OldCooksBooks.com


Showing page 3 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

Bailey. Nathan - A rare important work with more precise recipes.
Dictionarium Domesticum.
Being a NEW and COMPLETE, Household Dictionary. For the Use both of CITY and COUNTRY. SHEWING, I. The whole Arts of Brewing, Baking, Cookery, and Piceling. Also Confectionary in its several Branches. II. The Management of the Kitchin, Pantry, Lar-der, Dairy, Olitory, and Poultry. With the proper Seasons for Flesh, Fowl and Fish. III. The Herdsman: Giving an Account of the Diseases of Cattle Poultry, &c. And the most approved Remedies for their Cure. IV. The English Vineyard; being the best Method of making English Wines and of Distilling most Kinds of Simple and Cordial Waters. V. The Apiary: Or, The Manner of Breeding, Hiving and managing of Bees. VI. The Family Physician and Herbalist: Containing the choicest Collection of Receipts for most Distempers, incident to Human Bodies, hitherto made Publick; with the Qualities and Uses of Physical Herbs and Plants of English Growth. (a long horizontal line). By N. BAILEY, Author of the Universal Etymological English Dictionary. (2 long horizontal lines). LONDON: Printed for C, Hitch at the Red Lion, and C. Davies, both in Pater-Noster Row; and S. Austen at the Angel and Bible, in St. Paul's Church-Yard. (a small horizontal line). M,DCC,XXX,V,I.
FIRST EDITION 1736. 8vo. 198 x 120 x 43mm. Inside cover with bookplate of Alan Davidson. 1fep. [1] Verso with engraved Frontispiece of five separate scenes domesticity. Cropped close at the bottom with no loss. Title page. [1] 2p Preface. 306 leaves 612 pages. Pages un-numbered but ordered alphabetically at the top of each page. 1fep. Bound in 19th century quarter calf and tips, with pebble cloth covers. The spine with gilt title, lines and simple tooled ornaments. Red speckled text-block edges. The feps stained without detracting. Internally very clean. All quite sound and VG.
- Although precise details of his birth and formative years are hard to find, it is well recorded that Nathan Bailey was an English philologist and lexicographer. He was the author of several dictionaries. He was a Seventh Day Baptist, admitted 1691 to a congregation in Whitechapel, London. Later he had a school at Stepney. Bailey, with John Kersey the younger, was a pioneer of English lexicography, and changed the scope of dictionaries to a greater comprehensivity. Up to the early eighteenth century, English dictionaries had generally focused on "hard words" and their explanation, for example those of Thomas Blount and Edward Phillips in the generation before. With a change of attention, to include more commonplace words and those not of direct interest to scholars, the number of headwords in English dictionaries increased spectacularly. Innovations were in the areas of common words, dialect, technical terms, and vulgarities. Bailey's An Universal Etymological English Dictionary, from its publication in 1721, became the most popular English dictionary of the 18th century, and went through nearly thirty editions. It was also the basis of English-German dictionaries. This copy here of Bailey's 'Dictionarium Domesticum,' 1736, is also a cookbook with recipes, including a rare one for fried chicken. The alphabetical ordering of the book is unusual, and the recipes are much more detailed than is the norm in other cookery books of the time. This gives it a greater importance than some of the other well-known 18th century cookery books. Nathan Bailey died June 27th, 1742, six years after Dictionarium Domesticum's publication.

