OldCooksBooks.com


Showing page 20 of 26 pages. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Nutt. Frederick - an untrimmed copy.
THE IMPERIAL AND ROYAL COOK;
CONSISTING OF THE MOST SUMPTUOUS MADE DISHES, RAGOUTS, FRICASSES, SOUPS, GRAVIES,&c. Foreign and English: INCLUDING THE LATEST IMPROVEMENTS IN FASHIONABLE LIFE. SECOND EDITION. BY FREDERICK NUTT. AUTHOR OF THE COMPLETE CONFECTIONER. LONDON; PRINTED FOR SAMUEL LEIGH, STRAND; AND BALDWIN, CRADOCK, AND JOY, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1819
8vo 195x120mm. 1fep. Half title. [2] Frontispiece with signature 'Frederic Nutt Esq.' Engraved by Woodman from a Drawing by Satchell. Title Page. (1)vi-viii Advertisements. (1)x-xxiv Contents. (1)2-268. (1)270-276 Index. 1fep. Original cardboard boards with advertisements on both sides. Lightly age browned but still very clearly legible. Rebacked with 1/4 dark brown modern calf with raised bands with fine gilt tooling. Two labels, one red and one black with gilt lettering. Internally very clean with original untrimmed edges. A very good copy.
- The original advertisements on the front cover gives all the information for this book. Two interesting points; It states this is the second edition but the date on the cover is 1820, while on the title page it states 1819. The back cover is a full advert for Nutt's other famous book 'The Complete Confectioner' also dated 1820. The first edition for this book is 1809 and the first edition of 'The Complete Confectioner' is 1789. Also of interest, Nutt has his first name on the front cover spelt Frederic, and on the back as Frederick. Bitting has this second of 1819, Oxford the first of 1809, Cagle the first also, and the BL one of each. A very scarce book especially untrimmed and with the original boards.

click on image to enlarge

Antiquarian category

ref number: 11026

Parnell. Henry - Rare.
A Collection of Valuable Receipts.
IN VARIOUS BRANCHES OF DOMESTIC ECONOMY, SELECTED FROM THE WORKS OF BRITISH AND FOREIGN WRITERS OF UNQUESTIONABLE AUTHORITY AND EXPERIENCE. BY HENRY PARNELL, OF LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS. London: WILLIAM DARTON, JUN. 58, HOLBORN HILL. Sold by the Booksellers in Town and Country. 1819.
FIRST and possible SOLE EDITION. 174mm x 105mm. 2feps. [1] Frontispiece dated 1822. [1] (1)4-72. 2feps. Original discoloured dark grey covers with rubbed corners. Quarter red cloth. Spine with black label lengthways with gilt lettering. Pages slightly age browned throughout with the frontis and title page a little more. Overall fine.
- There are no copies in the bibliographies nor auction catalogues. Nothing can be found out about Henry Parnell. There is no further information in the book besides that on the title page. The frontis dated 1822 added to the title page dated 1819 is a further curiosity that defies an explanation. It is a curious book with general and diverse receipts, such as 'To detect Dampness in a Bed', or 'Experienced Method of Catching Larks' also 'Method of recovering persons Apparently Drowned'. Incredibly the recipe for “British Champagne” comes after advice on 'How to destroy worms in a gravel path'. COPAC shows only two copies at Oxford, both dated 1819 and one other in the BL dated 1819 with the frontis also dated 1822. A rare item even without proof of other possible editions.

