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Grants of St. James. - with a rare Elizabeth David pamphlet.
A Gateway to Wine.
A promotional book, published 1964, by this large wine merchant of London SW1, with special recipes from Elizabeth David. Also enclosed is a very rare 4 page pamphlet of E.D’s recipes and menus for Lambert & Butler of Drury Lane.
4to. Paste-down and end-paper with a photo of sculpture of Bacchus. [1] 1p Forward. Verso 1p Contents. 3-51. (1) Colour photo of a Roast Pork. 53-63 E.D’s recipes. 64-65 Spirits, Aperitifs, Bitters and Liqueurs. 66-71 Supplementary Glossary. 72-76 Index. [1] End-paper and paste-down with a photo of sculpture of Bacchus. Many coloured photos in-text. Fully bound in very clean straw coloured cloth boards with gilt writing and small gilt device of a sedan chair on the front board. Gilt lettering on the spine. Internally very clean; as new. The 4 page pamphlet from Lambert and Butler is cream coloured with black text, and very clean. The recipes are on pages 2-4. Two rare items.
- The book has five main parts. An introduction, a description of the many wine-producing countries of the world and their wines, a guide with recipes on the use of wine in cooking; a supplementary glossary of wines and wine terms and an index. A nice promotional item made much more interesting and desirable with the Elizabeth David recipes and pamphlet from Lambert and Butler, makers of the famous Henry Clay cigars. Its quite possible the pamphlet may have originally been given with the book, All the 24 recipes each have two recommended wines. An interesting read.

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Ephemera category

ref number: 11163

House of Commons. - House of Commons and 10 Downing St menus .
Report on the Kitchen and Refreshment Rooms. April 24th 1863.
REPORT FROM THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE KITCHEN AND REFRESHMENT ROOMS (HOUSE OF COMMONS); WITH THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE, AND AN APPENDIX. Ordered by The House of Commons, to be printed, 24 April 1863.
320x200mm. Title page. p2 Committee names. 3-7 Report with a large folding plate of a lovely unusual coloured drawing on the various proposed changes for the New Palace of Westminster refreshment rooms. 8-14 Proceedings of the Select Committee. p13 is miss-bound after p14. [1] Last page is a small copy of the title page. It has 2 menus enclosed. The first one is a one page white cardboard Luncheon menu from the House of Commons members dining room on 14th July 1960. The second menu is for a dinner at 10 Downing Street for the President of Egypt, Anwar Sadat and his wife on 7th November 1975. Harold Wilson was the Prime Minister at the time. The report is bound by a thread. All items are very clean and in good condition.
- The report consists of a full review of the current (1860's) operational inefficiencies for dining in the House of Commons during the House sessions. Based on members complaints the report also reviews dinner numbers, wage comparisons and wine suppliers. Page 14 is a comparison of current prices at London clubs including The Reform Club, which covers the time of the tenure of the famous chef, Charles Elme Francatelli, who had taken up the position of Chef de Cuisine after the equally famous chef, Alexis Soyer, resigned from the Club in 1850. With the menus, this is a very interesting look at the Catering department and dining setup at the Commons and the Prime Minister's official residence.

