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Escoffier. Georges Auguste - A beautiful copy bound by Sangorski and Sutcliffe
A Guide To Modern Cookery
BY A. ESCOFFIER OF THE CARLTON HOTEL LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN 1907. Inserted inside --- a 4 page promotional pamphlet for: ESCOFFIER LIMITED. Wholesale Department:- RIDGEMONT STREET. (Off Shore Street) TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD, LONDON, WC. Inside it tells us: ESCOFFIER PREPARATIONS. Manufactured under the Supervision of MONS. ESCOFFIER. of the Carlton Hotel. London. With lists of all Escoffier items and prices.
FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. Royal Octavo. Marbled paste-down back and front with marbled endpapers. 1fep. Half title. [1] Frontispiece of 'Escoffier'. Title Page. [1] 1+v-x Preface. 1+xii Contents. 1+xiv-xvi Glossary. 1+2-880. 1fep. Beautifully bound by Sangorski and Sutcliffe in full green morocco. Beautiful gilt tooling to edges and spine with gilt motif of crossed knifes and forks and sand timers on corners of the boards. A red goatskin label with gilt lettering. All page edges gilt. Housed for protection in a sympathetic green buckram and morocco covered slip case. Internally - as new.
- This is the second copy of 'A Guide to Modern Cookery' 1907, I have seen with the promotional pamphlet tucked inside. It is quite possible that Escoffier had this nicely designed, four page price list inserted in every copy of 'A Guide to Modern Cookery'. Escoffier (1846-1935) was a great innovator, as can be seen by the large range of sauces, soups, pickles, consomme, vinegars etc (even the famous Sauce Melba) featured in the pamphlet. Probably the most lasting but least known food item that he developed and started producing on a large commercial scale, was tinned tomatoes. He is credited, in their excellent biography of Escoffier by Eugene Herbodeau and Paul Thalamas, of first producing 2000 x 2 kilo tins in Saxon-les-Bains for the Savoy Hotel, while he was Chef de Cuisine. The fame of the product grew so fast that the following year, the food manufacturer, La Maison Caressa of Nice produced 60.000 kilos under his direction. This book is in exceptional condition and with the enclosed Escoffier pamphlet which in itself is a rare piece of ephemera, makes this item very desirable.

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Modern category

ref number: 10928

Kent. Elizabeth Grey, Countess of - A 17th century 'ladies closet' revealed.
A Choice Manual, or rare secrets in physick and chirugery;
Collected, & practised by the Right Honourable the Countess of Kent, Late deceased. Whereto are added several Experiments of the vertue of Gascons powder, and Lapis contra Yarvam by a Professor of Physick. As also most exquisite ways of Preserving, Conserving, Candying, etc. The Nineteenth Edition. London, Printed for H. Mortlock at the Phoenix in St. Pauls Churchyard. 1687. WITH A SECOND PART: A True Gentlewomans DELIGHT. Wherein is contain'd all manner of COOKERY. Together with: Preserving, Conserving, Drying, and Candying. Very necessary for all Ladies and Gentlewomen. Published by W.G. Gent. LONDON, Printed for Henry Mortlock, at the Phoenix in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1687.
Small 12mo. Portrait frontispiece. (it has been bound in on the recto instead of the usual verso) Title page. 2pp Epistle by W.J. 2pp 'To the Reader' 10pp 'Contents' (1-234) THE 2ND PART: Separate pagination - 6pp 'Table of Contents' Title page. 2pp Epistle by W.J. 2pp 'To the Reader' 14pp 'Contents' (1-140) Contemporary black goatskin boards re-laid, surface quite worn but with a nice patina. Dark calf, blind ruled spine re-laid, blind fillet border on sides, re-cased using old paper, new sewn headband, very sound. Internally very clean with mild overall aging.
- Elizabeth Grey, Countess of Kent, born December 7th 1582 - died 1651, née Lady Elizabeth Talbot, was the wife of Henry Grey, 8th Earl of Kent. She was a daughter of Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury and Mary Cavendish. She married Grey on November 16, 1601, at St Martin's-in-the-Fields. They had no children, and the Earl died in 1639. Afterward she is thought to have married the writer, John Selden, who had worked for the Earl. After her death, her collection of medical recipes was published as 'A Choice Manual, or Rare Secrets in Physick and Chirurgery Collected and Practised by the Right Honourable the Countess of Kent, late deceased'. Her collection of cookery recipes were also added to the book as a second part. It was an interest she shared with her younger sister, Alethea Howard, Countess of Arundel. Sometimes, complete and separately bound copies of the 2nd part - 'A True Gentlewoman's Delight' are sold at auction, one such being offered at Bloomsbury Book Auctions in 2006. However complete copies like this one with both parts present are rare and much more desirable. This book, because of its small size (not much bigger than a miniature) and having the original cover, with the frontis of the Countess's rather crude but interesting portrait and the thick text block with under-developed remedies and recipes, has the ability to stop a person in their tracks. Keeping in mind the method now to digitally produce very glossy, high resolution, colourful cookery books, that on reflection, when held against this very old book, gives one a sharp sense of both that time and now, and the amazing changes to our world in those 323 intervening years. It also makes one ponder on how our endeavors will be viewed over 300 years from now; with the same sense of incredulous wonder I should imagine!

