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Sala. George Augustus - With a brief note signed by G.A. Sala
The Thorough Good Cook
A SERIES OF NOTES ON THE CULINARY ART AND NINE HUNDRED RECIPES BY GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA. CASSELL AND COMPANY, Limited LONDON, PARIS & MELBOURNE 1895 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
FIRST AND SOLE ENGLISH EDITION. 210x172mm. Paste-down and fep in designed paper. On verso of fep: a tipped-in note on Reform Club embossed paper stating "Reform Club: Thursday. Dr Sir a line to say that I shall be duly with you a little before 8. Faithfully Yours G.A. Sala. (underlined) The Rev. T. Shore." Half Title. Verso advertisement for Sala's books. Title Page. Verso with a small illustrated device titled 'Belle Sauvage'. (1)vi-viii Preface 1. (1)x-xiii Preface 11. (1)xv-xvii Preface 111. 2p Contents. [1] (1)2-467. [1] (1)470-492 Index. Fep and paste-down in designed paper. The fine tooled and embossed original cover with gilt still in very good condition but the spine and the back edge of covers are sunned. All edges gilt. Internally very clean and in very good condition. An uncommon book especially with the autographed note.
- George Augustus Sala, (see 1st photo below) the youngest son of Augustus Sala (1792-1828) and Henrietta Simon (1789-1860), was born on 24th November, 1828. After the death of his father, George's mother supported herself and five surviving children by teaching singing and giving annual concerts in London and Brighton. Educated at the Pestalozzian school at Turnham Green, Sala left at fifteen to become a clerk. Later he found work drawing railway plans during the Railway Mania of 1845. A talented artist, Sala also worked as a scene-painter at the Lyceum Theatre and in 1848 was commissioned to illustrate Albert Smith's 'The Man in the Moon'. This was followed by an illustrated guidebook for foreign tourists that was published by Rudolf Ackermann. Other work included prints of the Great Exhibition and the funeral of the Duke of Wellington. Sala was also interested in becoming a journalist and in 1851 Charles Dickens accepted his article, 'The Key of the Street', for his journal, 'Household Words'. This was the first of many of Sala's articles that Dickens published over the next few years. In April, 1856, Dickens sent Sala to Russia as the journal's special correspondent. He also contributed to the author's next venture, 'All the Year Round' and other journals such as the 'London Illustrated News', 'Punch Magazine' and 'Cornhill Magazine'. In 1857, Sala began writing for the 'Daily Telegraph'. For the next twenty-five years he contributed an average of ten articles a week. Although paid £2,000 a year for his work, Sala, who was an avid collector of rare books and expensive china, was always in debt. Sala loved traveling and in 1863 accepted the offer of becoming the Telegraph's foreign correspondent. Over the next few years he reported on wars and uprisings all over the world. During the Franco-German War he was arrested in Paris as a spy but was eventually released from prison. He wrote several books based on his travels including 'From Waterloo to the Peninsula' (1867), 'Rome and Venice' (1869), 'Paris' (1880), 'America Revisited' (1882), 'A Journey Due South' (1885) and 'Right Round the World' (1888). After leaving the Daily Telegraph Sala moved to Brighton where he attempted to start his own periodical, 'Sala's Journal'. The venture failed and left him deeply in debt and in early 1895 he was forced to sell his large library of 13,000 books. George Augustus Sala died at Brighton on 8th December, 1895. In an email I received from Linda Gifkins, she kindly informed me of a hitherto unknown edition of 'The Thorough Good Cook' printed by Brentano's - New York, Chicago, Paris, & Washington in 1896. Sala was twice married. His first wife, Harriet, whom he married in September 1859, died at Melbourne in December 1885. In 1891 he married a second wife, Bessie, third daughter of Robert Stannard, C.E., who survived him. Sala was a great friend of Alexis Soyer and was a member of the Reform Club whilst Soyer was the Chef de Cuisine there.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11144

Salmon. William - The very scarce first edition of 1695.