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Ephemera category

ref number: 11139

KOFFMANN. PIERRE One menu signed by Koffmann.
Two Menus from the original La Tante Claire Restaurant.
1. a la'Carte. 2. Carte des Desserts.
ITEM 1. 330 x 220mm. A large white elegant four-page cardboard menu. With embossed tooling and delicate blue and yellow decorative lines. The name of the restaurant is based on a raised tooled square. Inside yellow cover with a tipped-in label of a Chateauneuf-du-Pape, 1993 wine. The facing recto page is the same blind tooling is a copy of a Herni Matisse still life 118 x 95mm. Underneath signed by Koffmann with a cartoon image of a chef's head and hat. Inside two pages of an a la'carte menu. [1] Back Cover. ITEM 2. 220 x 151mm. Exactly the same elegant design and paper, with one page of desserts on the inside. Both as new. No Blemishes. Housed in a large cardboard cover with marbled paper.
- La Tante Claire opened in 1977 at 68/69 Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London SW3 4HP. The signature dish of the restaurant was [Pied de cochon aux morilles] pig's trotter with chicken mousseline, sweetbreads and morels; which when served elsewhere by Marco Pierre White, are referred to as "Pig's Trotters Pierre Koffmann". Within six years of opening, the restaurant gained its third Michelin star. It relocated from the original premises in 1998, moving to a location within The Berkeley hotel. Following the closure of the Royal Hospital Road, the premises were sold to Gordon Ramsay and would become his flagship restaurant. In the new location, the restaurant lost its third Michelin star and was reduced to two before closing in 2003. In 2009, Koffmann opened a pop-up restaurant at Selfridges Store, Oxford Street in London using the menu items from La Tante Claire. In 2010, Koffmann opened his first full-time restaurant since La Tante Claire, called 'Koffmann's' at The Berkeley Hotel, the same hotel as La Tante Claire used to be at, although at a different location within the hotel. Koffmann is a hugely admired chef within chef's circles. This is due in part to his natural modesty and the quality of his cooking speaking for him. He trained many good chefs and those that were interviewed about their observations of Koffmann, expressed very warm sentiments and praised him highly for his cuisine. His manner was in sharp contrast to the those skilled, but sometimes egotistical chefs appearing in print and TV cooking programmes. Koffmann can probably be best described, as a 'Chef's Chef'.

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Ephemera category

ref number: 11320

Latry Francoise A very rare Savoy menu by Chef Francois Latry.
INDEPENDENCE DAY DINNER MENU.
Of the American Society in London. July 4th, 1927. (a thin line) MENU, PROGRAMME, LIST OF GUESTS, AND PLAN OF TABLES (another thin line) The American Ambassador ......... Chairman. SAVOY HOTEL. Headed by a slightly embossed vignette of the American flag.
123 x 164 mm. An 18 page very detailed menu. Verso of front cover is a cartoon with drawings of all the upper management. We seee that Chef Latry is Maitre des Cuisines of the Savoy Restuarant and Chef Virlogeux was the Maitre des Cuisines of the Savoy Grill. With the Menu and Toasts, seating plan and the names of all invitee's, this is one of the most comprehensively detailed menus I have ever seen. On the verso of the back cover is a fine-drawn portrait of Mons.Latry. The whole menu in thick cream-coloured cardboard. Held together with a red, white and blue twisted string tassle. Housed in a slip folder bound in thick yellow handmade paper with a large label. A very clean and handsome item.
- This is an unusual menu, not only the pages of details but that it also has the tipped in cartoons of the Catering and Hotel Managers. At 'Cook's Info' online, there is a fine biographical article, detailing the key points of Francois Latry's life, pertaining to his career as a famous French Chef in London. Born in Gex. France in 1889 He was Maître Chef des Cuisines at the Savoy Hotel Restaurant in London for 23 years, from 1919 to 1942. His life has not yet been well-documented but what we know of him comes just from newspaper coverage of the time. Fortunately, he was somewhat similar to Alexis Soyer, being frequently in the media and the press, as well as a writer of letters to the editor of the Times of London. François’s mother began to teach him to cook when he was very young. He was only seven when he started doing little things in the kitchen under her direction. At 12 years old, he went off to work in a hotel in Bourgen-Bresse, whence the best French poultry comes. Then he went to Lyons for ten years before he migrated to Paris to get his apprenticeship finished off, but not the learning. Something a great cook does all his life. Latry started with the Savoy in London in 1911 when he was approximately 22 years old. Two years later he was chef of its Café Parisien, which he left to go to Claridge’s for five years, a service interrupted by a year at the front, where his leg was so badly injured that he was discharged as unfit for further service. After the Armistice, he returned to the Savoy as Maître Chef des Cuisines. On 31 May 1928, he was named to the Board of Directors of the “Société des Grands Hôtels de la route Paris-Nice” in France. His position at the time was given as “directeur des cuisines du Savoy-Hotel” with his home address curiously given out as 132 Cromwell Road, South Kensingston, London. Also in 1934, he was admitted to the French Legion of Honour: The first being Auguste Escoffier similarly admitted on March 22nd 1928. Latry retired in March of 1942. Marius Dutrey, c.1888 – 1975, was appointed his successor.” Latry died in August 1966 in France. Marius Dutrey stayed until January 1946. In January 1946, Camille Payard was awarded the post, but occupied it only shortly as he died in October of that same year. August Laplanche, was then Maître Chef des Cuisines from 1946 to 1965. A well documented history of the Kitchen of am equally documented grand old hotel that has managed to keep its excellent reputation since its inception by Richard D’Oyly Carte in August 1889.