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10933

Clermont. B.[Bernard] - The English translation of 'Les Soupers de la Cour' and 'La Cuisine Reformee'
The Professed Cook
OR, THE MODERN ART OF Cookery, Pastry, and Confectionary, MADE PLAIN AND EASY. Consisting of the most approved Methods in the FRENCH as well as ENGLISH COOKERY. IN WHICH The French Names of all the different Dishes are given and explained, whereby every Bill of Fare becomes intelligible and familiar. CONTAINING --- [Chapters I. to XXII] INCLUDING A TRANSLATION OF LES SOUPERS DE LA COUR; WITH THE Addition of the best Receipts which have ever appeared in the French or English Languages, and adapted to the London Markets. BY B. CLERMONT. Who has been many Years Clerk of the Kitchen in someof the first Families of this Kingdom, and lately to the Right Hon. the Earl of ABINGDON. The THIRD EDITION, revised and much enlarged. LONDON: Printed for W. DAVIS, in Picadilly; T CASLON, opposite Stationer's Hall: G. ROBINSON, in Paternoster-Row; F. NEWBERY, the Corner of St. Paul's Church-Yard; and the AUTHOR, in Princes-Street, Cavendish-Square. M.DCC.LXXVI.
8vo. Pp. Title Page. (i-x) 48pp 'Contents' (1-610) Fully bound in dark brown calf with blind tooled borders. Spine with raised bands, gilt lines and lettering and a red label. Internally quite clean and tight, however some slight foxing to first part of contents page and the title page is browned and slightly worn.
- The English translation of Menon's two works 'Les Soupers de la Cour' and 'La Cuisine Reformee'. 'Les Soupers de la Cour' was first published in 1755 and deals with dining at its most lavish, not only the grand banquets but also the smaller dinner party for twenty or thirty people, at which over a hundred dishes might be served in five courses. "Menon's book covers menus, hors d'oeuvres, entrees, and some desserts. An entire chapter is devoted to sherbets or ices and ice cream. Like Marin that other great contemporary of Menon's, both placed emphasis on their sauces. Menon's recipes were surprisingly varied, coming not only from France but Italy, Germany, Ceylon, and Flanders and used in everything from hors d'oeuvres to desserts."-- (Harrison, 'Une Affaire du Gout' 1983.) Bernard Clermont first published his English translation in 1767 under the title of 'The Art of Modern Cookery Displayed' The second English edition of 1769 had the same contents as the first but the title was changed to 'The Professed Cook'. For this third edition, however, Clermont added a considerable amount of material of his own with Menon's original work taking less of a prominent place on the title-page even though the complete text is still present. (James Burmester - Abebooks.) Of interest is the large number of ice cream recipes, such as; Cinnamon Ice, Ices of Coriander Seed, Aniseed and Junpiper Berries as well as a very unusual selection of Iced Cheeses. A fine translation of two of the great early French culinary classics.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10944

