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Francatelli. Charles Elme - The rare first edition
The Cook's Guide and Housekeeper's & Butler's Assistant;
A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON ENGLISH AND FOREIGN COOKERY IN ALL ITS BRANCHES; CONTAINING PLAIN DIRECTIONS FOR PICKLING AND PRESERVING VEGETABLES, FRUITS, GAME, &C, The Curing of Hams and Bacon; THE ART OF CONFECTIONARY AND ICE-MAKING, AND THE ARRANGEMENT OF DESSERTS. WITH VALUABLE DIRECTIONS FOR THE PREPARATION OF PROPER DIET FOR INVALIDS; ALSO FOR A VARIETY OF WINE-CUPS; AND EPICUREAN SALADS,AMERICAN DRINKS, AND SUMMER BEVERAGES. BY CHARLES ELME FRANCATELLI. PUPIL OF THE CELEBRATED CAREME, AND MAITRE-D'HOTEL AND CHIEF COOK TO HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN. AUTHOR OF "THE MODERN COOK" WITH UPWARDS OF FORTY ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON; RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 1861. (Right of Translation is Reserved)
FIRST EDITION. 1861. 1fep. Frontispiece with light water stains and slight foxing. Title page.[1] 1+iv-vi Preface. a2 Postscript.[1] 1+viii Illustrations. 1+x-xx Contents. 1+2-452. 1+454-484 Bills of Fare. 1+486-488 Glossary. 1+490-512 Index. p22 of very interesting Advertisements on pink paper. 1fep. Two plates of Appetisers facing pages 114 and 130 . Original bottle green cloth boards with blind tooling and a neatly relaid and slightly darkened original cloth spine with blind tooling and gilt writing. The guttering has been strengthened. With twenty nine in-text and two full page illustrations. A very nice copy in the original state.
- Despite his name and his French training, Charles Elmé Francatelli was English by nationality. He wrote several important cookbooks, and held in succession three of the most prestigious cooking positions in England at that time. Francatelli, of Italian ancestry, was born in London in 1805, but grew up in France. There, he learnt cooking, getting a diploma from the Parisian College of Cooking, and working under the great French chef Marie Antonin Carême. (Some sense of Careme's grand influence can be seen in this book from p197 where in-text illustrations, of Pates, Timbales, Chartreuses, Mazarines and Croustades etc. enhance the recipes.) Upon his return to England, he worked for various places and people of distinction; such as Rossie Priory and Chesterfield House; As 'Chef de Cuisine' for the Earl of Chesterfield; At Chislehurst in Kent for Sir Herbert Jenner-Fust; At the Coventry House Club; He also cooked for the Earl of Errol. On February 4th 1839, he started as 'Chef de Cuisine' at Crockford's Club in London, taking over from the previous chef Louis Eustache Ude, who had just quit in a salary dispute at the start of February. (Disraeli didn't think much of Francatelli's chances at following in Ude's footsteps, but time was to prove him wrong.) He didn't stay at Crockford's long, though; by 1840 or 1841, he started work for Queen Victoria as Maitre d'Hotel and 'Chief Cook in Ordinary' at Windsor, staying there for four years. In 1845, he published his book "The Modern Cook." in England and in America the following year. The book sold well on both sides of the Atlantic. In it, he advocated two courses for meals -- a savoury followed by dessert, which is still mostly the norm today. In 1850, he then became 'Chef de Cuisine' at the Reform Club, taking over from Alexis Soyer, who had resigned in May of that year. Francatelli worked there with distinction for seven years. In 1852, he got the food company Brown and Polson to be a sponsor of his very rare little book, "A Plain Cookery-Book for the Working Classes". In return, he gave Brown and Polson space for a large advertisement at the back of the book, and mentioned their products by name in several of his recipes. In 1861 he published this book, "The Cook's Guide and Housekeeper's & Butler's Assistant", which became the book of reference for any well-managed household. His last job was at the Freemasons' Tavern in London. He died on 10 August 1876 at Eastbourne, England. The Times ran an obituary for him on 19 August 1876 titled "An Illustrious Chef" (page 4 of that day's paper.) As a small footnote, it is known that a younger cousin of his, whom he never met, Laura Mabel Francatelli (c. 1880 or 1881 - 2 June 1967), survived the Titanic. She was travelling as secretary to Lady (Lucy) Duff-Gordon, a fashion designer at the time, who also used a sister of Laura, Phyllis Francatelli, as a model.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11028