click on image to enlarge

Antiquarian category

ref number: 11330

Beauvilliers. Antione B. - Very scarce second English edition.
The Art of French Cookery.
BY A.B. BEAUVILLIERS, RESTAURATEUR, PARIS. SECOND EDITION. LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEN. PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1825.
Second edition. 182x112 mm. 2 feps (one modern one original). Title Page. [1] (1)iv-vi Discourse. (1)viii-xiii To Mistresses of Families. (1)xv To the Cook. [1] (1)2-347. [1] 11p Menus. 1p Lines for notes. (1)362-380. 1fep. Internally very clean with untrimmed and many uncut pages. Half fawn calf with marbled boards. A very nice copy of the very scarce English translation.
- Antoine B. Beauvilliers, born 1754, died 31.1.1817, was a French restaurateur; He published 'l’Art du Cuisinier' in 2 volumes in 1814. A first English translation titled ‘The Art of French Cookery’ was published in 1824 and this second edition here published one year later. Beauvilliers was trained in the royal kitchen of the Bourbons, and served as steward in the household of the Count of Provence; the future King Louis XVIII. He created and opened La Grande Taverne de Londres at 26 rue de Richelieu in 1782, which it is claimed, was the first real restaurant in Paris. He was famous for greeting clients wearing a sword, which is amusingly suggested online, probably came in handy if they were a bit strapped when it came to paying. In 1792 the chaos of the French Revolution forced him to shut his doors and he was imprisoned for a while. Beauvilliers also spent some time working in England as association with the nobility in France might have endangered his life. Returning to Paris towards the end of the Directory however, he re-opened his restaurant, and re-named it the 'Taverne de Londres'. It was the first luxury restaurant to open in the aftermath of the Revolution. (Mosimann Cat.#23) The term restaurant already existed in France, but it previously referred only to small establishments that sold broth or bouillon as restoratives. In his establishment, Beauvilliers was the first to offer an 'a la carte' menu‘ (meaning from the card) offering his guests the opportunity to choose from a number of menu items, as opposed to the fixed 'table d’hote' menu of the past. Restaurants proliferated after the Revolution as the nobility’s former chefs returned and sought employment. They were in contrast to Antonin Careme who had stayed, lived and worked through the social upheaval. He represented the grandest statement of the old, court-based cuisine. He was one of the last practitioners of 'service a la francaise', that found expression in the great buffets and dinners of the nobility, serving as many as eighty dishes for one meal. The recipes in Beauvilliers book are very precise and written for the professional. In a time of great social and political change in France his book is also an important milestone on the gastronomic landscape of that country's great culinary tradition. Careme's style of service was no longer tenable. Beauvillier's restaurant was as different and modern as Adria's 'El Bulli' is today. A new age had dawned in France and pragmatic necessity dictated, as always.

click on image to enlarge

Antiquarian category

ref number: 11174

Beeton Isabella Mary - The 2nd Edition, 1869.
The Book of Household Management
COMPRISING INFORMATION FOR MISTRESS, HOUSEKEEPER, COOK, KITCHEN-MAID, BUTLER, FOOTMAN, COACHMAN, VALET, UPPER AND UNDER HOUSE-MAIDS, LADY'S MAID, MAID-OF-ALL-WORK, LAUNDRY-MAID, NURSE AND NURSE-MAID, MONTHLY, WET AND SICK NURSES, ETC.ETC. Also Sanitary, Medical, and Legal Memoranda; with a History of the Origin, Properties, and Uses of All Things connected with Home Life and Comfort. BY MRS ISABELLA BEETON. ENTIRELY NEW EDITION, REVISED AND CORRECTED, WITH NEW COLOURED ENGRAVINGS. TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SEVENTH THOUSAND. LONDON: WARD, LOCK, AND TYLER, WARWICK HOUSE, PATERNOSTER ROW.
Thick 8vo. The Paste-down and 1fep packed and verso of Half title with advertisements .[1] Frontispiece. Tissue guard. Title page. Verso with advertisements. (1)iv Preface to the first and new editions. (1)vi General Contents. (1)viii-xxxv Analytical Index. xxxvi-xl Index to Engravings. (1) List of 12 Coloured Engravings. 5p Advertisements. [1]2-1139. [1 A staggering 45 pages of Advertisements. The back paste-down and end-paper with advertisements. With the original green cloth boards. The sympathetically re-laid maroon spine with gilt-tooling. Internally very clean and bright. A handsome copy.
- This copy is quite different in appearance to the previous four issues of the first edition. Although also having 12 plates, they are very different, and in the book all available space is filled with advertisements, (an unbelievable 5 pages at the front and 45 pages at the back) giving a clue to the aggressive marketing by Ward, Lock & Tyler who knew full well the popularity of Isabella's literary legacy. By 1890 over half a million copies of 'The Book of Household Management' had been sold with no sign of demand abating, assuring its reputation as the publishing phenomenon of the nineteenth century. One assumes Isabella and Samuel ran out of the original plates completely, before this publication of the new and very different corrected second edition of 1869.