click on image to enlarge

Antiquarian category

ref number: 11185

Partridge. John - Extremely rare.
THE TREASURY OF Hidden Secrets,
Commonly called, The Good-huswives Closet of provision, for the health of her Household. Gathered out of sundry experiments, lately practised by men of great knowledge: And now newly inlarged with divers necessary Physick helps, and knowledge of the names and disposition of diseases, that most commonly happen to Men and Women. Not imeprtinant for every good Huswife to us ein her House, amongst her own Family. [Printers woodcut device] LONDON, Printed by Jane Bell, and to be sold at the East-end of Christ-Church, 1653.
Quarto, A-I in 4's. 1fep. Title page. [1] A2 - FINIS. [Total pp 63] 3p The Table. 1fep. Original full dark brown calf. Blind tooled border line to boards. Spine with gilt lines and lettering re-laid. Pages are age browned with browning to edges. Text in black letter. Top of one leaf restored without loss. A good copy of an extremely rare book.
- John Partridge was an Elizabethan author of historical poem-romance. The earthy, mundane cookbook was an unusual transgression from the norm. His book, the ‘Treasury of Hidden Secrets’ was a popular 16th and early 17th century English handbook of cookery, herbals, and medicine. First published around 1573, it was printed in London by Richard Jones, and gives John Partridge as the author. It was frequently reprinted for over 75 years; the present volume is that of the 1653 edition printed by Jane Bell. The earliest extant copy of the book is the 1573 edition. Its title was ‘The Treasurie of Commodious Conceits & Hidden Secrets’, reprinted in 1584, again by Jones, the title-page advertised it as 'now the fourth time corrected, and inlarged,' The Elizabethan printer might have been exclusively a printer, or both bookseller and printer; but booksellers were not necessarily printers. Both printers and booksellers in London were tightly controlled, licensed, censored, and fined for violations. Some copies note that Jones’s 1584 printing was 'at Eliot’s Court Press for Henry Car,' suggesting Car as a bookseller who helped to finance the printing. When the book was reprinted in 1591, Richard Jones is now located ‘at the Rose and Crowne neere Holborne bridge.’ The Bodleian’s bibliographic record suggests J. Charlewood as the 1591 printer. Jones is again given as printer for the 1596 edition. The book was again reprinted in 1608. This seems to be the latest date that the name John Partridge occurs in the text; subsequent editions are published anonymously. The next reprint was in 1627, from a new bookseller and printer; the book was ‘Printed [by Eliot’s Court Press] for E.B[rewster] and R.B[yrd], and are to be sold at the ‘signe of the Bible in Cheapside.’ By 1627 the phrase, ‘Commodious Conceits’ had dropped out of the title and the title page identifies it as ‘The Treasurie of Hidden Secrets.’ In 1633 it was first printed by a woman ‘Elizabeth All-de dwelling neere Christs-church.’ Elizabeth was the widow of Edward All-de, a typical London printer whose father, John, was also a printer and whose work and style was well known. In 1637 ‘Treasury’ was ‘printed by Richard Oulton, dwelling neere Christs-church.’ As McKerrow (genealogy resources) suggest that Allde died in 1628, Richard Oulton may have taken over the press from his widow by 1637. Finally, ‘Treasury’ was last reprinted in 1653 'by Jane Bell and to be sold at the East end of Christ-church.' Originals of the 1573 printing are held by the Folger Shakespeare Library and the Henry E. Huntington Library. The only other work attributed to John Partridge is the cookery-medicine book called ‘The Widowes Treasure'. Partridge borrowed from a friend a copy of a household book written for the private use of ‘a gentlewoman in the country’, and decided it was his duty to publish it in 1585 under the title, 'The Widowes Treasure'. Copies of both Partridge's books are extremely rare, with none at auction since 1926. The BL only locates two other copies of the 1653 edition of ‘Treasury of Hidden Secrets’, one in the UK, and one in the US.

