand. A large paper copy. Possibly original full dark brown calf boards with faded double gilt lined border. Spine in same dark calf, raised with faded gilt. Gilt lettering in one compartment. Overall slightly rubbed but nicely re-polished. Frontispiece edges sometime expertly restored without loss or affecting the coloured engraving. Title page lightly dusted with a 1" light brown stain not affecting text. Small 1"sq. old sellotape mark on p79 not affecting text. The last four pages lightly browned with page repairs not affecting text. Very neat contemporary manuscript notes in margins throughout referring to several plants names and perhaps positions in the garden, ownership inscription on blank side of frontispiece of Solomon Ackroyd. Overall a nice bright copy in its original condition.
- Sir John Hill MD (1716?-1775) was thought to have been born at Peterborough in 1716. As a boy he was apprenticed to an apothecary. He tried to increase his profits by studying botany and was employed by royalty to arrange their gardens and collect dried plants. He was also considered to be a "miscellaneous writer" and published plays and small periodicals. He founded such journals as the British Magazine. He was ultimately responsible for penning over 70 books and hundreds of articles on almost all subjects of interest. Hill contributed many articles to the Supplement to Mr. Chambers's Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts & Sciences. During the 1750's he obtained a diploma of medicine from the University of St. Andrews. In 1756 he published The British Herbal: An History of Plants and Trees Natives of Britain, Cultivated For Use, or Raised For Beauty. This was the 26th book he had published. Later, in 1759, he commenced publication of The Vegetable System and for the next sixteen years, he was occupied in bringing out this monumental, 26-volume work containing sixteen hundred copper plate engravings representing twenty-six thousand different plants. It was not to be completed until just before his death in 1775. Sadly, as with many undertakings of this magnitude, the money ran out, and Hill turned his hand to quack medicine. Hill applied himself to the preparation of various herb medicines such as 'the essence of waterdock', 'tincture of valerian', 'pectoral balsam of honey', etc. He thus made a considerable sum of money which he put back into his work. Hill also obtained appointments to such prestigious positions as Superintendent of the Royal Gardens at Kew & Gardener of Kensington. He died of gout, (a disease for which he professed to have an invaluable cure), on 21st Nov. 1775. Some of his botanical works are considered classics. The British Herbal is much rarer than John Gerard's 'Historie of Plants' and is a work of veracity and vitally important for modern botanical nomenclature in that, not only did Hill attempt to name and categorize the flowers and herbs which grow in Britain, but he classifed them on the forms of the corolla and gynoecium and criticised the Linnaean system. Henrey 799; Lowndes vol II, 1070. (Sophie Schneideman Cat.5. Feb.09)

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