click on image to enlarge

Antiquarian category

ref number: 11068

Beeton. Isabella Mary - 1st Edition - 1st issue.
The Book of Household Management
Comprising information for the MISTRESS, HOUSEKEEPER, COOK, KITCHEN-MAID, BUTLER, FOOTMAN, COACHMAN, VALET, UPPER AND UNDER HOUSE-MAIDS, LADY'S MAID, MAID-OF-ALL-WORK, LAUNDRY-MAID, NURSE AND NURSE-MAID, MONTHLY, WET AND SICK NURSES, ETC.ETC. ALSO SANITARY, MEDICAL AND LEGAL MEMORANDA; WITH A HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN, PROPERTIES, AND USES OF ALL THINGS CONNECTED WITH HOME LIFE AND COMFORT. BY MRS ISABELLA BEETON. "Nothing lovelier can be found in woman, than to study household good".-Milton. LONDON: S.O. BEETON, 248, STRAND, W.C. 1861.
FIRST EDITION, First issue. Thick 8vo. 2feps. Double chromo-lithographed frontispiece and elaborate title page with the Bouverie St address. Additional Title Page. [1] [iv-iv] [1] [vi-xxxix] including analytical index. [1] 2-1112. 2feps. 12 Colour plates. Original maroon half calf with maroon cloth boards and calf tips with gilt lines. Contemporary ornate gilt tooled spine relaid, with one panel used for book title. Faded gilt to page edges Overall slightly rubbed and faded but still very good. Clean internally with overall slight browning due to age. A handsome copy.
- Various editions of Beeton's cookery books are fairly numerous -- online, in auctions and in book-fairs, and the two issues of the first edition are far from rare, (although the first issue is very scarce) but they continue to maintain high prices, and are much sought after. This is accounted for by their far-reaching fame, and the fact that they are one of the most attractive cookery books ever published. Their famous double chromo-lithographed frontispiece and elaborate colourful first title page, additional second title page, the unique colour plates, dozens of page illustrations, comprehensive recipes, and chapters on all aspects of household management, are a great and true reflection of Victorian values, style and endeavor. "The Book of Household Management' was originally issued by Isabella in 24 monthly parts from 1859-61. The 24 parts, unlike the books are extremely rare. The book is a relatively small, but fat octavo, and holds a place in collectors affections that possibly other cookery books do not.