click on image to enlarge

Antiquarian category

ref number: 11023

Peckham. Ann - Very scarce.
THE Complete English COOK
OR PRUDENT HOUSEWIFE.BEING, A Collection of the most general, yet least expen-sive RECEIPTS in every Branch of COOKERY and Good Housewifery, With DIRECTIONS for Roasting, Boiling, Stewing, Ragoos, Soops, Sauces, (a perpendicular separating line) Fricassees, Pies, Tarts, Puddings, Cheese-cakes, Custards, Jellies, (a perpendicular separating line) Potting, Candying, Collaring, Pickling, Preserving, Made Wines &c. Together with Directions for placing Dishes on Tables of Entertainment: And many other Things equally ne-cessary. The whole made easy in the meanest Capacity, and far more useful to young beginners than any Book of the Kind extant. (a flat separating line) By ANN PECKHAM, of Leeds, Well know to have been for Forty Years one of the most noted Cooks in the County of York. (a flat separating line) The THIRD EDITION (a flat separating line) TO WHICH IS ADDED A SUPPLEMENT, Containing Forty Nine Receipts, never before printed. (a flat separating line) LEEDS: Printed for Griffith Wright and John Binns: And sold by G. Robinson, and Fielding and Walker, Paster-noster Row; J. Wallis, No. 16, Ludgate-Street, London; and all other Booksellers in Town and Country. [ Price Two Shillings Bound. ]
N/d. 12mo. 2 feps. Title page. [1] (1)iv. Preface. 5-218. 214-242 Illustrated pages of Dinners and Suppers for a whole year. 9 pages of Index. 2 feps. The whole text block lightly age browned throughout. Original dark brown leather boards with slightly scuffed corners. Sympathetically rebound spine in brown leather with raised bands and two red leather labels, with gilt text and lines. Overall, a nice copy of a very scarce title originating in and from Yorkshire.
- Not much can be found out about Ann Peckham, except from her book itself. She writes in her Preface that the recipes are the result of forty years practice in the best families in and about Leeds. She goes further, telling us amusingly, with a touch of Yorkshire plainness and prudence, that the recipes are not fluffed out with a nauseous hodge-podge of French kickshaws; and yet the real delicacies of the most sumptuous entertainments are by no means neglected. Oxford adds in the notes to his copy of Peckham’s Complete Cook, that the title page has been taken boldly from ‘The Complete English Cook’ by Cathrine Brooks. A disconcerting snippet that can't be reconciled in any way without further info or research. One wonders naturally, how much of Brooks’ recipes are also in the text. The first edition appeared in 1767, with a second of 1771. This undated third; circa 1775, is the first with a supplement. MacLean records two 4th editions of 1790. Cagle, page 662; Oxford, page 95; Bitting, page 360, citing a 3rd edition; Vicaire, page 669, also a 3rd edition.