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Ephemera category

ref number: 11273

Manuscript Recipes;
Fourteen loose recipes written in various hands.
- The Winstanley Family of Old Braunston Hall. Leicestershire.
n/d. Circa 1770. One of the recipe's appears inside a delivered note with Mrs Winstaley's name on the outside. These fourteen recipes appear to have been given to Mrs Winstanley from friends, as they all have been written in different hands and belonging to different ages. Contained inside a cardboard handmade folder with marbled paper and label. An interesting item.
- To date these manuscripts is quite easy. In 1775 Clement Winstanley commissioned the local architect and builder William Oldham (who later became the Lord Mayor of Leicester) to construct the present Braunston Hall. The design typical of the period, a solid Georgian residence. (See image 1. below) The Hall was built on a rise with views overlooking Charnwood forest and set in one hundred acres of fine parkland. Clement also held the Office of High Sheriff of Leicester. As the letter with the one recipe is addressed to Mrs Winstanley, Braunstone House. Leicester, then we can date it sometime before 1775. Exactly when can't be ascertained. The Winstanley's came to Braunstone in the mid 17th century. James Winstanley (the father of Clement) purchased the estate from the executors of the Hastings family after the death of Henry Hastings’ in 1649, for the sum of £6,000. A quitclaim in 1651 gave him freehold interest in the estate of Braunstone. Finally, I came into possession of these recipes when gifted to me by my good friend Andrew Phillip Poore, born 1951. He is the one who previously gave me the Winstanley three manuscript recipe books that can be viewed in this website under item # 11157 and a beautiful small recipe book under item # 10927. Andrew is the son of the late Rosemary Philippa Winstanely, born in 1914 at Braunstan Hall and passed away on the Oct. 6th 2006. These items all came from her late estate.

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Ephemera category

ref number: 11264

Nignon. Edouard - Rare Nignon menu 1913.
Restaurant Larue - Paris.
Nignon's Menu July 9th 1913.
310 x 200 mm. 2 leaves, 4 pages. Very colourful front cover with an elegantly dressed lady and man entering the restaurant with the Maitre d' in attendance. The inside 2 pages: the first one blank and the second with a very comprehensive a'la Carte menu. The back cover ornate printer's device with E.Nignon's initials. On the third page a light smudge not affecting the menu text. Overall a unique item housed in a handsome marbled folder.
- - This extensive a' la Carte menu from the Restaurant Larue, surprises with its elegance, but most of all because it is laid out very similarly to the menus of Claridges Hotel in London. Nignon was the Chef du Cuisine there from 1894 - 1901. One wonders if the format was started by him then. When I was the Chef Poissonier there in the 1980's, it still had the same a' la Carte menu format. Edouard Nignon (1865-1934), widely regarded within the industry as one of the greatest French chefs. During his career, he cooked at the Cafe Anglais, the Paillard, L'Ermitage in Moscow and directed a brigade of 120 chefs at the Moscow Metropole Hotel. He was at different times according to the Larousse Gastronomique, head chef to the Tsar, the Emperor of Austria, and President Woodrow Wilson. Finally finishing his career at his own "Restaurant Larue'. Situated at the corner of Rue Royale and Place de la Madeleine, and opened by Nignon in 1908. Recognized by the members of the French Academy and other Chefs as one of the fathers of modern French cuisine. Michel Guérard, himself one of the founders of nouvelle cuisine, described Nignon as a visionary chef who had a huge influence on French cooks such as himself and Joël Robuchon. Nignon remains to this day relatively unknown to the general public. He received in his dining room "Tout Paris".(meaning 'Everyone in Paris', a French expression referring to the fashionable and affluent elite of the city, who frequent fashionable events and places, and establish trends in upper-class culture). He was a star in monarchist, bonapartist, nationalist and aristocratic circles. In 1922 aged 57 years old, Nignon was hospitalized to undergo the removal of a kidney and health problems dogged him till his death. His nephew Célestin Duplat, also married to a niece of Madame Nignon, directed the kitchens as Head of Cuisiniers. Nignon said about him "He was at my side in Moscow and other important houses so that I can testify to his professional knowledge. With Célestin at the helm, the establishment is in good hands". In 1933, one year before Nignon dies. his beloved Larue is finally honored with three Michelin stars and will keep them until the war. After the second world war, the restaurant is not able to revive its pre-war grandeur. Larue and its famous wine cave were sold. (Image #2 below), shows the restaurant Larue near Place de la Madeleine, closed before being sold, in Paris in 1954. In the NY Times archive, an article by Jane Nickerson describing the closing of Larue in 1954, in particular the auction in May 11th, of its famous wine cellar. The briskest bidding was for the cognacs bearing the Larue name. A Fine Champagne Cognac of 1795 was sold for $46.oo. ($445.oo in 2021). Two famous brandies were the 1858 Cognac Maison Larue and the 1845 Armagnac Restaurant Larue (see image #6 below). An elderly woman who refused to be identified bought 542 bottles of red burgundy. They included Clos de Vouget 1923, Vosne Romanee 1945, and an estate-bottled Corton 1947. This was the final chapter in the life a great chef and his famous restaurant.