click on image to enlarge

Antiquarian category

ref number: 10912

Beeton. Isabella Mary - 1st Edition - 2nd issue.
The Book of Household Management
Comprising information for the MISTRESS, HOUSEKEEPER, COOK, KITCHEN-MAID, BUTLER, FOOTMAN, COACHMAN, VALET, UPPER AND UNDER HOUSE-MAIDS, LADY'S MAID, MAID-OF-ALL-WORK, LAUNDRY-MAID, NURSE AND NURSE-MAID, MONTHLY, WET AND SICK NURSES, ETC.ETC. ALSO SANITARY, MEDICAL AND LEGAL MEMORANDA; WITH A HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN, PROPERTIES, AND USES OF ALL THINGS CONNECTED WITH HOME LIFE AND COMFORT. BY MRS ISABELLA BEETON. "Nothing lovelier can be found in woman, than to study household good".-Milton. LONDON: S.O. BEETON, 248, STRAND, W.C. 1861.
FIRST EDITION, Second Issue. Thick 8vo. 2feps. Double chromo-lithographed frontispiece and elaborate title page with the Strand address. Additional Title Page. [1] [iv-iv] [1] [vi-xxxix] including analytical index. [1] 2-1112. 2feps. Modern full light tan calf with blind tooled lines on boards, raised bands and blind and gilt tooling on spine, green label with gilt lettering. Bright gilt on page edges. Very clean externally and internally. The "Free, fair homes of England" frontispiece has been very slightly cropped (without loss) and relaid on backing paper. The 12 chromolithographed plates all present.
- This second issue of the first edition is almost exactly the same, text, pages and chapters, as the first issue. The three small differences are, firstly -- the address on the first elaborate title page, reads, 248 STRAND instead of 18 BOUVERIE ST as on the first issue. The 2nd difference is the colour of the elaborate title page and the the 12 coloured plates. On the first issue the plates are predominately green with a white background. On this second issue the Title page and plates have a tan background. The design and dishes shown on the two sets of plates are otherwise, exactly the same. The 3rd difference is on p vi, 'General Contents'. The first line of the errata on the first issue reads; page 57, while on this issue, it reads; page 657. A beautiful, clean and desirable copy

click on image to enlarge

Antiquarian category

ref number: 10913

Beeton. Isabella Mary The new and enlarged 2nd edtion of 1869.
The Book of Household Management
COMPRISING INFORMATION FOR MISTRESS, HOUSEKEEPER, COOK, KITCHEN-MAID, BUTLER, FOOTMAN, COACHMAN, VALET, UPPER AND UNDER HOUSE-MAIDS, LADY'S MAID, MAID-OF-ALL-WORK, LAUNDRY-MAID, NURSE AND NURSE-MAID, MONTHLY, WET AND SICK NURSES, ETC.ETC. Also Sanitary, Medical, and Legal Memoranda; with a History of the Origin, Properties, and Uses of All Things connected with Home Life and Comfort. BY MRS ISABELLA BEETON. ENTIRELY NEW EDITION, REVISED AND CORRECTED, WITH NEW COLOURED ENGRAVINGS. TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SEVENTH THOUSAND. LONDON: WARD, LOCK, AND TYLER, WARWICK HOUSE, PATERNOSTER ROW.
Thick 8vo. The Paste-down and recto with tipped in recipes etc. Verso Frontispiece. Title page. Verso with advertisements. (1)iv Preface to the first and new editions. (1)vi General Contenets. (1)viii-xxxv Analytical Index. xxxvi-xl Index to Engravings. (1) List of 12 Coloured Engravings. 5p Advertisements. [1]2-1139. [1]+p45 Advertisements. The back Paste-down and End-paper with advertisements. With the original green cloth boards. The spine with the original ornate gilt-tooling. top and bottom edges slightly scuffed. Internally very clean and bright. Front and back additional pages browned. The title page has, at the top 'THE BOOK' missing. The second enlarged edition.
- This copy of the second edition is a well-used one still retaining it's originality. All the pages prefacing the main text are slightly bronwed with ragged edges. but no loss. It is quite scarce and should still be treasured. It is one of the cornerstones of a collection of English cookery texts. It broke the publishing mold of the time, because of Isabella Beeton's focused effort and vision. Also the full backing of her loving husband and publisher who was crucial to the enormous success of this book.