click on image to enlarge

Antiquarian category

ref number: 11231

Pegge. Samuel 14th century recipes of the Master Cooks of Richard 11
THE FORME OF CURY.
A ROLL OF ANCIENT COOKERY, Compiled, about A.D. 1390, by the Master-Cooks of King Richard 11, Presented afterwards to Queen Elizabeth, by Edward Lord Stafford, And now in the Possession of Gustavus Brander, Esq. Illustrated with NOTES, And a copious INDEX, or GLOSSARY. A MANUSCRIPT of the EDITOR, of the same Age and Subject, with other congruous Matters, are Subjoined. "---ingeniosa gula est." MARTIAL LONDON PRINTED BY J. NICHOLS, PRINTER TO THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES. M DCC LXXX.
FIRST EDITION - 1st ISSUE. 1780. InSide the green cover, bookplate of Crosby Giage. 1fep. [1] On verso the Frontispiece with a nice ornate illustration of Samuel Pegge. [1] iii-iv dedication from Brander to Pegge. i - xxx Preface. [1] 1page facsimile of the manuscript. xxxi - xxxvi. 1-161 The Forme of Cury. 162 Addenda. 163-164 Advertisement. 163-188 Rolls of Provisions. 2feps. Quarter red red leather with red marbled boards. Spine with gilt lines on raised bands. Gilt title and date. Internally test block and pages in fine clean condition.
- The Forme of Cury (The Method of Cooking) is an extensive collection of medieval English recipes from the 14th century. Originally in the form of a scroll, compiled and listed as "the chief Master Cooks of King Richard II". It is among the oldest English cookery texts, and the first to mention olive oil, gourds, and spices such as mace and cloves. The scroll was written in late Middle English (c. 1390) on vellum and contains about 200 recipes (although the exact number of recipes varies slightly between different versions) with many of the same recipes as 'Ancient Cookery' (Latin: Diuersa seruicia). 'The Forme of Cury' may have been written partly to compete with 'Le Viandier' of Taillevent, a French cookbook created around the same time. This supports the idea that banquets were a symbol of power and prestige for medieval lords and kings. The name, 'The Forme of Cury' was given by Samuel Pegge, who published this edition of the manuscript in 1780 for the curator of the British Museum, Gustavus Brander. The title has come to be used for almost all versions, although they differ from each other. It is one of the best-known medieval guides to cooking. The Forme of Cury’ is the first English text to mention olive oil, cloves, mace and gourds in relation to British food. Most of the recipes contain what were then luxurious and valuable spices: caraway, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger and pepper. There are also recipes for cooking strange and exotic animals, such as whales, cranes, curlews, herons, seals and porpoises. Some of the food and spices could have only come to England through trade from Muslim lands. In 2009 another variant of 'The Forme of Cury' from about the same time, but in codex form, was discovered in the John Rylands Library at Manchester University. Samuel Pegge the elder, born 5 November 1704, was an English antiquary and clergyman. Besides the 'Forme of Cury' he wrote seven memoirs in the Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, including The Story of Guy, Earl of Warwick (1783); The History of Eccleshall Manor (1784); The Roman Roads of Derbyshire (1784);[4] The Textus Roffensis (1784) ; History of Bolsover and Peak Castles, Derbyshire (1783). He also wrote a large number of articles for the Gentleman's Magazine from 1746 to 1795, He died, after a fortnight's illness, on 14 February 1796 at age 92. He was buried in the chancel at Whittington, where a mural tablet was installed.

click on image to enlarge

Antiquarian category

ref number: 11250

Piedmontese. Alessio [Girolamo Ruscello] - A medieval classic.
The Secrets of Alexis:
CONTAINING MANY EXCELLENT REMEDIES AGAINST DIVERS DISEASES, wounds, and other Accidents. With the maner to make Distillations, Parfumes, Confritures, Dying, Colours, Fusions, and Meltings. A worke well approved, very necessarie for every man. Newly corrected and amended, and also somewhat more enlarged in certaine places, which wanted in the former Editions. Lonodn, Printed by William Stansby for Richard Meighen and Thomas Iones, and are to be sold at their shop with-out Temple-barre under S. Clements Church. 1615.
4to. 180x145mm. 3feps (with 2 19th-cent. ink inscriptions on recto, one being from J.Osbourn Francis) Title page. [1] 6pp The Epistle to Francis, Lord Russel, Earle of Bedford. 4pp To the Reader. Unusual pagination; recto with number, verso unnumbered -- (1) 2-348 (698 pages) Lacking 259-290 including title to the fourth part. 28pp The Table. 3feps. Some mild age browning throughout, with the title and last pages a little darker. Printed mainly in black letter. Some pencil markings in the margins, Five early English MS marginalia discussing recipes. Bound in 19th-cent. marled boards with the page edges marbled to match. Sympathetically rebacked in dark brown smooth calf with gilt lines and red morocco gilt label. Overall a very good copy of an early book.
- Alessio Piemontese, also known under his latinized name of Alexius Pedemontanus, was the pseudonym of Girolamo Ruscelli, a 16th century Italian physician, alchemist, humanist and cartographer, who was born in Viterbo around 1504 and died in Venice, 1566, and the author of this immensely popular book, 'The Secrets of Master Alexis of Piedmont'. This work is in five parts, parts 2-3 have separate dated title pages (and the fourth when present); the fifth part has a caption title; foliation and register are continuous. The title pages to the second, third and fourth parts bear the imprint "Printed at London by W. Stansby, anno Dom. 1614." The first three parts were first published separately in an English translation, beginning in 1559 and the four parts were first published together in English in 1595. Our edition contains an additional fifth part attributed in the title to "Mayster Alexis of Piemont" but not found in the original Italian editions nor the English edition of 1595 It continued to be published in more than a hundred editions and was still being reprinted in the 1790s. As well as English, the work was translated into Latin, German, Spanish, French, and Polish. It unleashed a torrent of 'books of secrets' that continued to be published down through the eighteenth century. Alessio was the prototypical professor of secrets. His description of his hunt for secrets in the preface to the 'Secreti' helped to give rise to a legend of the wandering empiric who dedicated his life to the search for natural and technological secrets. The book contributed to the emergence of the concept of science as a hunt for the secrets of nature, which pervaded experimental science during the period of the Scientific Revolution. In a later work, Ruscelli reported that the Secreti contained the experimental results of an ‘Academy of Secrets’ that he and a group of humanists and noblemen founded in Naples in the 1540s. Ruscelli’s academy is the first recorded example of an experimental scientific society. First published in Venice in 1555 as the famous title 'De secreti del Reverendo Donno Alessio Piedmontese' , it helped to shape Giambattista Della Porta's famous 'Magia Naturalis' of 1558 and Isabella Crtese's 'Secreti' of 1564. -- Duveen, Bibliotheca Alchemica et Chemica, pages 15-17; Krivatsy, 17th Century Books in the National Library of Medicine, page 21, No. 209; Wellcome Library, Volume I, page 9, No. 188.