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Ephemera category

ref number: 10934

Nignon. Edouard - Extremely rare Nignon menus.
Claridges Hotel London.
Two of Edouard Nignon's menus dated 1900.
Menu 1. 163 x 100mm. Cream coloured card with a bright embossed American flag. A ten course dinner menu dated 4 Juillet 1900. Obviously celebrating American independence day. A clean item still in very good condition, with the word 'Menu'. embossed in gilt. Menu 2. 147 x 82mm. Similar cream coloured card with two crossed flags, one being the Queen's Royal Standard and the other is the Union Jack. The menu is titled the 'Atlantic Union'. The flags and the word 'Menu' are brightly coloured and embossed. The menu has twelve courses and dated 19th May 1900. Clean bright menus in good condition housed in a cardboard folder covered with marbled paper and a label on the front cover. Very rare.
- Claridges Hotel, Brook St, London, has always been the most important hotel in the UK for diplomatic dinners and social functions. Even today there are approx. one dozen state banquets hosted during the season by the Queen personally, for various Embassies and visiting Heads of State. As both menus here are decoratively very handsome but understated, they appear to be above the norm. The first one for American Independence day could have been hosted by or for Joseph Choate the American Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James's, presented 1899 and recalled 1905. The Chef de Cuisine at that time, Edouard Nignon, had a classic apprenticeship in some of the greatest French kitchens of the time. He diligently trained in all the main departments; Saucier, Rotisseur, Entremetier, Poissonnier, Garde manger, Patissier and Tournant. He was Chef de Cuisine to the Tsar and the Emperor of Austria, eventually becoming the owner of the famous Restaurant Larue on rue Royale in Paris. In between those two famous positions he was at Claridges Hotel from 1894 - 1901. He was known to be a fantastic craftsman and the food at Claridges was thought by many to be the best in London. This was despite having Escoffier ensconced at the same time in the Carlton Hotel, Pall Mall. As displayed below these 2 Claridges menus of Nignon's, came from a private collection of approximately 127 menus belonging to the great grandson of Camille Albert who was the Head Banqueting Waiter at the Carlton Hotel from 1898 - 1905. About 85 of the menus in the collection are from Escoffier's time at the Carlton, while the others are from other famous London venues. Escoffier's menus are relatively rare while on the other hand, Nignon's are extremely rare. This is possibly due to the fact that while Escoffier was Chef de Cuisine at the Savoy and Carlton Hotels in London for almost 30 years, Nignon had a tenure in London of under 7 years. I have been searching for Nignon's menus for 30 years and these two are the first I have found.