The Family Dictionary; or Houshold Companion:
Wherein Alphabetically laid down Exact Rules and ChoicePhysical RECEIPTS FOR The Preservation of Health, Prevention of Sickness, and Curing the several Diseases, Distempers, and Grievences, incident to Men, Women, and Children. Also, Directions for Making Oils, Ointements, Salves, Cordial-Waters, Powders, Pills, Bolus's, Lozenges, Chymical Pre-parations, Physical-Wines, Ales, and other Liquors, &c. and Descriptions of the Virtues of Herbs, Fruits, Flowers, Seeds, Roots, Barks, Minerals, and Parts of Living Crea-tures, Used in Medicinal Potions, &c. Likewise, Directions for Cookery, in Dressing Flesh, Fish, Fowl, Seasoning, Garnishing Sauces, and Serving-up in the Best and most acceptable Manner. The Whole ART of Patry, Conserving, Preserving, Candying, Confectionary &c. Also, The Way of Making all sorts of Perfumes, Beautifying-Waters, Pomatums, Washes, Sweet-Balls, Sweet-Bags, and Essences: Taking Spots, and Stains out of Garments, Lin-nen, &c. and Preserving them form Moths, &c. Wash-ing, or Brightning Tarnished Gold, or Silver Lace, Plate, &c. Together, With the Art of Making all sorts of English Mead, Metheglin, &c. And the ART of Fining, and Recovering Foul or Faded Wines. The MYSTERY of Pickling, and Keeping all Sorts of Pickles throughout the Year. To Which is Added, as an APPENDIX, The Explanation of Physical Terms, Bills of Fare in all Sea-sons of the Year. With the ART of CARVING. And many other Useful Matters. By J.H. London, Printed for W. Rhodes, at the Star, the Corner of Bride-Lane, in Fleetstreet, 1695.
FIRST EDITION. 12vo. 1fep. (missing first blank) Title page, slightly brittle at edges with no loss. On verso - Licensed, February the 28th 1695. 5p Preface. [1] AC-YO. (no page numbers, but complete.) 16p Appendix. 2fep. (one original) Pages uniformly age browned throughout. One page 'BL' has a 4" strip of the border with a very small loss of text. With modern full dark tan calf, with double fillets on the boards. Raised bands with blind tooled lines. With red label with gilt writing.
- Dr William Salmon, a noted Empiric, born 2nd of June 1644. According to an inscription under his portrait in ‘Ars Anatomica’, he studied and wrote a profusion of books on medicine, surgery, anatomy, pharmacology, astronomy, gardening, cookery, astrology, religion and translated several Latin medical classics into English. Salmon used the title of MD on his title pages, but according to Stanley H. Johnston, Jr., Curator of Rare Books at The Holden Arboretum, "most writers doubt that he was entitled to it. He still is somewhat difficult to assess since he is known to have amassed a 3,000 volume library containing many of the medical classics and produced several medical publications that were sufficiently erudite that his critics have claimed they were ghost-written for him." Rupert Halliwell at SimsReed Rare Books in London describes Salmon as a "learned man, with a taste for the obscure" and notes that his library, auctioned off after his death, "contained works in French, Greek, Latin and Hebrew, on medicine and other subjects." But his enemies asserted that his earliest education was from a charlatan with whom he travelled, and whose business he eventually inherited. And he seems ill-inclined to prove them wrong. He lived at a time long before hospitals had out-patient facilities. At this time "irregular practitioners" frequently lived near the gates of St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London. Their patients were those who could not or would not be admitted to the hospital. Salmon thus set up his stall near the Smithfield gate of St. Bartholomew's. It was there he "treated all diseases, sold special prescriptions of his own, as well as drugs in general, cast horoscopes, and professed alchemy," according to Norman Moore in his article about Salmon in the OUP's Dictionary of National Biography. Always game to write something different, in 1696, he published one of England's first cookery books. ‘The Family-Dictionary, or, Houshold Companion’. This volume is both a cookery book and a compendium of information for the home-maker, very much like the Household books of Isabella Beeton. It was meant to be the only household reference a housewife would need. Here is Salmon's very elegant recipe for Black-Pudding with no starch at all; To make this the best, and fare exceeding the common way. Boil the Umbles of a Hog tender, take some of the Lights [lungs] with the Heart, and all the Flesh about them, taking out the Sinews, and mincing the rest very small; do the like by the Liver: add grated Nutmeg, four or five Yolks of Eggs, a pint of Sweet Cream, a quarter of a pint of Canary [wine], Sugar, Cloves, Mace and Cinnamon finely powdered, a few Carraway-seeds, and a little Rose-water, a pretty quantity of Hog-fat, and some Salt: roul it up about two Hours before you put it into the Guts, then put it into them after you have rinsed them in Rose-water. The alphabetical format of Salmon's book is very strict so that the topic that immediately precedes ‘Black-Pudding’ is ‘Biting by a Snake, Adder, or Mad Dog.’ William Salmon’s name only appeared on the second edition, corrected and much enlarged of 1696 and with no mention of the J.H. on the title page of this copy. Oxford p45, cites the first of 1795; MacLean p128, the 4th of 1710 and a 4th with additions of 1734; Bitting p416, has the 1st and the 3rd of 1705. Cagle pp 706-707, cites the 1st and the 4th of 1710.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11021

Sandford. Francis - A magnificent copy.
