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Brillat-Savarin. Jean Anthelme - A scarce translation of ‘Physiologie du Gout’
Gastronomy as a Fine Art
OR The Science of Good Living A TRANSLATION OF THE “PHYSIOLOGIE DU GOUT” OF BRILLAT SAVARIN BY R.E. ANDERSON, M.A. (A printers device) A NEW EDITION London CHATTO & WINDUS, PICADILLY 1889.
12mo. 2feps. Half title. [1] Title page. [1] (1)vi Contents. (1)viii-xv Aesthetics of the Dining-Table. [1] (1)xx-xxiv Dialogue. (1)xxvi-xxxiii Preface. [1] xxxvi-xxxviii Fundamental Truths. (1)2 – 280. (1)2-32 Advertisements. 1fep. Original quarter wine red cloth with marbled boards, rubbed on the corners and a half inch square of marbled paper missing on the front. Spine with gilt writings. A 1” black ink stain on the outer edge. Internally very clean with untrimmed edges. Overall a fairly nice copy of a quite scarce edition.
- Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin born 1st April 1755, at Belley, Ain and expired on 2nd February, 1826 in Paris. He was a French lawyer and politician, and gained fame as an epicure and gastronome: With ‘Grimod’ the two writers effectively founded the whole genre of the gastronomic essay. Brillat-Savarin’s celebrated book ‘Physiologie du goût’ was first translated into English, titled ‘A Handbook of Gastronomy’ and first published in December 1825, two months before his death. The full title is "Physiologie du Goût, ou Méditations de Gastronomie Transcendante; ouvrage théorique, historique et à l'ordre du jour, dédié aux Gastronomes parisiens, par un Professeur, membre de plusieurs sociétés littéraires et savantes". It is less a treatise on cuisine than a witty compendium of anecdotes and observations intended to enhance the pleasures of the table; only the occasional recipe is included. Also known for his famous aphorisms, some of which are recalled below: • “Those persons who suffer from indigestion, or who become drunk, are utterly ignorant of the true principles of eating and drinking.” • "Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are." • "To receive guests is to take charge of their happiness during the entire time they are under your roof”. • "The discovery of a new dish confers more happiness on humanity, than the discovery of a new star”.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11132

Point. Fernand - Fernand's menu hand-written by Mme. Point.
La Cave du Restaurant de la Pyramide
Fernand Point VIENNE (ISERE) TELEPHONE 0-96.
Measuring a large 19.5” x 12.5”. 4 pages. Yellow cardboard, with a drawn illustration of the Roman Pryamide in Vienne. The menu written in Mme Point’s typically large hand-writing on the front cover, with the inscription beside it, reading: Pour Monseur et Madame Read Mullam avec le hommages Gastronomiques de Fernand Point 26-9-53. The two inside pages with four large columns with wines listed and priced. The back page empty except for two photographs of Roman ruins of Vienne. It has previously been folded in the middle but now straightened and housed in a large cardboard and marbled folder with a label on the front cover. Nice and clean with minimal wear. A very rare collector’s item.
- Fernand Point (1897, Louhans, in Bresse in Saône-et-Loire, Burgundy–March 5, 1955) was a well-known French restaurateur in Vienne, a small city twenty miles south of Lyon, who for many years was the owner of La Pyramide, which was considered by many to be the greatest restaurant in the world. Although he died about twenty years before the introduction of what became known as nouvelle cuisine, he is nevertheless considered to be the father of modern French cuisine because of the numerous great chefs that he influenced and trained: his insistence on absolutely fresh ingredients for dishes of regional background (this is why the menus were written daily by Mme Point, only after Fernand had been to the market and decided on the day's dishes), and his refusal to use the old-fashioned made-in-advance sauces of 'haute cuisine'. His quest for perfection in everything he served led, in 1933, to his restaurant being among the first to be given the newly introduced three-star rating by the Michelin Guide. Such master French chefs as Paul Bocuse, Alain Chapel, and Jean and Pierre Troisgros trained under Point and, applying his principles, eventually helped create the nouvelle cuisine of the late 1970s. Born in Burgundy, Point was the son of a hotel-restaurant owner and during his youth trained in well-known restaurants such as Foyot and the Bristol Hotel in Paris, the Majestic in Cannes, and the Royal Hotel in Évian-les-Bains. In 1923 his father bought the hotel-restaurant Guieu in Vienne but died two years later. Point left his job at the Royal Hotel and took over the restaurant, which he renamed La Pyramide. With the help of his wife, Marie Louise, he would run it for the next 30 years. Five years after taking it over, he won his first star from Michelin and in 1933 La Pyramide was among the first twenty-three restaurants that received three stars, an accolade that it would retain for more than 50 years. It was again among the first seven three-star restaurants when, in 1951, this rating was resumed after the war. In 1955, the year of Point's death, there were 12 three-star restaurants, and his widow Marie Luise (who died 1986) managed to keep the restaurant in this top category. This is a special menu hand-written by Mme. Point on the La Pyramide wine menu. Checking the wine menu one can see that it is exceptional, with a very comprehensive selection. Among some of the many gems one can find is a Cotes-du-Rhone Hermitage 1870. A Chateau d’Yquem 1892. A Chateau-Lafitte Rothschild 1865. The Menu itself starts with one of the dishes Point was famous for: Brioche de Foie Gras.