click on image to enlarge

Antiquarian category

ref number: 11066

Beeton. Isabella Mary A very scarce 1st Edition - 4th issue.
The Book of Household Management
Comprising information for the MISTRESS, HOUSEKEEPER, COOK, KITCHEN-MAID, BUTLER, FOOTMAN, COACHMAN, VALET, UPPER AND UNDER HOUSE-MAIDS, LADY'S MAID, MAID-OF-ALL-WORK, LAUNDRY-MAID, NURSE AND NURSE-MAID, MONTHLY, WET AND SICK NURSES, ETC.ETC. ALSO SANITARY, MEDICAL AND LEGAL MEMORANDA; WITH A HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN, PROPERTIES, AND USES OF ALL THINGS CONNECTED WITH HOME LIFE AND COMFORT. BY MRS ISABELLA BEETON. "Nothing lovelier can be found in woman, than to study household good".-Milton. Sixty-Fifth Thousand. LONDON: S.O. BEETON, 248, STRAND, W.C. 1864.
FIRST EDITION, Fourth Issue. Thick 8vo. 1fep. [1] Frontispiece (The plate that sits between p112-113 in the other first editions). Title Page. [1] [iv-iv] [1] [vi-xxxix] including the Preface to the first edition, the General Contents and the Analytical Index. [1] 2-1112. 1fep. Surprisingly bound in the original manner of the first edition-first issue with the original navy blue cloth with 1/4 navy blue calf. Gilt stamped on the front cover and gilt writing on the spine with original blind tooling. The spine has been sometime expertly re-laid without loss. Also the book is slightly thicker than the previous three issues of the 1st edition due to a thicker paper being used. Very clean internally. A nice copy of the very scarce, dated, fourth edition, usually found incomplete.
- There is almost no difference in the text, page by page, recipe by recipe in the collation of the 1st, 2nd & 3rd issues of the first editions except the Errata on p.vi is not present in this issue, but is on the preceding three issues. Another small difference is item nos. 2745 and 2751 of the Legal Memorandam of the 1st and 2nd issues are different in the 3rd and 4th issues. The other difference is the plates in this issue have the same content as the other preceding two first issues but have a different floral border and are of a higher quality. Isabella Beeton who had sound business acumen issued the 3rd and 4th editions using the leftovers from the first two issues. This explains why there is no unique frontispieces from the 1st and 2nd issues present here, but rather has the plate from p113 instead, even though the list of Coloured Plates on p.xxxix states the plate should face p.113. One assumes Isabella and Samuel ran out of plates completely, as this is the last one of the four first issues with the original plates, before publication of the new and very different ones of the revised and corrected second edition of 1869. This is a unique book and is the last edition Isabella Beeton would issue before her untimely death on February 5th, 1865.

click on image to enlarge

Antiquarian category

ref number: 11067

Beeton. Isabella Mary - The first 'Big Beeton' of 1888.
The Book of Household Management