Coronation of James II
THE HISTORY OF THE CORONATION Of the Most High, Most Mighty, and Most Excellent MONARCH, JAMES II. By the Grace of GOD, KING of England, Scotland, France and Ireland. DEFENDER OF THE FAITH &c. And of His Royal Consort QUEEN MARY: Solemnized in the Collegiate Church of St. PETER in the City of WESTMINSTER, on Thursday the 23 of April, being the Festival of St. George, in the Year of Our Lord 1685. With an Exact Account of the several Preparations in Order thereunto, Their MAJESTIES MOST Splendid Processions, and Their Royal and Magnificent FEAST in WESTMINSTER HALL. The Whole Work Illustrated with SCULPTURES. By HIS Majesties Especial Command. (With a large engraved vignette of the Royal Coat of Arms) By FRANCIS SANDFORD Esq; Lancaster Herald of Arms. In the Savoy: Printed by Thomas Newcomb, One of His Majesties Printers 1687.
Large Folio. 410x270mm. Marbled paste-down and endpaper. [2] 2fep with verso bearing name of 'Imprimatur'. Title Page in red and black text and engraved vignette finely rebacked. [1] 2p To the King. 1p James R. [1] 2p Preface. 2p Contents. 1-135. [1] 2feps. Back endpaper and paste-down marbled. Full polished calf, panelled elaborate gilt spine with raised bands, inner gilt fillets on the paste-down and gilt edges to the boards and pages. In all, 3 engraved vignettes and 31 engraved plates. That is 2 detailed plates of the Regalia, Ground plan of Westminster, ground plan of St. Peter, 2 views of the Cathedral of Westminster during the service, The Royal Couple after the in-thronization, ground plan of Westminster Hall showing the King and Queen's Dinner plan, inside of Westminster Hall showing the King and Queen at Dinner with the service of the first course of the Hot meal, Manner of Champions, with 2 extra plates of the magnificent Fireworks display on the Thames and the procession of William 11. These superb plates engraved by S.Moore, W.Sherwin, N.Yeates, Sturt and Collins. This copy is an early issue before some of the headpieces and initials were printed. Page 33 is present in two states, with and without the marginal engraving of five crowns. Lipperhide #2688 mentions only 28 plates with 2 reproductions. Ex-libris the Rev. William Bree, Rector of Allesley. A magnificent and desirable copy.