click on image to enlarge

Antiquarian category

ref number: 11085

PISANELLI. BALDASSARE - Medieval advice on Cookery & Gastronomy.
TRATTORA DELLA NATURA
DE' CIBI, B DEL BERE - DI - BALDASSARE PISANELLI - Medico Bolognese - Nel quale non solomente tutti le vitu, e vizj de quelli minutamente si palesano; mo anche i rimedj per correeggere i loro difetti copiofamente s'insegnano, tan-to nell' apparecchiarli per l'ufo, quan-to nell' ordinaire il modo di riceverrli, Distinto in un vigo, e bellissimo par-tirmento tutto pieno delle dottrine de'piu celbri Medici, e Fi-losofi, con molte belle istorie natulari. - EDIZIONE SECONDA, - Dilgentemente Corretta. (a small printer's device) - IN NAPOLI ][ M.DCC.LXXXII - Nella Imprenta Severinia. Colle faculte Supreme.
1782. 4to. 153 x 90 mm. 1fep. Title page strengthened with some ink doodle on the top left corner, not affecting text. [1] 111-V111 Indice. (1)2-272. (The last page mis-numbered as p246. It should be p274, but text is correct, and another page 246 is correctly in place). 1fep. Text lightly age browned. Old vellum binding. Re-backed, with title in black ink script on spine. Faded red edges. A good copy. Text in cursive and roman type, within typographical border.
- Baldassare Pisanelli, a Bolognese doctor who practised medicine in Bologna in the 16th century. He authored a treatise on the plague and another on scorpions as well, but became celebrated through the erudition shown in this fine work of 'Trattato', dealing with the nature of comestibles. One point of reasoning, among many others, was that because birds fly, this capacity rendered them light and, consequently, easily digestible and well suited for those with delicate digestive tracks. Interestingly the sixteenth century quail was counted among the “animali volatili", that is recommended for noble consumption by Pisanelli; like other types of fowl, including capon, blackbirds, dove, pheasant, partridge, and the meat of virgin chicken (those having never laid an egg) which came to be esteemed as a noble food. Also noteworthy are the observations inspired by a hierarchical view of society; Tripe is a type of food for hard working people, young Partridges have a damaging effect only on rustic people. Pork harms sensitive and lazy people, but is suitable for people who suffer from fatigue a lot; the best way to eat it is roasted with spices. Porchette (a boned, stuffed and roasted suckling pig) usually eaten with great curiosity, should be avoided because harmful, but if the pig is of considerable age it will be a great source of nourishment. Hams and Salamis stimulate appetite but should be eaten in moderation. Medieval beliefs aside, this very interesting work on cookery and gastronomy where the author describes the qualities and uses also of fruits, vegetables (such as mushrooms, artichokes, truffles, fennel, cucumbers), fish, cheese, and more, and also gives information about the conditions under which such food and drinks should be used. The last section is devoted exclusively to wine, describing both various types of wine and the appropriate uses for each of them. The first edition published in Rome in 1583. Further editions published at Venezia and Bergamo: 1584, 1587, 1659, appear to be reprints of the first of 1583. This stated second edition of 1782 is very uncommon. Westbury p. 173; Vicarie 682; Simon 1171; Oberlè n. 70 (1st edn.); B.IN.G. 1498.