Rundell. Mrs - A rare second edition - 1st issue.
A NEW SYSTEM OF DOMESTIC COOKERY;
FORMED UPON PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMY. And adapted to the Use of PRIVATE FAMILIES. BY A LADY. A NEW EDITION, CORRECTED. LONDON: PRINTED FOR JOHN MURRAY, FLEET-STREET; J.HARDING, ST.JAMES'S-STREET; AND A.CONSTABLE AND CO. EDINBURGH; At the Union Printing-Office, St.John's Square, by W.Wilson. 1807. Price Seven Shillings and Sixpence.
Small 12mo. 2nd edition - 1st issue. (The second issue has considerably more pages) 2feps. [1] Frontispiece. Title page. [1] (Entered at Stationers Hall) 1p Advertisement. 1p Directions to Binder. p18 Contents. 1-xxx Miscellaneous Observations with seven plates of carving meats. 1+2-323. [1] 1+326-351. 3p Advertisements. 2feps. Half crushed dark tan calf spine and corners with marbled boards. Spine with raised bands, gilt tooling and lettering. Original uncut paper edges. Internally, slightly dusty but overall very clean. A very nice copy.
- Maria Rundell was the original ‘domestic goddess.’ An elderly Edinburgh widow whose best-selling book on cookery, medicinal remedies and household management defined the perfect home. ‘A New System of Domestic Cookery’ was a publishing sensation in the early 1800s. It sold half a million copies and conquered America, and its profits helped found one of the Victorian era's most influential Edinburgh based publishing empires, one which boasted Lord Byron, Charles Darwin, Sir Walter Scott, Jane Austen, Benjamin Disraeli and Arthur Conan Doyle among its authors. Nearly 180 years after her death, the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh holds one of the most significant single collections of papers on 19th century literature. The ‘John Murray Archive’ compiled by the seven generations of Murrays, was recently bought by the library, for the staggering sum of £31,000,000, chiefly with lottery money. It includes 150,000 pages of letters, manuscripts and documents from some of the most significant thinkers, scientists and writers of modern history. Scholars have largely ignored Mrs Rundell, a friend of the Murrays and the widow of a surgeon from Bath, and overlooked her remarkable role in the company's success - a success soured by a bitter feud. In 1805, aged 61, she had sent the second John Murray, the son of the Scottish printer who set up a small publishers in London in 1768, an unedited collection of recipes, remedies and advice on running a home. She had compiled it originally for her seven daughters, and offered it to Murray free of charge. Murray recognised its potential. It was some 60 years since the first English cookery book had been written by Hannah Glasse, and Mrs Rundell's 'New System of Domestic Cookery, Formed upon Principles of Economy and Adapted to the Use of Private Families by a Lady', was about to become the bible for Britain's 19th century bourgeoisie. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography describes it as "the earliest manual of household management with any pretensions to completeness, it called forth many imitations". Stored in a double-locked 'cage' in the library's vault, Murray’s firm's 'subscriptions book' for November 21 1805 reveals advance sales of 310 copies. In July 1807 booksellers placed advance orders for 1,150 copies for this edition. By 1841 it had run to 65 British editions, selling 10,000 copies a year. It was snapped up in Britain's colony, America, where it was retitled "American Domestic Cookery and The Experienced American Housekeeper" and there ran to 37 editions, and was translated into German. It sold more than 245,000 copies in the UK, remaining in print until the 1880s. Its profits enabled Murray to buy one of the most famous addresses in literature - 50 Albemarle Street, Mayfair. Doubling up as the publisher's offices and home, Albemarle Street's drawing room became the location for some of the most influential gatherings in 19th century English literature. Murray's guests would include Isaac Disraeli, father of the future Prime Minister, George Canning, a Foreign Secretary and briefly Prime Minister, Sir Walter Scott and Lord Byron. The poet was one of Murray's biggest signings. The archive reveals that Mrs Rundell and her publisher soon fell out. In 1807, the year of this edition on offer, the author wrote angry letters about errors in the new edition. She said: "I am hourly struggling against my feelings, but they are grievously wounded." It had been "miserably prepared". Corrected editions soon appeared, but by 1814 their relationship had collapsed. Convinced Murray was neglecting her book, she offered a revised version to a rival, Longmans. They issued injunctions against each other. Mrs Rundell prevented Murray from republishing the book after his rights expired. Murray blocked her rival version, rightly claiming he had improved and "embellished" the book. Their battle ended in 1821, when the Lord Chancellor cancelled both injunctions and asked them to settle privately. In February 1823 a legal agreement records that Murray paid her "the sum of two thousand and one hundred pounds of good and lawful money". Later, Mrs Rundell moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, where she died in 1828, aged 83. It was only then that her authorship was revealed. Online, at auction, in dealer’s catalogues and in book shops, later editions by Rundell are numerous and very common. We are informed erroneously in some bibliographies, that this 1807 copy is the rare first edition. In fact the first was published 1805/1806 in a very small number. This copy is the equally scarce second edition, of which only a little over a thousand copies were published. This is an exceptionally clean, untrimmed copy; A real collectors item.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11042