COMPRISING INFORMATION FOR MISTRESS, HOUSEKEEPER, COOK, KITCHEN-MAID, BUTLER, FOOTMAN, COACHMAN, VALET, UPPER AND UNDER HOUSE-MAIDS, LADY'S MAID, MAID-OF-ALL-WORK, LAUNDRY-MAID, NURSE AND NURSE-MAID, MONTHLY, WET AND SICK NURSES, GOVERNESS. Also Sanitary, Medical, and Legal Memoranda; with a History of the Origin, Properties, and Uses of All Things connected with Home Life and Comfort. BY MRS ISABELLA BEETON. (a single horizontal line) REVISED AND CORRECTED AND GREATLY ENLARGED, (a single small horizontal line) New Coloured Plates and Numerous Full-Page and Other Engraving; SEVERAL HUNDREDS OF NEW RECEIPTS For English, French, German, Italian, American, Australian, and Indian Cookery, New Menus for Breakfasts, Luncheons, Dinners, Teas and Suppers. With much Valuable Information upon Household and Domestic Matters. SEVEN HUNDREDTH THOUSAND. LONDON: WARD, LOCK, AND CO. LIMITED: WARWICK HOUSE, SALISBURY SQUARE, E.C. NEW YORK AND MELBOURNE.
Very thick 8vo. Paste-down and end-paper with Advertisements and on the verso. Half title. [1] Advertisements. Frontispiece folding colour plate of a Dinner Table. Title page.[1] (1)Vi-Viii Preface to the new edition dated 1888. (1)x Preface to the first and second editions. (1)xii General Contents. (1)xiv-xli Analytical Index. xlii-xlvi Index to Illustrations. (1)List of Coloured Plates. (1)List of Full-Page Illustrations. 4p Advertisements. I Folding Colour Plate of a Supper Table. (1)2-1644. 42p Advertisements and on the back paste-down. Original, well preserved ornate gilt lettering and devices on a 1/4 red morocco spine and clean dark green cloth boards. With 13 full page coloured plates and 68 full page illustrations, countless in-text illustrations, this copy is very good, and internally and externally, very clean.
- Ward, Lock & Tyler took over the second edition of 1869 from Samuel Beeton. They knew full well the popularity of Isabella's literary legacy. By 1890 over half a million copies of Beeton's 'The Book of Household Management' had sold with no sign of demand abating, assuring its reputation as the publishing phenomenon of the nineteenth century. From the quintessential Englishness of the early editions, this edition has grown quite universal, with added recipes for French, German, Italian, American, Australian, and Indian Cookery. Also Messrs. Tyler has been dropped from the company name and it is now the famous company 'Ward Lock'. This 1888 volume, considerably thicker than any 'Beeton' published before, is the first of the commonly called 'Big Beetons'. At nearly 3 inches thick it is 3/4 inch thicker than the 1869 edition. As with the second edition, it is also packed with advertisements. One wonders what Isabella, if she had still been alive, would have made of this very different volume from those of the 4 issues of the 1861 first edition that she herself had revised. Never the less, a very handsome copy of a cookery book of continuous interest and high reputation.