Careme. Marie Antonin - John Porter, editor
The Royal Parisian Pastry Cook
AND CONFECTIONER: FROM THE ORIGINAL OF M. A. CAREME, OF PARIS. EDITED BY JOHN PORTER, FORMERLY COOK TO THE MARQUIS CAMDEN, SUBSEQUENTLY AT THE SENIOR UNITED SERVICE AND TRAVELLERS' CLUBS, AND NOW AT THE ORIENTAL. WITH ILLUSTRATIVE PLATES. LONDON: F. J. MASON, 444, WEST STRAND. M.DCCC.XXXIV.
FIRST AND SOLE EDITION. 1834. 8vo. 2 feps. Half Title. Frontispiece. Title Page (with previous owners inscription at the top of the page). [1] 1p. 'Advertisement. [1] (2-394) including 22pp 'Index' Including 9 plates illustrating Careme's 'Pieces Montees'. (7 folding) Plate 8 is the Frontis and Plate 9 is mis-bound. Fully bound in modern black calf with blind tooling on boards. Spine with raised bands, blind tooling, 2 Black leather labels with gilt lettering, gilt lines and gilt dots. The date of 1834 in gilt in the bottom compartment. Text block untrimmed and very clean, almost as new. Extremely scarce.
- This is John Porter's English translation of Careme's 'Le Patissier Royal'. In William Hall's other English translation of Careme's books, (1936) Hall, in his preface, draws attention to this volume by Porter that appeared in print two years earlier than his book. He takes care to distance himself from this translation, saying; "I am content to allow this [my] translation to rest on its own merits" This statement is warranted, as Hall's work is a translation of three of Careme's books with 76 true facsimiles of the original 'Pieces Montees' plates, while this one by Porter is a translation of just one of Careme's six major published works, with only 7 plates. It is a somewhat lesser book than Hall's, but as interesting and still an important addition to any cookery book collection. It is also as rare as Hall's.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10951

Escoffier. Georges Auguste - incudes 2 Escoffier menus, one he wrote, one printed.
LE LIVRE DES MENUS
A. ESCOFFIER avec la collaboration de PHILEAS GILBERT et EMILE FETU LE LIVRE DES MENUS Compliment in indespensable du Guide culinaire FLAMMARION EDITEUR 26, rue Racine, Paris.
FIRST EDITION. 1912. 253x164mm. 1fep. On verso – Du Meme Auteur Half-title. Title page. [1] p.5-6. Avant-Propos dated Avril 1912,. 7-164. (165) [1] Folding chart titled - "Tableau de Service dans une Grande Cuisine". The covers are the original terra-cotta colour with red and black lettering. They are slightly browned, with the spine cracked but holding well. Internally, it’s very clean and bright. Also enclosed is a draft menu written by Escoffier at the Carlton Hotel, and dated by another hand in blue crayon - Mercredi 24-7-07 for Johnston Esq. Also enclosed, one of Escoffier’s Carte du Jour printed menus from the Carlton Restaurant, the Carlton Hotel, Pall Mall, London, dated Dimanche, 21 Octobre 1906. In fine clean condition. All housed in a beautiful clamshell box bound in half dark brown leather with marble boards. The spine with raised bands, gilt lines and gilt tooling. Also with a red and green label and gilt lettering. The interior lined with fawn felt. Wonderful rare Escoffier items in fine original condition.
- The folding plate at the back of the book first appeared in 1903 in the first edition of Escoffier's major work "Le Guide Culinaire" The system laid out in the plate indicates the very precise way that Escoffier had re-organised the modern Kitchen from that of the Bel-Epoque era. It assigns the precise duties and dishes of each 'Partie' with the number of tables, couverts and times. However this chart does not indicate that each individual dish eventually served to the guest would have been sourced from numerous Kitchen 'Parties' before being cooked by one Chef de Partie (either Chef Saucier, Poissonier, Entremetier etc) and assembled on a platter for the waiter to carry to the Dining Room. The one enclosed rare draft menu written by Escoffier is a clear example of how the process works. Escoffier writes the menu in his typically messy scrawl and it is then sent to a comptroller who writes on the menu, the date and the name of the recipient of the special Dinner. It’s then sent to be printed up on the formal designed menu cards to be placed before each guest at the Dinner. This special menu would also be written up in a more legible hand and posted on the kitchen banquet notice board one week before the dinner. As delineated in the folding plate, each menu is then broken down into the relevant kitchen department tasks, and each dish is then cooked and assembled for the whole dinner to served at the designated time. The Carte du Jour menu is also one of Escoffier’s daily menus. His tenure at the Carlton Hotel lasted from 1899 to 1919. The book and the very rare items of Ephemera are a true and fantastic testament to Escoffier's far-reaching gastronomic influence within the highest reaches of English, European and American Society.