Escoffier. Georges Auguste - 1st edition of Escoffier's classic in the original state.
Le Guide Culinaire
BIBLIOTHEQUE PROFESSIONNELLE Le Guide Culinaire AIDE-MEMOIRE DE CUISINE PRATIQUE Par A. ESCOFFIER AVEC LA COLLABOATION De MM. Phileas GILBERT - E. FETU A. Suzanne, B. Reboul, Ch, Dietrich, A. Caillat, ETC. Dessins de Victor Morin - Je place ce livre sous le ptronage psthume de Urbain Dubois et Emile Bernard, en teimoignage de mon admiration pour ceux qui, depuis Careme ont porte le plus haut la gloire de l'Art Culiniare. A.E. - (printers device of two branches) PARIS 1903 - Tous droits de traduction et de reproduction reserves pour tous les pays, y compris le Suede, la Norvege et le Danemark.
FIRST EDITION. 220x135mm. Front paste-down and end-paper with patterned paper. [1] Half title. Verso with advertisement. Title page. Escoffier's facsimile signature on the verso. 3p Avant Propos. Verso with Abbreviations. 2p Remarks. 1p Advertisement. Verso with Tables de Chapitres. 1-766. 1p Methode de Repartition. 768-769 Menus. 1p plus 1 Folding plate showing service times and tasks. 771-786 Menus. (1)788-790 Table. (1)+p792 Errata. 4p Advertisements. 1fep. Back end-paper and paste-down with patterned paper. All paper age browned and brittle which is typical of this and other books of this time, due to poor quality paper being used. Two pages are loose and the folding plate has been expertly repaired with one of the folds a little darker than the rest. The original dark brown cloth with the Art Nouveau design and gilt lettering on the front still nice and bright. The spine has compartments with blind tooling and gilt lettering. The top compartment cloth is missing with the under material still brown and blending well. Overall a nice copy in its original state albeit somewhat brittle. A very scarce book.
- This is Escoffier's great classic from which so much has come about. Used as the basis for his'L'Aide Memoire Culinaire' 1910. Also Louis Saulnier's 'Le Repertoire de la Cuisine' 1914. The folding plate was used in Escoffier's volume of menus, 'Le Livre des Menus' 1912, which was written to compliment 'Le Guide Culinaire'. Later in 1934 we see in his final publication: 'Ma Cuisine", the classical recipes modified for the housewife. Le Guide Culinaire and the organisation of the Kitchen Brigade brought about by Escoffier during his life, became the basis of all theory and practical training taught in Catering Colleges. Andre Simon in his forward to the first English edition of 'Ma Cuisine' 1965, writes a very endearing description of Escoffier the person, and proclaims his rightful place at the head of the table, due to his towering achievements and the unchallenged position he occupies in the realm of Gastronomy.