click on image to enlarge

Antiquarian category

ref number: 11070

Beeton. Isabella Mary - The original 24 monthly parts.
The Book of Household Management.
Comprising information for the MISTRESS, HOUSEKEEPER, COOK, KITCHEN-MAID, BUTLER, FOOTMAN, COACHMAN, VALET, UPPER AND UNDER HOUSE-MAIDS, LADY'S MAID, MAID-OF-ALL-WORK, LAUNDRY-MAID, NURSE AND NURSE-MAID, MONTHLY, WET AND SICK NURSES, ETC.ETC. ALSO SANITARY, MEDICAL AND LEGAL MEMORANDA; WITH A HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN, PROPERTIES, AND USES OF ALL THINGS CONNECTED WITH HOME LIFE AND COMFORT. BY MRS ISABELLA BEETON. "Nothing lovelier can be found in woman, than to study household good".-Milton. LONDON: S.O. BEETON, 248, STRAND, W.C. 1861.
FIRST and SOLE EDITION, in the original 24 parts. 8vo. As called for, parts 1 & 2 in creamy beige paper covers printed in black; Parts 3 - 24 in terra cotta paper covers printed in black. There are 12 coloured plates as frontispieces to parts 1-10 & parts 13 and 16. Part 1 has the printed title page, with the Bouverie St. address. Frontispiece of the “The free, fair homes of England”. The Title page, 2p Preface, the General Contents and first 2pages of the Analytical Index mis-bound into booklet 24, but all present and correct. Booklet # xii mis-printed as # vii, but collation is correct. All with the original printed wrappers and with a few very minor scuffs otherwise the whole set complete and in very good condition. All the pages untrimmed and some uncut. Housed in a handsome modern clamshell box with half bottle green morocco and cloth boards. Spine with raised bands, gilt lines and two red calf labels with gilt writing and tooling.
- Isabella Beeton accomplished an amazing amount during her short life. The early deaths of her first and second-born children must have been devastating, yet she quickly resumed work at her usual furious pace. In an era when middle class females were expected to have no interests beyond "womanly matters", Isabella came to excel at a man's job in the manly profession of journalism. She could not have done so without the encouragement of her husband Sam, a London publisher of books and magazines for the newly prosperous middle class. Isabella and Sam complimented one another superbly on both a personal and professional level. Sam was emotional and creative, a genius at marketing his publications. Isabella was reserved and level headed, a meticulous researcher. Both were tireless workers in spite of the tuberculosis that eventually caused Sam’s death 12 years after Isabella's. Soon after their 1856 marriage Isabella began writing cookery articles for Sam's ‘Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine’ (EDM), that were issued in monthly booklets and also an annual volume. In time she also became the editor. Later came editorial responsibilities for the Beeton’s newly created magazine ‘The Queen’, but not before she had completed her research for the magnificent work for which she is still known today. ‘Household Management’ evolved from the cookery columns Isabella wrote for EDM. Her first few articles were written somewhat tentatively, for she had no previous culinary experience except pastry-making lessons at a boarding school in Germany. In spite of this she soon perfected her research methods and smooth confident style of writing. By the end of their first year of marriage Sam and Isabella had made plans to publish ‘Beeton's Book of Household Management’. ‘Household Management’ debuted firstly in EDM, then the first booklet was published November 1st 1859 and subsequently in a total of 24 monthly instalments, although in the first booklet it states that it was designed to be completed in 15 to 18 parts. Isabella had started testing recipes as early as 1857. Recipes found too difficult or expensive for the middle class households for which Isabella was writing (with the exception of an extravagant Louis Eustache Ude recipe for Turtle Soup), were discarded. Many of the final selections came from Eliza Acton's ‘Modern Cookery for Private Families’, and from Alexis Soyer's ‘Modern Housewife’, and other undisclosed sources. Isabella's skill was editing, not cookery, and she made no claim of composing any of the recipes herself except a "Soup for Benevolent Purposes". In the extensive advertising at the back of the first booklet it states that --- “the Editoress had nearly 2000 ladies of Great Britain and Ireland placed, and continue to place at her disposal, their assistance in furnishing such a collection of ‘facts’ relative to Domestic Economy, as had never before been brought together to enrich the pages of any similar work”. It further states that – “no recipe will be given that has not been tested by the Editoress or by her confidential friends and correspondents”. Many of those helpers no doubt scoured the popular cookery books of the time, to test, taste and send their results to Isabella. In these days of instant e-mail, Skype, mobile phone or working web-sites, for Isabella to manage, in the 1850’s, the correspondence and communication by letter of those 2000 recipe testers and helpers brings these booklets into a new light. These 24 parts are mainly about cookery, but there is also a chapter with instructions to the mistress of the house regarding responsibilities and duties, plus a detailed chapter on managing servants, including recipes for various household preparations. Three of the book's chapters, two medical and one legal, were not written by Isabella, but the inclusion of the legal chapter is noteworthy given the poor legal status of women during the Victorian era. ‘Household Management’ sold steadily in the original parts, and in 1861 the 24 parts were issued as the first edition in book form. As the last booklet was published in November 1861 the publication of the book by the end of that year was accomplished very efficiently. The only real differences between the parts and the first edition in book form is the absence of the covers of the booklets and the absence of the substantial advertising inside and on the covers. Interestingly, the title page and the page with the list of the coloured plates is the last page of the last booklet (# xxiv) but are in the right order given for the first edition in book form. The surprise is the plates are the frontispieces in the booklets and not in the order stated in the list of coloured plates. This shows that Isabella was getting the book ready for the printer long before the last booklet appeared and the title page and colour plate list inserted in booklet 24 appear to be a curious afterthought proving that unlike other books whose title pages are among the first to be printed, she by necessity had to have them printed for the book last. As the booklets were sold separately by the month and are quite delicate within their paper covers, then complete and undamaged sets are extremely rare. These are the original parts of the biggest publishing phenomenon of the 19th century.