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Modern category

ref number: 10980

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

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11021

Carter. Charles - First edition of Carter’s second work.
The Compleat City and Country Cook: or Accomplish’d Housewife.
Containing, Several Hundred of the most approv’d Receipts in Cookery, Confectionary, Cordials, Cosmeticks, Jellies, Pastry, Pickles, Preserving, Syrups, English Wines &c. Illustrated with Forty-nine large Copper Plates, directing the regular placing the various Dishes on the Table, from one to four or five Courses: Also, Bills of Fare according to the several Seasons for every Month of the Year. Likewise, The Horse-shoe Table for the Ladies at the late In-stalment at Windsor, the Lord Mayor's Table, and other Hall Dinners in the City of London; with a Fish Table. &c. By Charles Carter, Lately Cook to his Garce the Duke of Argyle, The Earl of Pontefract, the Lord Cornwallis, &c. To which is added by way of Appendix, Near Two Hundred of the most approv'd Receipts in Physick and Surgery for the Cure of the most common Diseases incedent to Families: THE COLLECTION OF A NOBLE LADY DECEASED. A work design'd for the Good, and absulutely Necessary for all Families. LONDON: Printed for A.Bettesworth and C.Hitch; and C.Davis in Pater-noster Row: T.Green at Charing-Cross; and S.Austen in St. Paul's Church-Yard. M.DCC.XXXII.
FIRST EDITION. 1fep.[1] Title Page.[1] iii-viii Preface. 1-144. 145-280 Appendix. [1] 45 Engravings from copper plates of table settings with each page blank on the reverse side. 4 Further folding plates of table settings. 20 pages of Advertisements. 1fep. Small worm holes at the top of the advertisements and the fep. not affecting text. The original full dark brown calf expertly re-laid. With double gilt lines to the borders, raised bands and gilt lines on spine with later black label with gilt lettering. The cover with a nice patina. The text is clean and the pages have pleasing wide margins. The Title page and plates very slightly age browned but overall a very nice copy of a very scarce item.
- Carter’s second work, which has about 144 pages of his own recipes, with the rest being an appendix of recipes of interest to the “Mistress of a House or Housekeeper”, for preserves, pickles, drinks, cosmetics, and remedies. The medical part of two hundred cures and treatments is described on the title page as being taken from “The collection of a noble lady deceased”, thus presumably being from a household manuscript and secrets book. Oxford describes these recipes as “a horrid mixture of filth and superstition”. Besides the Dukes and Earls mentioned on the Title page, Carter was Cook to other nobles and military men including Lord Whitworth in “several embassies to Berlin, the Hague &c”, the House of Hanover and General Wade in Spain and Portugal in 1710 during the War of Spanish Succession. The last folded plate of the famous Horse-shoe shaped table is much copied in other books and is often used to highlight auction catalogues.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11047