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Modern category

ref number: 11059

ACTON. ELIZA - Her very scarce second book.
The English Bread-Book
FOR DOMESTIC USE, ADAPTED TO FAMILIES OF EVERY GRADE: CONTAINING THE PLAINEST AND MOST MINUTE INSTRUCTIONS TO THE LEARNER; PRACTICAL RECEIPTS FOR MANY VARIETES OF BREAD; WITH NOTICES OF THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF ADULTERATION, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES; AND OF THE IMPROVED BAKING PROCESSES AND INSTITUTIONS ESTABLISHED ABROAD. BY ELIZA ACTON. AUTHOR OF “MODERN COOKERY.” LONDON; LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, LONGMANS & ROBERTS. 1857. All right of translation is reserved.
FIRST AND SOLE EDITION. 8vo. 178 X 115mm. 1fep. Half title illustration of wheat sheaves with text and quote - "In no way, perhaps, is the progress of a nation in civilisation more unequivocally shown, than in the improvement which it realises in the food of the community." [1] (1)vi Preface. (1)viii – xii Contents. (1)2 – 204. (1)2 – 24 Advertisements. 1fep. Bound in original brown cloth with bright gilt design of wheat sheaves and text on cover. The back has a few water stains. The original spine expertly re-laid with the original gilt writing intact, slightly browned. Clean, tight and bright, with even very light age-browning through out. A fine original copy.
- This was the last of Eliza Acton's books. It is not only a collection of bread recipes of all sorts, from household bread to Sally Lunns, but also encompasses Acton's strong opinions about adulterated and processed food. It is also a polemic on unhealthy eating which is still relevant 150 years later. Although she was a firm believer in home baking, she also advocated machine dough; mixed in clean commercial bakeries, compared with the filthy conditions and hard lives of the English bakers of the time; But would she have been quite so pleased, had she foreseen the over-processed, chemically stabilised, glyphosate riddled supermarket breads of today.? The book also has chapters on different flours, yeasts, ovens and baking tips for beginners. Although it created a sensation when it first came out in 1857, unfortunately, as it was published two years before her death in 1859, it was never reprinted, and subsequently is now a rare book .

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11204

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

Escoffier. Georges Auguste - A very rare item.
One of Escoffier and Charles Scotto's Menus, .
From the Hamburg Amerika liner S.S. Imperator. June 23rd 1914.
180x158 mm. 4 pages. The front cover of the menu is an unusual birds-eye view of New York Harbour with S.S. Imperator steaming towards the Statue of Liberty and skyline of N.Y. in a circle. Beautifully observed and painted. 1st page, A farwell Dinner. Nice big menu written in English and German with eleven courses of French and American dishes. On the verso of the 3rd page, a music programme. Overall in very good condition and housed in a handsome cardboard folder covered in crimson marbled paper with a label on the front cover. A rare item of Escoffier and Charles Scotto ephemera.
- In 1912 the Hamburg Amerika line again requested Escoffier’s services for the planning and inauguration of the kitchens on the brand new 53,000 ton liner, S.S. Imperator. Escoffier had previously planned and opened in 1905, the kitchens and dining rooms of the liners S.S. Amerika and S.S. Kaiserin Auguste Victoria. The new restaurants had been a stunning success. Those a'la carte restaurant services on board all of those liners were called the “The Ritz Carlton Restaurants”. On the Imperator, Escoffier brought his famous pupil, Charles Scotto to be the Head Chef. The official trial cruise was to have an illustrious passenger; Emperor William. On the 8th July 1912, the Emperor boarded and they weighed anchor immediately and set sail towards Heligoland. On the last day of the Emperor’s stay on board He had a conversation with Escoffier. He thanked him for taking responsibility for the cuisine and how delighted He had been at the level of comfort He had experienced on board. In August 1914, as World War I began, the S.S. Imperator was laid up at Hamburg and remained inactive for more than four years until 1918. This menu is a ‘Farewell Dinner’ dated June 23rd 1914. It is not inconceivable that it is a part of the overall farewells of many people associated with this great ship. It is also rare to be able to tie down a Charles Scotto menu. He was to become one of the leading Chefs of the early American Culinary associations and schools. Becoming as famous there as his Master. Ref: Herbodeau and Thalman’s fine autobiography of Escoffier’s life.