- Many a 'splendid occasion' in European history - coronation, royal wedding, funeral, beatification, embassy or triumphal entry - has been commemorated in an illustrated 'festival book.' Like a souvenir scrapbook, such volumes record memorable events down to their most fleeting aspects, eg; the food and the fireworks. Catholic Italy and France, eminent in opera and liturgy, were the chief producers of festival books. Even though England came late to the genre, 'The History of the Coronation of James II' is one of the most splendidly illustrated books of the seventeenth century. It served as a visual touchstone for subsequent coronations, almost inventing a tradition. British royal ceremonial is one of the few to survive intact, and it remains the most magnificent and brilliantly orchestrated. Here in thirty one double-page plates, drawn under the direction of the herald Francis Sandford, one may follow every detail of the procession and banqueting, from the discreet presence of the diarist Samuel Pepys, holding a pole of the canopy that shields the king, to the "1,445 dishes of the delicious viands" consumed that day. Henry Purcell, one of England's greatest composers, died in November 1695, and is buried in Westminster Abbey. At the time of the coronation of James II in 1685, Purcell was Keeper of the King's Instruments and Organist of the Chapel Royal. The introit ‘I Was Glad’ with its text taken from Psalm 122 was written by Purcell especially for the coronation. This is just one of the myriad of details that make the event so exceptionally well documented, thanks to Sandford’s book published two years after the Coronation. Of particular interest to the cookery book collector is the large chapter starting on p108 titled 'The Royal Feasts in Westminster Hall'. It contains a list of all 144 dishes placed on the table of the Peers and Peeresses. In all there is a breakdown of the placement of the total 1445 Dishes. There is also 2 beautiful plates of the table layout and the actual Dinner of the King and Queen. On p119, Patrick Lamb Esq, His Majesties Master-Cook (and author of "Royal Cookery' 1710; see item 11025 in this book-site.) is mentioned for his part in the feast, and on p127, his payment of £50 is documented. Sandford's book was so well received and so admired that in many ways it set the standards for great British Royal occasions of the future. These traditions are singularly unique and unchanged even today. In a diverse and fast changing world the magnificence of these fantastic Royal occasions still attracts huge interest around the world. To view these traditional and colourful pageants on TV and to then read the book, one gets a true historical sense of the continuity of the British Monarchy.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11024

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

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

SIMPSON. JOHN - An unusually formatted cookbook.
A COMPLETE SYSTEM OF COOKERY,
ON A PLAN ENTIRELY NEW; CONSISTING OF EVERY THING FOR COOKS TO KNOW IN THE KITCHEN BUSINESS; CONTAINTING BILLS OF FARE FOR EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR, AND DIRECTIONS HOW TO DRESS EACH DISH; Being One Year's Work, at the Marquis of Buckingham's, from the 1st of January to the 31st of December, 1805. (2 small straight lines). BY JOHN SIMPSON, LATE COOK TO THE MOST NOBLE THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM, AND PRESENT MAITRE D'HOTEL TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD BERWICK. (2 small straight lines). SECOND EDITION, CORRECTED AND ENLARGED, With upwards of One Hundred Receipts of Cookery and Confectionary, and a General Index. (straight line). LONDON: PRINTED FOR W. STEWART, (OPPOSITE ALBANY) PICCADILLY.
Circa 1807. 234 x 150 x 60. 4feps. Title Page. [1] vi-iv Dedication dated Sept. 1807. (1)vi Preface. (1)viii - xvi Introduction. (1)2 - 688. (1)690 - 696. 4feps. Title page slightly foxed and dusty. Rest of text block very clean. half marbled boards with black leather spine and tips. Compartments with gold tooling. 2 labels - red and green with gold text. Very good condition.
- John Simpson appears to have been a very intelligent, disciplined professional chef. This thick book is a record of 1 year's menus (1805) for the Marquis of Buckingham. For example, on January 18th the first course consisted of twenty- three dishes. The second course consists of twenty-four dishes. As well as the 'Bills of Fare', there are recipes for all the dishes. This is a meticulous record that had to have been written up from Simpson's own daily records. From Briony Aitchison's article online from the University of St. Andrews Special Collections, she observes; "After noting for whom his work is intended, the introduction then turns to the matter of meat. Simpson is keen that the butcher should deliver it no later than 6am, “for when the sun gets warm, the flies do much mischief”, and he gives instructions for the best ways to prevent the meat spoiling; by salting and by removing various pipes and kernels (glands, or rounded fatty masses) found in the cuts of meat, and how long each cut should be kept. Simpson also advocates fasting animals before slaughter – “twenty-four hours in winter, and forty-eight in summer”. Advising the cook to pay much attention to the management of the larder, one rule being not overstock the larder in summer: “one days meat beforehand is quite sufficient.”. A fascinating and scarce book.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11275