click on image to enlarge

Antiquarian category

ref number: 11336

Plat - Kt. Sir Hugh - A rare edition with both parts presnt.
A Closet for Ladies and Gentlewomen
OR The Art of Preserving, Conserving, and Candying. With the Manner how to make divers kinds of Sirups, and all kind of banqueting stuffes.Also divers soveraigne Medi-cines and Salves for Sunday Diseases. LONDON. Printed by John Haviland. 1635. Bound with -- DELIGHTS FOR LADIES, TO ADORNE THEIR Persons, Tables, Closets, and Distillatories WITH Beauties, Banquets, Perfumes, And Waters. reade, practise, and censure. LONDON, Printed by R.Y. and are to be sold by James Boler. 1635.
12mo. Pp. Title Page with latticed border. All pages unnumbered. Fully bound in modern dark brown calf with 17th century style blind tooling on boards and spine. -- THE 2ND PART; Pp. Title page. 4 pp Epistle, a poem signed by H. Plat. 13 pp of 'The Table' all without borders. This second work is divided into four parts; The first of which is 'The Art of Preserving, Conserving, Candying etc'. Next 'Secrets in Distillation'. Next 'Cookery and Huswifery'. Finally 'Sweet Powders, Oyntments, Beauties etc'. All pages unnumbered. All text pages of both parts surrounded by intricate latticed borders. A very nice clean copy with minimal aging. The title page slightly dusty. A rare item especially in this fine condition..
- Elizabethan and Jacobean London was the home of Sir Hugh Plat (1552-1611), a gentleman of varied interests. As a Londoner trying to make his way in the world, and very much a man of his time and place, he was known as an author, alchemist, speculator and inventor whose career touched on the fields of alchemy, general scientific curiosity, cookery and sugar work, cosmetics, gardening and agriculture, food manufacture, victualling, supplies and marketing. Unlike many of his colleagues and correspondents, much of his manuscript material, in the form of notebooks and papers, has survived. Not much, however, is known of his personal life and among his manuscripts there are few letters, diaries or other private materials. Plat had such a wide range of interests that modern scholars have tended to concentrate on that aspect of his work that most affects their own research. Most recently he has fallen amongst historians of science and while they have carefully examined his written and published works they have, in some cases, interpreted almost all that he wrote as a quest for scientific knowledge, in the same way that the gardening writers thought him primarily a gardener or the cookery writers treated his cookery book as his most important work. Our interest here is definitely the latter. This edition of 1635 not in Cagle, Oxford, Bitting, Vicaire or Hazlitt. Most have the 1636 edition. The BL also lacks the 1635 edition, but the STC of Pollard & Redgrave cites the 1635 edition of both parts. Bent Juel- Jensen writing about the second part only in ‘Some Uncollected Authors XIX, The Book Collector” states -- “The reader is left in no sort of doubt about what went on in the Elizabethan kitchen, and few could put the book down without some regret for the passing of those most leisurely days. ... It is not surprising that some of these have survived in single copies only, and some have probably disappeared altogether ... Most surviving copies are pretty grubby and often incomplete.” A 1615 copy of 'DELIGHTS FOR LADIES' only, was offered at the 59th New York Book Fair for $9750.oo. This copy however is in unusually good condition and with the both parts present.