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Ephemera category

ref number: 11213

W. S. Very scarce to rare.
THE NEW LONDON COOKERY.
ADAPTED TO THE USE OF PRIVATE FAMILIES. NINTH EDITION, GREATLY AUGMENTED AND IMPROVED. BY S.W. LONDON; JOSEPH SMITH, 193, HIGH HOLBORN. 1837.
Small 12vo. Frontispiece of one folding plate. Title page with double ruled border. 5pp engraved plates. 5pp blanks. i-iv Prefatory remarks. 1-548. 3pp Contents. 1p Catalogue of books. Very nicely bound in modern dark brown calf with blind tooled fillets and lines to the boards. Spine with raised bands and blind tooling in the compartments. Brown label with gilt lettering and date at the base. Text block nice and tight. Pages clean except for a continuous small stain on the upper corner of pages 217-489 without affecting the text. A nice copy.
- Not in Oxford, Bitting nor Cagle. On page 141, a quaint recipe for 'Love in Disguise'-- After well cleaning, stuff a calf's heart, cover it an inch thick with forcemeat, then roll it in vermicelli, put it in a dish with a little water, and send it to the oven. When done, serve it in its own gravy in the dish. This forms a pretty side dish. An unusual but pleasing and quite comprehensive cookery book. Hard to fully categorise as there are no copies in any of the major cookery book collections and very little information available. A rare book.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10964

Carlton Hotel. London - Escoffier was Chef de Cuisine for 20 years.
With a Brief History of the Site and the Surrounding Neighbourhood
Imprinted at the Sign of the Grassehopper, by Unwin Brothers, Ltd., The Gresham Press, in 27 Pilgrim Street, in the Parish of St. Anne's, Blackfriars, in the City of London. 1902.
Large 4to. 1fep as half-title. Frontispiece - etched b&w illustration of Carlton House.1820. Title page with 1" wide red engraved scrolled border with advertisement on verso. 1pp - Illustrations with advertisement on verso. 1pp - Contents. [1] 2pp - Introduction. pp 13-81. pp 17 Advertisements. [1] Bound in original dark tan calf with a 1/2" green fillet and gilt lines and dentelles. The back cover also with a 1/2" green fillet and gilt lines. Almost as new. All pages untrimmed, wide-margined and very clean. Also enclosed is a copy of a Carlton Hotel headed letter written in French by Mons. Escoffier to a Mr Cadier, with a translation of the letter. Also a b&w photograph of Cadier. Also a Carlton Hotel luggage label of that period. A postcard of The Grand Hotel des Thermes – Salsomaggiore, of which Escoffier's partner, Cesar Ritz was a Joint Proprietor. A very handsome copy of a very scarce book.
- This book is of great interest to the student or collector of Escoffier and Ritz. Mons. Auguste Escoffier was Chef de Cuisine of the Carlton Hotel from 1899 to 1919. The book was published and brought out during his tenure there. His name is mentioned on page 26. Mons. Cesar Ritz was the General Manager of the Carlton Hotel from 1899. They both moved from the Savoy Hotel, London to open the new Carlton Hotel. In the advertisements at the back of the book it shows the hotels that Cesar Ritz was involved with: The Grand Hotel des Thermes, Salsomaggiore - Joint Proprietor. The Hyde Park Hotel, London - Advisory Manager. The Hotel Ritz, Paris - Managing Director. There are also two hotels that show where Escoffier was Chef de Cuisine: The Grand Hotel, Monte Carlo, and the Grand Hotel National, Lucerne. The book, which was printed commemorating The Carlton Hotel and the neighborhoods of the Carlton House and Carlton House Terrace, includes sections on Waterloo Place, Pall Mall, Malbourough House, Clubland, The Haymarket, St James Park, St James Palace and Hyde Park. A beautiful book, with many engravings and illustrations and all pages of text with red elaborately engraved borders.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10998