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Modern category

ref number: 11133

Nignon. Edouard - in fine original state.
Les Plaisirs de la Table
Ou, sous une forme nouvelle, l'Auteur a devoile maints delicieux secrets et recettes de bonne Cuisine, transcrit les precieux et de fins Gourmets fameux et de fins Gourmets, conseillers aimables et surs en l'Art du Bein Manger PREFACE DE M. ROBERT DE FLERS de l'Academie Francaise (A prinetr's device of a sheep) DESSINS de P.F. GRIGNON. A.PARIS CHEZ L'AUTEUR et chez J. MEYNAIL, Libraire, 30, Boulevard HAUSSMANN OUVRAGE DEPOSE.
FIRST EDITION. Circa 1926. 4to. Paste-down and fep with red and blue print design. 1fep. Half title. [1] 1p Dedication to A. Antonin Careme by Nignon. Frontispiece is a small red illustration. Title page.[1] (1)viii-xiv Preface by Robert de Flers. 1p Chapitre Premier. [1] (1)18-326. 1p Journal. [1] (1)329-333 Table des Matieres. 1p Printer's device. Last fep and paste-down with red and blue print design. Text in black with many very fine red illustrations throughout. The start of each chapter is a full page illustrated design in red. Full original blue and crimson paper cover in very good slightly faded condition. The covers supported by strong cardboard inserts. Internally very clean with pages slightly age browned due to the paper quality used at that time. Edges untrimmed. A nice original copy of an unusually well designed cookery book in Art Nouveau style.
- Edouard Nignon was born, one of eight siblings, in Nantes on November 9, 1865. At the very tender age of ten he was apprenticed to the restaurant Cambronne in Nantes, October 9, 1874. A year later, October 20, 1875, he entered the restaurant Monier, the best in the town. Some women there taught him to read and write in the style of the area. Later he worked in some of the largest Paris houses with the greatest chefs such as the Cafe Anglais and The Paillard, gaining a classic apprenticeship and elsewhere; Asst. Chef saucier at Chez Bignon. Chef saucier at Chez Voisin. Chef entremettier à l'exposition de 1889. Chef rôtisseur at La Lapérouse. Chef des cuisines at Marivaux. His many experiences and positions gave him access to the highest levels of society and a growing reputation. Nignon emigrated to Austria as Chef to the Emperor of Austria and then to Russia where he served the Czar and at L'Ermitage in Moscow and commanded a Kitchen brigade of 120 chefs. He also travelled to Britain where he held the post from 1894 - 1901 of Maitre Chef des Cuisiniers at Claridges Hotel in London. At this time another great Chef - Escoffier, was working at the Savoy and then the Carlton Hotel, Pall Mall. It is rumoured in print that there was a professional rivalry between the two chefs. The rumours indicate that many thought Nignon to be the more creative and precise craftsman. Nignon made his fortune and returned to Paris where he bought a house in 1908 and created the Restaurant Larue in the Place de la Madeleine. It became the most elegant in Paris, its customers were the finest in the world; artists, poets, writers, government ministers, stars of the stage, kings and princes, also cooking for President Woodrow Wilson. One client, le Marquis de Rouge, a prominent gourmet, once told Nignon that he liked and wanted a pink duck dish. Nignon created the famous ‘Caneton à la presse’, serving it with a bottle of Musigny 1884. He is also credited with creating the dish 'Homard à l'Américaine'. Nignon was also a successful business-man. Sacha Guitry, who knew him well, later wrote in the preface to one of his many books; ‘He always consulted with profit’. For the last years at his restaurant Nignon traded the chef’s toque for the Maitre d’ Hotel’s black uniform. His fame grew and grew. Observed going from table to table, advising a sole, offering a partridge, suggesting a dessert or a wine from his famous cellar, it was said that all Paris dined at his table. Nignon retired in 1921 and returned to Britain, where he died in 1934. (one year before Escoffier expired). Besides ‘Les Plaisirs de la Table’, he wrote two other great books: ‘L’Heptameron des Gourmets, ou, Les Delices de la Cuisine Francaise’, and ‘Eloges de la Cuisine Francaise’.