click on image to enlarge

Antiquarian category

ref number: 10914

Plat - Kt. Sir Hugh A very scrace book.
THE JEVVEL HOUSE.
OF Art and Nature: Containing Divers Rare and Profitable Inven-tions, together with sundry new Experiments in the Art of Husbandry. WITH Divers Chymical Conclusions concerning the Art of Distillation, and the rare practices and uses thereof. Faithfully and faniliarly set down, according to the Authors own Experience. (a single top line) By Sir Hugh Plat of Lincolns-Inne, Knight. (a single bottom line) Whereunto is added, A rare and excellent Discours of Minerals, Stones, Gems and Rosins: with the vertues and use thereof, By D. B. Gent. (a single line) LONDON: Printed By Elizabeth Alsop. and are to be sold at her house in Grubstreet, near the Upper Pump. 1653. All enclosed within thick ornate border.
Small quatro. 194 x 153 x 24mm. 3 feps with the small stamp of the Assay Office Library Birmingham. The Title page. 2p A dedication to the Honourable, Boulstroad Whitlock. 4p of The Table. 1-232. 3fep. Some illustrations in text. Title page aged with repairs, with repairs on the verso not effecting text. The next 3 leaves aged. Overall lightly age-browned but clear. Some good repairs has brought the book back to a desirable copy. Bound in quarter brown calf with a darker spine. With raised bands and gilt writing in 3 compartments. The boards covered in strong brown cloth with the tips in calf. Revised edition, expanded from its first appearance in 1594 under the same title, the second overall.
- Hugh Plat was born in the spring of 1552, and baptised at St. James's, Garlickhythe, on 3 May 1552. He was the third son and eldest surviving of Richard Plat or Platt (1528-1600), a London brewer who ran the Old Swan brewery in James Street, London. His father owned property in St Pancras, London, bequeathing much of it to the foundation and endowment of a free school and six alms-houses at Aldenham, Hertfordshire. He was buried on 28 November 1600. Hugh's mother, Alice, was daughter of John Birtles, of Birtles, Cheshire. Plat matriculated at St John's College, Cambridge, on 12 November 1568 and he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1572. Soon afterwards he became a member of Lincoln's Inn. He resided from 1594 at Bishop's Hall, Bethnal Green, later moving to the neighbouring Kirby's Castle. Both at Bethnal Green and in St Martin's Lane. he maintained gardens, where he conducted horticultural and agricultural experiments. For research, he often visited Sir Thomas Heneage's estate at Copt Hall, Essex, and other large properties. He learned metallurgy from blacksmiths, and worked with gardeners and farmers to gather information on horticulture and agriculture and foodstuffs. In consideration of his services as inventor, Plat was knighted by James I at Greenwich on 22 May 1605. In 1594 there appeared the first edition of 'The Jewell House of Art and Nature, dedicated to Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. The volume consists of five tracts with separate title-pages, 1. Divers new Experiments. 2. 'Diverse new Sorts of Soyle not yet brought into any Publique Use. 3. 'Chimical Conclusions concerning the Art of Distillation. 4. 'Of Moulding, Casting Metals. 5.'An offer of certain New Inventions which the Author proposes to Disclose upon reasonable Considerations. This second revised and enlarged edition appeared in 1613, dedicated to Bulstrode Whitelocke, and prepared by 'D. B.' (i.e. Arnold de Boate), who added a sixth tract 'A Discourse on Minerals, Stones, Gums, and Rosins. The Royal Collection Trust has a 1653 copy acquired by Queen Victoria sometime before 1860. The way this text has been printed and published matches Plat's eclectic curiosity and research. Some of the solutions to problems astonish: we are informed on P 19, Turn 5 spits at once with one hand. Then on P 28, How to hold a hot iron bar in your hands without burning. On the next page 29, Sweet cakes made without sugar. Further on P 71, How to keep Oysters good 10-12 days. (without refrigeration. Did this solution create food poisoning in the ignorant.?) Then the same kind of query on P 72, How to keep Lobsters crayfish etc good for some days. Then the fantastical; on P 88, A wagon with illustration. To be drawn by men instead of horses. - Intended to appeal to an audience as diverse as its contents, the book contains advice useful to travellers, farmers, housewives, soldiers, cooks, merchants, apothecaries, builders, distillers, and brewers, or indeed anyone who had “either wit, or will, to apply them.” An interesting book that (ODNB) elevates to Platt's most significant work. It shows to a great extent the need for people to constantly improve their knowledge and circumstance. Making the leap from Plat's time to the present, one wonders if human's will ever find their true comfort-zone, or are we tied to a quest to always follow Plat's example of on-going restless research. ESTC R10675; Goldsmiths' 1294; Kress 889; Wing P2391.