Cole. Mary The Third edition very much improved.
THE LADY's COMPLETE GUIDE;
or, COOKERY IN ALL ITS BRANCHES CONTAINING The most approved Receipts, confirmed by Observation and Practice, in every reputable English Book of Cookery now extant; besides a great Variety of others which have never before been offered to the Public. Also several translated from the productions of Cooks of Eminence who have published in France, particularly the Duke de Nivernois's, M. Commo's Historie de Cuisine, M. Di-sang's Maitre d' Hotel, M. Valois, and M. Delatour, with their respective Names to each Receipt; which, with the ORIGINAL ARTICLES, form the most complete System of Cookery ever yet exhibited, under the following Heads, viz. ROASTING, SOUPS, TARTS, BOILING, SAUCES, PIES, MADE -DISHES, GRAVIES, PASTIES, FRYING, HASHES, CHEESECAKES. BROILING, STEWS, JELLIES, POTTING, PUDDINGS, PICKLING, FRICASSEES , CUSTARDS, PRESERVING, RAGOUTS, CAKES, CONFECTIONARY, &c. To which is added, in order to render it as complete and perfect as possible, A LIST OF EVERY THING IN SEASON, SEVERAL OF FARE, AND AN ELEGANT COLLECTION OF LIGHT DISHES FOR SUPPER. ALSO THE COMPLETE BREWER; CONTAING Familiar Instructions for brewing all Sorts of Beer and Ale; including the proper Management of the Vault or Cellar. LIKEWISE THE FAMILY PHYSICIAN; Consisting of a considerable Collection of approval Prescriptions by Mead, Sydenham, Tissot, Fothergill, Elliot, Buchan, and Other. (two full length double lines) BY MRS. MARY COLE, Cook to the Right Hon. The Earl of Drogheda. (two full length double lines) LONDON: PRINTED FOR G. KEARSLEY, NO. 46, FLEET-STREET. 1791.
8vo. 204 x 137mm. 1fep. Half-title. [1] Title page. [1] v-viii Preface. (1)x-xiv Cook & Housewife's Calendar. (1)xvi-xx Proper Articles to cover the Table every Month. xxi-xxii Family Suppers. xxiii-xxiv Specimen of a House-keeping Books. xxv-xxxii Marketing Tables. xxxiii-Iii Contents. (1)2 - 440. 441 - 460 Index. 1fep. Full dark brown calf. Original spine with faded gilt tooling and red label. The text block very clean except for the half-title and last page which are quite dusty. Overall a nice copy.
- In Petits Propos Culinaires; booklet # 43, there is a well-written and informative article by Fiona Lucraft on recipe plagiarism of cookery books. Aimed primarily at John Farley the Head Chef of the London Tavern and 18th century author of the well-known cookery book titled; 'The London Art of Cookery' (see on this site for the 1st edition of 1783: item #11035). The extensively researched plagiarism highlights the other key authors whose recipes Farley copied. This article throws by default, Mary Cole's well documented declaration of the source of the recipes she used or copied in her own cookery book, claiming full credit in her preface for this new and transparent innovation. Lucraft in her PPC notes, surmises at the end of her article that Cole herself also bears scrutiny. She found after researching the Cole recipes where no source is declared, that they came from Farley. She further cites Jilly Lehman in her French Thesis on 18th century cookery books, whereby Lehman informs that William Verral, Clermont and Dalrymple are also sources not credited for their recipes by Mary Cole. Another puzzling note brought to our attention by Virginia Maclean in her STC of Cookery Books: 1701-1800, is the fact that Cole cites six French authors on her title-page and three others in her preface. Nine in total. Only one, 'Clermont', can be identified. Maclean further queries of the other eight, whether they had cookery books of which no other trace has survived. Maclean ventures an alternative hypothesis. That Cole adds those French names to make fun of those English cookery book authors who parade foreign names on their title pages. Either scenario involves modifying previous good impressions of Cole and her cookery book. Never the less her book is not only cookery recipes, but gives comprehensive medical and brewing information. Axford p244. Bitting, 94. Cagle 623. Maclean, page 29. Oxford, p117-119. Simon BG 363.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11302