click on image to enlarge

Antiquarian category

ref number: 11175

Borella. Mr - Very scarce.
THE COURT AND COUNTRY CONFECTIONER:
OR, THE House-Keeper’s Guide; to a more speedy, plain, and familiar method of understanding the whole art of confectionary, pastry, distilling, and the making of fine flavoured English wines from all kinds of fruits, herbs, flowers; comprehending near four hundred and fifty easy receipts, never before made known. PARTICULARY, Preserving. Carving. Icing Transparent Marmalade, Orange, Pine-Apple, Pistachio, and other Rich Creams. Caramel. Pastils. Bomboons. Puff, Spun, and Fruit –Pastes. Light Biscuits. Puffs. Rich Seed-Cakes. Custards. Flummeries. Trifles. Whips. Fruits. and other Jellies. -- Pickles, &c. ALSO New and easy directions for clarifying the different degrees of sugar, together with several bills of fare of deserts for private gentlemen’s families. To which is added, A dissertation on the different special of fruits, and the art of distilling simple waters, cordials, perfumed oils, essences. By an Mr Borella, now head confectioner to the Spanish Ambassador in England. LONDON. Printed for G. RILEY, at his Circulating Library, Curzon-street, Mayfair; J. BELL in the Strand; J. Wheble, Pater-noster-row; and C. Etherington, at York. M.DCC.LXXII.
8vo. 2fep. Title Page. [1] (1)ii Dedication. (1)2-3 Author's Address. [1] (1)ii-xxiii(1) Contents. (1}2-271. [1] [1]2-46 Distillery. 1fep. A pleasing copy lightly age-browned throughout. Full contemporary calf with a nice patina. Double blind-tooled lines around the boards. The spine with single gilt lines and a red label. With the bookplate of Mary Chadsey on the front paste-down. An extremely scarce cookery book that rarely shows up on the market.
- This is the 2nd issue of the second edition with a different title page. The first issue has "A New Edition" added on the title page. Apparently this is the edition that first identifies Borella as the author. From Ivan Day's very interesting web-site 'Historical Food' I have copied the following extract --"Although they had been known in England since the 1670's, ices were popularised by French and Italian confectioners who set up shops in London and a few other cities in the 1760's. Some varieties that are fashionable in modern times, such as brown bread and pistachio, actually date from this period. The first English recipes for these two flavours appear in a confectionery text of 1770. In the same book are recipes for ices made with elderflowers, jasmine, white coffee, tea, pineapple, barberries and a host of other tempting and unusual flavours. Although this book was published anonymously, we only learn from the second edition of 1772 that the author was called Mr. Borella, and that he was confectioner to the Spanish ambassador. His little work The Court and Country Confectioner was aimed at instructing English housekeepers in the mysteries of making the sort of high class confectionery that was fashionable in court circles on the continent. Although there had been earlier English cookery books that offered a few ice cream recipes, Borella's work was the first to give really clear instructions on making these novel and prestigious delicacies. One example was the recipe for elder-flavoured muscadine ice. Borella also suggests a variant on this recipe, which is made with white currant ice rather than lemon water ice. This unusual combination is actually one of the most spectacular ices of all time and demonstrates just how inventive the eighteenth century confectioner could be". ---- Mr Borella's book of confectionery is quite a comprehensive list of contemporary recipes similar to those of Frederick Nutt, 'The Complete Confectioner' 1789, and Hannah Glasse's 'Compleat Confectioner' of the same date as Borella's book. A check of the recipes show a lot of similarity but three unusual recipes catch the attention. First from Borella p188, comes a confusing recipe called "Burgundy Wine Ice cream". that starts with spices and milk boiled with rice to thicken and then added again to more milk and then to thicken with beaten egg white, strew with sugar and browned under the salamander: No wine and hot as well - Hmmm !!. Next from Hannah Glasse a very intriguing recipe for "Preserved Samphire" p73, that calls for the sea vegetable to be boiled in syrup and then dried with more sugar strewn on top and allowed to dry completely. I imagine quite an odd taste sensation similar to the astringency of Japanese Omeboshi plums, albeit, with the naturally salty samphire probably a little sweeter. The most unlikely recipe has to go to Frederick Nutt. p125, He tries to entice us with a basic ice cream recipe similar to 'Creme Anglaise' (a cooked egg custard sauce) to which Parmesan Cheese is added before freezing. One feels a prudent need to comment rather than volunteer to taste. Simon, Cagle and Bitting all record a first edition. Maclean has this copy for G. Riley [&c.].

click on image to enlarge

Antiquarian category

ref number: 11151