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Modern category

ref number: 11134

Marshall Agnes Bertha - with the four coloured plates.
THE BOOK OF ICES.
[FOURTEENTH THOUSAND.] INCLUDING CREAM AND WATER ICES, SORBETS, MOUSSES, ICED SOUFFLES, AND VARIOUS ICED DISHES, WITH NAMES IN FRENCH AND ENGLISH, AND VARIOUS COLOURED DESIGNES FOR ICES. BY A.B. MARSHALL. (Copyright.) REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION. London: MARSHALL’S SCHOOL OF COOKERY, 32, MORTIMER STREET. SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., LIMITED, 4, STATIONERS’-HALL, COURT. [Price Half-a-Crown nett.]
180 x 120mm. n/d. Front paste-down and end-paper with lovely advertisements. Half-title. On verso advertisement for all Marshall’s books. [1] Frontispiece – one of the four coloured plates. Title page with tissue guard. [1] (1)vi-vii Contents. [1] (1)2-52. (1)54-76 Advertisements featuring wonderful illustrated drawings of Marshall’s ice-moulds, ice-pots and machines. (1)78-79 Index. On verso advertisement for all Marshall’s dry goods. [1] End-paper and paste-down with lovely advertisements. Original bright blue cloth cover with blind tolled lines and bright gilt writing. Internally very clean with the four coloured plates with tissue guards. A lovely copy of this very scarce much sought after thin volume. Earlier copies were published without the plates and had limited advertisements.
- Mrs. Agnes Bertha Marshall (born Walthamstow, Essex 1855 – died Brighton 1905) was a celebrity cook similar to today's television stars who hold cookery demonstrations and write books. Had there been television in her day, Mrs. Marshall would have without question, been a cookery pundit on the small screen. She was very well informed and always keen to adopt new technology. Agnes Marshall wrote four books: ‘The Book of Ices’ 1885; ‘Mrs. A.B. Marshall's Book of Cookery’ 1888; ‘Mrs. A.B. Marshall's Larger Cookery Book of Extra Recipes’ 1891; ‘Fancy Ices’ 1894; These are considered to be some of the finest books of their type ever written, especially those on ices, of which Mrs. Marshall was the Queen. Her recipes are clear, accurate, and well illustrated. She was very industrious, owning and running a domestic staff agency business, selling domestic and cooking equipment, and running a successful school of cookery in Welbeck St, London. She campaigned vigorously for better standards of food hygiene. Agnes toured extensively, lecturing and demonstrating her techniques to huge audiences. She even took her lectures to the United States in the summer of 1888. Two years earlier in 1886 she had started a magazine called "The Table". Mrs. Marshall can be credited with the invention of the ice cream edible cone, mentioned in her 1888 cookery book, the recipe being "cornets with cream". This predates American claims to the invention in 1904. There are no known earlier references to the edible ice cream cone, which nowadays we all take for granted. Her books stimulated demand for imported Norwegian ice, which was supplied from the building that is now the London Canal Museum. An exhibition at Syon House (1998) and at London Canal Museum (1999) told the story of her amazing life. Marshall has been neglected by historians, and is not famous today, unlike Mrs. Beeton, whose work benefited from commercial promotion long after her death. In contrast Mrs. Marshall's family did not make a long-term success of her business. Sadly, Agnes Marshall’s life ended too early. She died at age of forty nine recovering from injuries sustained from a riding accident. Marshall’s newspaper, company, and school survived her well into the twentieth century and her influence and opinions endured even longer.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11135