Hazlemore. Maximilian Rare to extremely rare.
DOMESTIC ECONOMY
OR A COMPLETE SYSTEM OF ENGLISH HOUSEKEEPING CONTAINING The most approved Receipts, confirmed by Observation and Practice, in every reputable Book of English Cookery now extant; besides a great Variety of others which have never before been offered to the Public. Also a va-luable Collection, translated from Productions of Cooks of Eminence who have published in France, with their respective Names to each Receipt; which, together with the ORIGINAL ARTICLES, form th emost com-plete System of HOUSEKEEPING ever yet exhibited, under the following Heads, viz. ROASTING, BOILING, MADE-DISHES, FRYING, BROILING, FRICASSES, ROGOUTS, SOUPS, SAUCES, GRAVIES, HASHES, STEWS, PUDDINGS, CUSTARDS, CAKES, TARTS, PIES, PASTIES, CHEESECAKES, JELLIES, PICKLING, PRESERVING, and, CONFECTIONARY. To which is prefixed, in order to render it as complete and perfect as possible, AN ELEGANT COLLECTION OF LIGHT DISHES FOR SUPPER,ADAPTED FOR EVERY MONTH OF THE YEAR. ALSO THE COMPLETE BREWER; CONTAINING Familiar Instructions for brewing all Sorts of Beer and Ale; including the proper Management of the Vault and Cellar. LIKEWISE THE FAMILY PHYSICIAN; Being a Collection of the most valuable and approved Prescriptions by Mead, Sydenham, Tissot, Fothergill, Elliot, Buchan, and Others. BY MAXIMILIAN HAZLEMORE. LONDON: PRINTED FOR J.CRESWICK, AND CO. 1794.
FIRST AND SOLE EDITION. 8vo. 1fep. Title page. [1] (1)+4 To the Public. (1)vi-xxiz Contents. (1)xxvi-xxxii Proper Articles to cover the Table every Month. (1)2-392. 2feps. Modern dark brown calf, with marbled boards and calf tips. Spine with raised bands gilt lines with a red label and gilt writing. Externally very good, internally age-browned throughout. Overall a nice copy of a extremely scarce book that rarely appears on the market.
- Nothing seems to be known about Hazlemore. Cagle proclaims p530.- 'This is a word for word reprint of Mary Cole's 'Lady's Complete Guide, or Cookery in all its Branches' London 1791. Oxford states on p122 exactly the same thing and wonders who the author may be. I have a copy of Cole. (see item ref: 11302 on this site) I made a comparison and after reading the notes of Mary Cole's cookery book I am struck however, by the very unusual and honest habit of Hazlemore's, to attribute and note the names of previously published authors he used, against each of his receipts. This then leads me, as a chef myself, to state my own observation, that an extremely small amount of dishes and recipes, if any at all, are original. All dishes cooked are the sum of the cook's experience of recipes already existing. If the cook has a streak of innovation, and most do, then they will possibly enhance those learned recipes. Sometimes when the cook is very good, the dishes he or she cooks are exceptional and quite different and bear only a passing nod to the fundamentals of the original. The dishes cooked today by great chefs can still be ascertained in the recipes in this and other antiquarian cookery books, and this in turn reinforces a universal truism, that everything changes but ultimately remain the same.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11101

ESCOFFIER. GEORGES AUGUSTE - Signed by Escoffier and photograph of his Kitchen brigade 1908.
A GUIDE TO MODERN COOKERY
BY A. ESCOFFIER OF THE CARLTON HOTEL WITH PORTRAIT NEW AND REVISED EDITION (with a printer's device and initials M.H.) LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN 1907.
FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. 165x250mm. 1fep with signature in black ink - "A. Escoffier" and a b/w photograph of Escoffier and his kitchen brigade on the roof of the Carlton Hotel 1908. [1] Half Title. Verso with Advertisements. [1] Frontispiece of 'Escoffier' with tissue guard with a 1/2" oil stain on the edge, not affecting the photograph. (the oil stain affects the edge of all to page 33. Does not affect the text). Title Page. [1] (1)vi-x Preface. (1)xii Contents. (1)xiv-xvi Glossary. (1)1-848. [1p Index] [1] (1)852-891 Index. 1p Advertisements. 1fep with light foxing. Original full green cloth binding with gilt writing and tooling on front cover, quite fresh. The sun-faded spine has also been expertly re-laid and strengthened. Internally very good with slight browning and foxing to the feps. With the signature, b/w photograph of Escoffier and the Carlton Hotel Kitchen Brigade, plus the original cover; A very unique and rare copy.
- The provenance of this book is quite interesting. The father of a Welsh family owned this book since 1950-51. He was part of a Family musical act called 'Seven de Guise Seymours'. They used to feature in the music halls from the mid 1920's till the outbreak of WW11. He was also a friend of Elton Hayes who was the lute player in the early Robin Hood films and known to the family as Uncle Bish. Hayes was in the habit of spending Christmas with the Welsh family. He always brought the family nice presents. One of them being this signed copy of Escoffier's 'Guide to Modern Cookery' with the unique photograph the Master with his kitchen brigade taken on the roof of the Carlton Hotel 1908. Altogether this amounts to a rare item.