ANON.
THE Lady's Companion:
VOLUME 1. CONTAINING Upwards of Three Thousand different Receipts: in every Kind of COOKERY: AND Those the best and most fashionable; BEING Four Times the Quantity of any Book of this Sort. 1. Making near two Hundred different Sorts of Soops, Pottages, Broth, Sauces, Cullies, &c. after the French, Italian, Dutch, and English Way; also making Cake Soop for the Pocket. 11. Dressing Flesh, Fish and Fowl; this last Illustrated with Cuts, shewing how every Fowl is to be truss'd. 111. Directions for making Ragoos and Fricaseys. 1V. Directions for Dressing all Manner of Kitchen Garden Stuff, &c. V. Making two Hundred different Sorts of Puddings, Florendines, Tanzeys, &c. which are four Times the Number to be met (2 long perpendicular lines) with any other Book of this Kind. V1. The whole Art of Pastry, in [n aking - sic] upwards of two Hundred Pies, (with the Shapes of them engraven on Copper-Plates) Tarts, Pasties. Custards, Cheese-Cakes, Yorkshire Muffins, &c. V11. Receipts for all Manner of [Pick ing - sic] Potting, collaring, &c. V111. For Preserving, making Creams, Jellies, and all Manner of Confectionary, with particular Receipts for making Orgeat and Blanc Manger. 1X. Rules amd Directions for setting out [D nners, - sic] Suppers, and grand Entertainments. To which is added, Bills of Fare for every Month in the Year. ALSO Directions for Brewing Beers, Ales, &c. making all Sorts of English Wines, Cyder, Mum, Metheglin, Vinegar, Verjuice, Catchup, &c. WITH The receipts of Mrs Stephens for the Stone; Dr. Mead for the Bite of a Mad Dog; the recipe, sent from Ireland, for the Gout; Sir Hans Sloane's Receipt for Sore Eyes; and the receipt for making Tar Water. (1 long horizontal line) The SIXTH EDITION with Large Additions. (1 long horizontal line) VOL.1. (1 long horizontal line) LONDON: Printed for J. HODGES, on London-Bridge; and R. BALDWIN, at the Rose, in Pater-noster Row. 1753. VOLUME 11. is the Fifth Edition. Title page same as previous, except the three typos on the sixth edition are not evident here.
VOLUME 1. 179 x 113mm. 1 new fep. 1 original with inscription - Liz. Booker. Book AD 1757. [1] Frontispiece. Title Page with ink inscription on verso tipped in, with a warning "not to steal this book". (1)2-413. [1] Sixteen pages of Index to the first volume. 1fep. With seven pages of illustrations of trussing. Also nine pages of Bills of Fare. Text block fine. Frontispiece, tittle page somewhat browned and stained with no loss. VOLUME 11. 179 x 115mm. 1 new fep. 1 original fep. Title Page with ink recipe on verso tipped in for 'French Rowles'. (1)2-422. Eight pages of Index to the second volume. 2fep. With eight pages of ornate pie shapes. Text block nice and clean with the title page slightly age browned. Both volumes bound in full dark brown calf with both spines rather sunned. Boards with elaborate blind tooling and edged with thin gilt lines. The spines with raised bands and blind and gilt tooling. With red labels, gilt text and small round breen labels for volume numbers.
- Although the author is unknown and has produced a very large quantity of text, filling two thick volumes, the question arises; why not put a name to what is actually an impressive cookery book.? It is hard to imagine an independent publisher or even a production this size issued by a publishing quango, being profitable. The Title page proclaims boldly, that it is "Four Times the Quantity of any Book of the Sort". With near 200 soups alone, Including The Cook and Housewife's Calendar, or monthly list of things in season from January to December; Proper articles to cover the table every month ; Specimen of a Housekeepers Book with year-end statement; Marketing tables from one penny three farthings to three pence; table of expenses, income and wages from farthings to pounds and back to farthings; The eight pages of plates are impressive, but can also be found (albeit, arranged in a different sequence) in the book of 'Receipts of Pastry and Cookery' of Edward Kidder first published around1720. Whatever the true facts are, it is a very impressive set.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11309