Farley. John
The London Art of Cookery,
AND HOUSEKEEPER'S COMPLETE ASSISTANT. On a NEW PLAN. Made Plain and Easy to the Understanding of every HOUSEKEEPER, COOK, and SERVANT in the Kingdom. CONTAINING, Proper Directions for the Choice of all Kinds of Provisions. Roasting and Boiling all Sorts of Butchers Meat, Poultry, Game, and Fish. Sauces for every Occasion. Soups, Broths, Stews, and Hashes. Made Dishes, Ragouts, and Fricasses. All Sorts of Pies and Puddings. Proper Instruction for dressing of Fruits and Vegetables. Pickling, Potting, and Preserving. The Prepeartion of Hams, Tongues, and Bacon. The whole Art of Confectionary. The Preparation of Sugars. Tarts, Puffs, and Pastries. Cakes, Custards, Jams, and Jellies. Drying, Candying, and Preserving Fruits, &c. Made Wines, Cordial Waters, and Malt Liquors. To which is added, AN APPENDIX, Cotaining Considerations on Culinary Poisins; Directions for making Broths, &c. for the Sick; a List of Things in Season in the different Months of the Year; Marketing Tables, &c. &c. Embeliched with A HEAD of the AUTHOR, and a Bill of Fare for every Month in the Year, elegantly engraved on Thirteen Copper-plates. By JOHN FARLEY, PRINCIPAL COOK AT THE LONDON TAVERN. LONDON: The THIRD EDITION, With the Addition of upwards of One Hundred and Fifty new and elegant Receipts in the various Branches of Cookery. Printed for J. SCATCHERED and J. WHITTAKER, No.12, B. LAW, No. 13 Ava Maria Lane; and G. and T. WILKIE, St. Paul’s Church-Yard. 1785. [Price Six Shillings Bound.]
8vo. 1fep. [1] Engraved Frontispiece of Farley - Publish'd Jan 1. 1785 ---. Title page. [1] 4p Preface with facsimile signature of Farley. 2p Advertisement to the third edition. 24p Contents. 12 engraved plates of Bills of Fare with the back blank. (1)2-444. 445-448 Marketing Table. 1fep. Full mid-brown contemporary calf with a nice patina. The spine with raised bands and panels gilt lines and gilt writing. Oil stains to p255-264. Very slightly age browned, otherwise very nice internally. A good copy of an early edition.
- Farley's place of employment, The London Tavern in Bishopsgate Street was the largest restaurant and banqueting facility in the City. It held functions for up to two thousand, five hundred people at a sitting. In PPC 42 & 43, Fiona Lucraft lays out a very comprehensive and compelling piece of research that rightly condemns Farley of devious and outright plagiarism and proves that most of The London Art of Cookery has been taken straight from the cookery books of Hannah Glasse and Elizabeth Raffald. Nevertheless one gets a sense from Farley’s book that he was a very good professional cook proud of his high standards. He is one of the first English cooks to express (so typical of the French for more than a century) a continuing need for progress and improvement in the culinary arts. Farley in his introduction states with some pride that -- 'Cookery, like every other Art, has been moving forward to Perfection by slow Degrees; and, though the Cooks of the last Century boasted of having brought it to the highest Pitch it could bear, yet we find that daily improvements are still making therein, which must be the Case of every Art depending on Fancy and Taste: ---’ Farley appears to have very high standards of cleanliness and safety, repeatedly stressing in his book, the need for saucepans to be both clean and well tinned and he has an appendix on ‘culinary poisons’, particularly the risk of copper poisoning, which can happen when the tin wears down and exposes the copper underneath to foodstuffs. Whatever Fiona Lutcraft's excellent article in PPC proves, this is still an exceptional cookery book and gives a very good idea of the foods and dishes available at a highly reputed establishment.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11136

Raffald. Elizabeth
The Experienced English Housekeeper,
FOR THE USE AND EASE OF or the Use and Ease of Ladies, House-keepers, Cooks etc. Written purely from PRACTICE, DEDICATED TO THE Hon. Lady ELIZABETH WARBURTON, Whom the Author lately served as House-keeper. Consisting of several Hundred Original Receipts, most of which never appeared in Print. PART 1. Lemon Pickle, Browning for all Sorts of Made-Dishes, Soups, Fish, plain Meat, Game Made Dishes both hot and cold, Pies, Puddings etc, PART 11. All Kind of Confectionary, particularly the Gold and Silver Web for covering of Sweetmeats, and a Desert of Spun Sugar; with Directions to set out a Table in the most elegant Manner and in the modern Taste, Floating Islands, Fish Ponds, Transparent Puddings, Trifles, Whips, etc. PART 111. Pickling, Potting, and Collaring, Wines, Vinegars, Catchups, Distilling, with two most valuable Receipts, one for refining Malt Liquors, the other for curing Acid Wines, and a correct List of every Thing in Season in every Month of the Year. By ELIZABETH RAFFALD. A NEW EDITION. In which are inserted some celebrated Receipts by other modern Authors. London: Published and sold by the BOOKSELLERS, and by T. Wilson and R. Spence, Printers, High-Ousgate, York. Anno 1806.
8vo. 3feps. title page. [1] Frontispiece engraved portrait of Mrs Raffald. [1] p2. Dedication. (1)vi-vii Preface to the first edition. 1p Description of plates. 1 folding plate showing designs for stoves and 2 engraved folding plates showing table settings. (1)2-369. p370-383. p383-384 Directions for a Grand Dinner. (1)386-397 Index. [1] 3 feps. Half mid-tan calf with marbled boards. The spine with raised bands and black calf label with gilt writing. Inside uniformly age-browned. Overall a nice copy.
- Elizabeth Whittaker Raffald (1733-81) was after Hannah Glasse, the most celebrated English cookery writer of the 18th century. She was employed for fifteen years as Housekeeper to Lady Elizabeth Warburton of Arley Hall, Cheshire, to whom she dedicates her book. She was an extremely industrious woman. Besides bearing fifteen daughters , she was a confectioner, owned a shop and ran a cookery school from it. After publishing her book she took over two famous Inns in Manchester and Salford. On top of this she helped found Salford's first newspaper - Prescott's Journal and became adviser to, and part-owner of Harrup's Mercury. She also found time to compile the first Manchester Directory - indefatigable! Cagle p687, records two similar copies printed by the same printers but dated 1801 & 1803. Oxford cites an 1805 edition but none mentions this one of 1806. Irritatingly, neither Maclean, Cagle nor Oxford informs us when the edition with the portrait frontis was first published.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11137