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Ephemera category

ref number: 11210

PRUNIER. LA MAISON Struggling to cope after the great War.
LETTERS FROM EMILE PRUNIER.
Four letters hand-written by Emile Prunier. Also two articles about Pruniers. One four-page article from the Departement du Finistere, dated 9th March 1929. The other four-page article from the 'Cultures Marines' about L'Historie d'une Grande Maison.
Maison Prunier Customer Card 1. 140 x 90mm. A signed card by E. Prunier, ex-sergeant of Mounted Arms in the Train Equipment: detailing the predicted time of re-opening of Tuesday March 3rd. (no year) Also on the flip side is a letter to a friend about meeting a new client. Letter 2. 215 x 160mm. Paris July 17th. (no year) Writing to friend apologising for not being able to visit on Sunday. Detailing one of his oldest employees and also a great friend who was killed on July 4th on the Somme. Letter 3. 270 x 122mm. On Maison Prunier headed notepaper: Paris July 2nd circa 1919. Detailing the bad luck because of the leaving of his Maitre-de. Also apologising for not being available but clarifying his complete availability from August 20th. Letter 4. 270 x 122mm. On Maison Prunier headed notepaper: Paris Mrch 3rd 1920. Expressing to a Mrs Robin about her husband and sympathising that everyone who was involved in the great war were completely altered. Mostly the letters are about the difficulties Emile is facing after returning from the war and organising his business once again.
- The tribulations of not only running a very famous and demanding business, but also coping with his personal demons after 5 years in war service, and finding new staff, (many former valued employees lost their lives in the fighting.) finance, building all the many areas of administration again, finding and meeting new suppliers who also are having some of the same types of problems, finding produce, etc etc.. A monumental undertaking. But we know now just how successful Emile and Maison Prunier in Paris and London eventually became. All the letters have English translation.

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Ephemera category

ref number: 11318

PRUNIER. MAISON. Circa 1920's.
PARIS AND LONDON .
Three pieces of Prunier's colourful, marketing cards.
ITEM 1. A nicely designed small menu card for a private party at Maison Prunier 9, RUE DUPHOT, PARIS. - Les Huitres. Filets de Turbot Duglere. Poulet Douwarow. Desserts. Anjou 1908. Fruits. It also has eight signatures in pencil. ITEM 2. A folded six-page Carte-Postale with design for a stamp and address on the back cover. In the four pages inside there is a full take-away menu featuring a [SERVICE DE VILLE] Detailing a list of headings, offering, COQUILLAGES ET HUITRES; CAVIAR; CRUSTACES; SALAISONS, FUMAISONS; VINES; GARNUTURES; PLATS FROIDS; PLATS CHAUDS. all with prices two telephone numbers. dated October 1923. ITEM 3. A very nice promotional card detailing Maison Prunier, France; at 9, RUE DUPHOT, PARIS. and 16, AV. VICTOR-HUGO. And Meme Maison, Londres; 72 ST. JAMES STREET.
- ITEM 1. 136 x 89mm. The humorous colourful design on the front has a fish supplier carrying on his head a basket of oysters, a large surprised fish on one arm, and on the other hand, holding up a very big scallop shell already cooking on a bunsen-burner. ITEM 2. 132 x 85mm. This also has a nice colourful design on the front, of a smiling happy fish-supplier in apron and scarf with a basket of oysters on his head. ITEM 3. 133 x 89mm. Very slightly shaved at the bottom with no loss. This also has a nice colourful design on the front, of a fish, lobster and a sea-snail above table with a nicely starched table cloth. All items in very good condition housed in a green marbled cardboard folder.