click on image to enlarge

Antiquarian category

ref number: 11259

Plumtree. Annabella - Very scarce in any edition.
DOMESTIC MANAGEMENT; OR, THE HEALTHFUL COOKERY-BOOK.
TO WHICH IS PREFIXED A TREATISE ON DIET, AS THE SUREST MEANS TO PRESERVE HEALTH, LONG LIFE, &C. WITH MANY VALUABLE OBSERVATIONS ON THE NUTRITIOUS AND BENIFICIAL., AS WELL AS THE AS THE WELL AS THE INJURIOUS EFFECTS OF VARIOUS KINDS OF FOOD; ALSO REMARKS ON THE WHOLESOME AND PERNICIOUS MODES OF COOKERY, INTENDED AS AN ANTIDOTE TO MODERN ERRORS THEREIN. To which is added, A METHOS OF TREATING SUCH TRIFLING MEDICAL CASES AS PROPERLY COME WITHIN THE SPHERE OF DONESTIC MANAGEMENT. BY A LADY. SECOND EDITION, CORRECTED AND ENLARGED. (short thin-thick rule) LONDON: PRINTED FOR B. CROSBY STATIONERS COURT, PATERNOSTER-ROW. AND SOLD BY EVERY BOOKSELLER IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. Prica 5s. boards. (short thin-thick rule) 1810. J.G. Bernard, Printer, Skinner-street, London.
FIRST EDITION. 181 x 113mm. 1 new fep. The original green paper cover bound in. [1] 1 original fep. Title page. [1] 1 page Advertisement. [1] (1)vi-xxiv Introduction & Observations on cooking utensils. (1)2-355. [1] 22 pages Index. 2 pages Advertisements. 1 original fep. [1] The original back cover bound in. 1 new fep. Half modern dark calf with marbled boards. Raised bands with gilt lines & two labels with gilt lettering. Uniformly and lightly age-browned throughout. The front fep with extensive but light foxing. All original pages untrimmed. A nice copy of the very scarce first edition with the original covers bound in.
- Annabella Plumtree was the daughter of Robert Plumptre (1723–1788) who was an English churchman and academic and President of Queens' College, Cambridge from 1760. Annabella had a sister; the author Anne Plumptre and a brother; the dramatist James Plumptre. Annabella’s book is a treatise on diet with many paragraphs called ‘Observations’ after recipes. These observations give healthful hints and advice, particularly for children. A thoughtful and unusual cookery book. Cagle has the second edition of 1813. Axford, Bitting, Oxfrod and Vicaire all record the first edition. Apparently an 1813 issue exits, but un-recorded in the bibliographies. Cagle informs that Watt attributes this work to Annabella Plumtre. Oxford mis-cites Watts and gives the author’s name as Arabella, a mistake that Bitting repeats. The NUC has a cross reference from Bell Plumtre to Annabella Plumtre.

click on image to enlarge

Antiquarian category

ref number: 11211