Read. George
THE CONFECTIONER’S AND PASTRY-COOK’S GUIDE:
OR, CONFECTIONERY MADE EASY: CONTAINING THE MOST APPROVED RECEIPTS FOR MAKING ALL KINDS OF PASTRY, PATTIES, TARTS, PIES, PUDDINGS, JELLIES, BLANC-MANGER, ICE AND OTHER CREAMS. WITH DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING BRIDE CAKE, ROUT CAKES, BUNS, TEA CAKES, ETC. THE BEST METHODS OF PRESERVING FRUIT; ART OF SUGAR-BOILING; &c. &c. BY GEORGE READ, PRACTICAL CONFECTIONER AND PASTRY-COOK. TO WHICH ARE ADDED PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR FAMILY BREAD BAKING, FOURTEENTH EDITION, REVISED AND IMPROVED, WITH MANY IMPORTANT ADDITIONS. LONDON: DEAN & SON, St. Dunstan’s Buildings, St. Dunstan’s Court, 160A, Fleet Street. Price One Shilling and Sixpence.
n/d circa 1850. 180 x 120mm. 1fep. Title page lightly browned. [1] (1)iv Preface. (1)6-93. (1)95-98 Index. 1fep. Original full wine red embossed, blind tooled cloth cover with quite bright gilt lettering on the front cover. Binding split inside, but holding well. In very good overall condition. An uncommon book.
- Nothing can be learned about George Read online, or in this book. In the preface he directs the reader’s attention to professionals and professional practices. Cagle p688 has a first edition of 1842 of Read’s other book ‘The Confectioner’. Bitting p389 has an un-dated fifth edition of this book with 94 pages. Confusingly Oxford cites ‘The Pastry-cook’s and Confectioner’s Assistant’ of 1842. He goes on to inform us that the 6th edition is called ‘The Confectioner’s and Pastry-Cook’s Guide’. All complete editions are scarce.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11138

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

David. Elizabeth - With E.D's signature.
English Bread and Yeast Book
Elizabeth David English Bread and Yeast Cookery With illustrations by Wendy Jones - Allen Lane (with illustrated drawings of bread loaves)
FIRST EDITION. 1977. 8vo. Front and back paste-down and endpapers with illustrated drawings. [1] 1fep. Title page. [1] 1p Dedication Page to Jill Norman with a planche signed by the author and dated 2.11.1988. [1] (1)viii-x Contents. xi-xiv Acknowledgements. xv-xvi List of Plates. xvii-xxii Introduction. 1p History and Background. [1] 3-547. [1] (1)550-556 Bibliography. 557-591 Index. 10feps. Very good D/W. Dark Grey cloth boards and spine with gilt writing. Condition, as new. A very desirable copy, especially with the E.D. signature.
- Elizabeth David practised bread making for 15 years. In the book the first part is dedicated to flour milling and its history, on bread ovens, Assize Laws on weight, price and content of loaves. She crucially defines different types of flours available and explains distinctions between them. The second half of the book is devoted to recipes. She finally concurs with the author who wrote - 'the great thing about baking with yeast is the difficulty of failure'. It can also be said; the greatest thing about reading this book is the difficulty of not enjoying.!

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Modern category

ref number: 11140

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