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Modern category

ref number: 11108

THACKER. JOHN The Head Chef of a large Kitchen Brigade.
THE ART OF COOKERY
heretofore published, under the following Heads, viz. ( followed by 3 vertical lists divided by 2 sets of double lines) Roasting, Boiling, Frying, Broiling, Baking, Fricasees, Puddings, Custards, (double line) Cakes, Cheese-cakes, Tarts, Pyes, Soops, Made-Wines, Jellies, Carving, (double line) Pickling, Preserving, Pastry, Collering, Confectionary, Creams, Ragoos, Braising, &. &. ALSO, A BILL OF FARE For every Month in the Year. WITH AN Alphabetical INDEX to the Whole: BEING A BOOK highly necessary for all FAMILIES, having the GROUNDS of COOKERY fully display'd therein. (a single horizontal line) by JOHN THACKER, COOK to the Honourable and Reverend the Dean and Chapter in DURHAM. (a double horizontal line) NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE: Printed by I. Thompson and Company. (a small single horizontal line) MDCCLV111.
FIRST EDITION. 1758. 8vo. 204 x 130mm. 2fep. Title Page on recto, verso blank. 4p Preface. 7p Index. (1)2-322. 32p letterpress Bills of Fare. 1p Errata slip on 1st fep, 2nd fep. Many in-text illustrations. Text block very lightly age-browned, Title page with water staining not affecting text, overall good condition. Full dark brown contemporary calf. Spine and front cover split but holding. Top and bottom of spine missing small pieces. Overall a very rare first edition. Bitting p458. Cagle p1019. MacLean pp140-141. Oxford p88. Provenance: 'Anne Williamson'. Later ink sig. to head of title. Mary Chadsey bookplate on front paste-down.
- An exhibition in Durham Cathedral’s multi award-winning museum experience, named 'Open Treasure', examines the role that food and drink played in the life of the cathedral and its inhabitants through the centuries. Focused on the famous Great Kitchen, the exhibition explores everything from medieval monastic rules on fasting to the kitchen’s present-day role as home of the treasures of St Cuthbert as part of 'Open Treasure'. Designed by architect John Lewyn, and built to provide daily meals for a community of 60 monks and their guests, construction of a large kitchen began in 1366 at the substantial cost of £180 17s 7d (more than £120,000 in today’s money). Featuring an innovative vaulted ceiling, the Prior’s Kitchen (now known as the Great Kitchen) provided the monks with an array of dishes prepared according to the 6th century ‘Rule of St Benedict’. Stating that meals should consist of “two kinds of cooked food”, the rule called upon monks to abstain from eating meat unless they were ill, and encouraged abstinence from drink despite allowing “half a bottle of wine a day” as sufficient for each monk. Although a large staff manned the kitchen on a daily basis, including dedicated ‘seethers’ to boil food, a ‘turnbroach’ to work the spit, and a ‘pastillator’ to prepare pastry, visiting royalty and noblemen would also bring their own cooks with them to prepare the immense feasts the cathedral was known for. Over the years the kitchen would play host to the cooks of the Earls of Northumberland, Warwick and Westmorland, the Duke of Exeter, the Archbishop of York and the Duke of Gloucester, later King Richard III. Catering both everyday meals and lavish banquets, the bustling kitchen saw a tremendous variety of dishes being prepared, with Cathedral records showing over 1000 suppliers providing an array of foodstuffs including sugar, ginger, saffron, currants, almonds, plums and grapes. Excavations of the kitchen in 2011 also revealed evidence of cattle, sheep, pig, goose and chicken bones; along with 21 different species of fish; oyster, cockle and mussel shells; as well as some more unusual examples including a frog and even a porpoise! Recipes for dishes served at the Cathedral over the centuries can be found in ‘The Art of Cookery’ written by John Thacker, who was cook to the Dean and Chapter between 1739 and 1758. To supplement his £10 annual income, he opened a cookery school in 1742 and began publishing recipes as a monthly magazine in 1746, with a complete book following in 1758. Containing over 650 recipes and drawings on how to present the dishes, Thacker’s cookbook includes many recipes you could easily recreate at home, including beef steak pie, chocolate cream, almond cakes, and ‘Queen’s Biscuits’. The Great Kitchen continued to function as a working kitchen up until the 1940s when practicality saw the preparation of food moved closer to the Deanery. Used to house the cathedral archive between 1951 and 1992, the kitchen was converted into the cathedral’s bookshop in 1997.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11122