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Ephemera category

ref number: 11314

Royal Menu - From Osborne House.
Her Majesty Queen Victoria's Dinner
Dated Monday August 29th, 1900.
225 x 140mm. Thick cardboard. Handwritten in ink in a neat script. The menu and the border are very bright. The edges are rubbed and slightly spotted and browned. Overall slightly age browned. Housed in a marbled cardboard folder with a label on the front cover. Overall a very nice item of very rare Royal ephemera. Queen Victoria died on January 21st 1901. Her Majesty had this dinner 5 months before.
- Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight. The house and its 800 hectare estate was bought from Lady Isabella Blachford in 1845, demolished, and a new house built by 1851 as a summer retreat for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Prince Albert designed the house himself in the style of an Italian Renaissance palazzo. The builder was Thomas Cubitt, the London architect and builder whose company built the main façade of Buckingham Palace for the royal couple in 1847. At Osborne an earlier smaller house on the site was demolished to make way for the new and far larger house. Queen Victoria died at Osborne House in January of 1901. Following her death, the house became surplus to royal requirements and was given to the state with a few rooms retained as a private royal museum dedicated to Queen Victoria. From 1903 until 1921 it was used as a junior officer training college for the Royal Navy known as the Royal Naval College, Osborne. Today it is fully open to the public. The house consisted of the original square wing known as 'The Pavilion', which contained the principal and royal apartments. The apartments contain reminders of Victoria's dynastic links with the other European royal families. The Billiard Room houses a massive porcelain vase, which was a gift of the Russian Tsar. The grandeur of the Billiard Room, the Queen's Dining Room and the Drawing Room on the ground floor forms a marked contrast with the much more homely and unassuming decor of the royal apartments on the first floor. These rooms contain the Prince's Dressing Room, the Queen's Sitting Room, the Queen's Bedroom and the children's nurseries, which were intended for private domestic use, and were therefore arranged to be as comfortable as possible. Both Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were determined to bring up their children in as natural and loving environment as their situation allowed so that as a consequence the royal children visited their parents' bedrooms when other children of a similar status lived in a far more detached manner. The 'main wing', containing the household accommodation, council and audience chambers were added later. The final addition to the house was a wing built between 1890 and 1891. It contains on the ground floor the famous Durbar Room which is named after an anglicised version of the Hindi word darbar. This word means court. The Durbar Room was built for state functions and decorated by Bhai Ram Singh in an elaborate and intricate style, with a carpet from Agra. It now contains the gifts Queen Victoria received on her Golden and Diamond Jubilees. These include engraved silver and copper vases, Indian armour and even a model of an Indian palace. The Indian associations of Osborne House also include a collection of paintings of Indian persons and scenes, painted at Queen Victoria's request by Rudolf Swoboda. There are both depictions of Indians resident or visiting Britain in the 19th Century and scenes painted in India itself when the painter went there for the purpose. The first floor of the new wing was for the sole use of Princess Beatrice and her family. Beatrice was the Queen's youngest daughter, who remained permanently at her side. The royal family stayed at Osborne for lengthy periods each year: in the spring for Victoria's birthday in May; in July and August when they celebrated Albert's birthday; and just before Christmas. In a break from the past, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert allowed photographers and painters to capture their family in the grounds and in the house, partly for their own enjoyment and partly as a form of propaganda for the nation to show what a happy and devoted family they were. Many thousands of prints of the royal family were sold to the public which led Victoria to remark, "no Sovereign was ever more loved than I am, I am bold enough to say." Writing to her daughter Victoria in 1858 about the gloominess of Windsor Castle, Queen Victoria stated, "I long for our cheerful and un-palace-like rooms at Osborne." The domestic idyll at Osborne was not to continue. In December 1861, Prince Albert died at Windsor Castle. During her widowhood, Osborne House continued as one of Queen Victoria's favourite homes. Today, Osborne House is under the care of English Heritage and is open to the public from spring through to autumn. The former Naval College's cricket pavilion was converted into a holiday cottage in 2004 and can be booked by members of the public. Guests staying at the cottage are given the right to use the Osborne Estate's private beach. Photographs 4 and 5 below show Osborne House as it is today. Photograph number 6 is a print of a painting in 1870 by Sir Edwin Landseer, of Queen Victoria and John Brown at Osborne. In it the Queen sits grandly on her horse while perusing state documents. On the ground are discarded documents and the Queen's gloves beside the red dispatch box. John Brown deigns not to pick them up, instead he rigidly guards the Queen's security and safety by not letting go of the horses reins. By the horse we see an amusing vignette of a small black scotch terrier on hind legs with paws together in a frozen pose of absolute devotion. The elaborate and decorous menu on offer here also gives a glimpse of the ultimate privilege of the Queen's household.

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Ephemera category

ref number: 11141