DE Bonnefons.   Nicolas     English translation by John Evelyn.
The French GARDINER
INSTRUCTING How to Cultivate all sorts of FRUIT-TREES, AND HERBS for the GARDEN: TOGETHER With directions to dry, and con-serve them in their natural: An accomplished Piece, Written Originally in French, and now Trans-lated into English. By JOHN EVELYN Esq; Fellow of the Royal Society. (a single long line) The third Edition illustrated with Sculptures. . (a single long line) `where unto is annexed, The English Vineyard Vindicated by John Rose, now Gardener to his Majesty: with a Tract of the making and ordering of Wines of France. (a single long line) LONDON. Printed by S.S. for Benj: Tooke at the Ship in St. Pauls Church-Yard, 1672
Small 8vo. 140x 90mm. 1&1/2 feps. An engraved additional pictorial title. [1] Title Page. [1] 3p Epistle Dedicatory by Evelyn. 3p To the Reader. [1] 1 engraved plate, (1)2-294. Title Page - 48p The English Vineyard. 12p The Table. 5p The Alphabetical Table. 2feps. 4 engraved plated (1 folding). Text block has occasional rimming at head with no loss. Occasional light spotting and very lightly browned. 18th century full sheep binding with nice patina. Head of spine cracked but holding. Simon BG 620; Wing B3601 & R1937; cf. Bitting p.48 & Livres en Bouche 120 (French editions)
- The first edition of the English Vineyard Vindicated was published in 1666 and is very rare as most copies are reputed to have perished in the Fire of London, This 3rd edition is a rare edition in commerce. There is a 4th edition of 1675. This was Evelyn's first horticultural work, which he dedicated to his friend Thomas Henshaw, at whose suggestion he had undertaken the translation. (See preceding item # 11294) for a full description of Nicolas de Bonnefons French edition of 'Le Jardinier Francois'. This gives a true background to John Evelyn's subsequent English translation.

click on image to enlarge
Information

category
ref number: 11337

Hartman.   George     - Sir Kenelm Digby's former Steward.
The True Preserver Of Health
BEING A CHOICE COLLECTION OF Select and Experienced REMEDIES for all Distempers incident to Men, Women, and Children. Selected from, and Experienced by the most Faamous Physicians and Chyrurgions of Europe. TOGETHER WITH Excellent DIRECTIONS for COOKERY; AS ALSO FOR PRESERVING, and CONSERVING, and making all sorts of METHEGLIN, SIDER, CHERRY-WINE, &c. WITH THE Description of an Ingenious and Useful ENGIN for Dressing of Meat, and for Distilling the Choicest Cordial Waters without Wood, Coals, Candle, or Oyl. THE SECOND EDITION WITH ADDITIONS. Published for the Publick-Good by G. Hartman, Chymist. London: Printed for A. and F. Churchill, at the Black-Swan in Pater-Noster-Row. 1695.- Bound With: EXCELLENT DIRECTIONS FOR COOKERY; TOGETHER WITH The Description of an Useful ENGIN serving for the fame; and likewise for Distilling the Choicest and Best Cordial Waters AS ALSO SELECT RECEIPTS FOR PRESERVING, CONSERVING, and CANDYING,&c. WITH A COLLECTION Of the Choicest Receipts for making of METHEGLIN, SIDER, CHERRY-WINE,&c. THE SECOND PART. LONDON, Printed by T.B. for G. Hartman Chymist. 1682.
FIRST EDITION. 12mo. Pp. Title Page. 6pp Epistle. 7pp Index. (1-352) Fully Bound in dark brown calf with original boards and blind tooled borders. Original Spine with raised bands and red label with gilt lettering.-2ND PART; Pp. Title Page. (3-80) Engraved picture of 'Distillery Engine' 32 pp 'Select Receipts' Internally very clean with minimal aging to pages, with some pages a little more brown due to paper quality. Title page has a small brown stain that does not affect overall. An extremely scarce book.
- George Hartman was the steward and assistant to Sir Kenelme Digby. He published in 1669, from a compilation of Digby's notes, 'The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digby KT. Opened' One of the most important cookery books of the seventeenth century and considered an excellent source of period recipes, particularly for beverages such as mead. Sir Kenelme Digby died on June 11, 1665. Hartman then published the first edition of this work 'The True Preserver' in 1682.

click on image to enlarge
Information

Antiquarian category
ref number: 10921

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.!

click on image to enlarge
Information

Modern category
ref number: 11140

Careme.   Maria Antonin     - A 2nd edition in the original state.
LE CUISINIER PARISIEN,
OU L’ART DE LA CUISINE FRANCAISE AU DIX-NEUVIEME SIECLE, TRAITE ELEMENTAIRE ET PRATIQUE DES ENTREES FROIDES, DES SOCLES ET DE L’ENTREMETS DE SUCRE, SUIVI D’OBSERVATIONS UTILES AUX PROGRES DE CES DEUX PARTIES DE LA CUISINE MODERNE. Par M. A. Careme, de Paris, Auteur du Patissier royalparisien, du Patissier pittoresque, du Maitre- d’hotel francais, et de deux Recueils de prjects d’ architecture destines aux embellissements de Paris et de Saint-Petersbourg. Deuxieme Edition, revue, corrigee et augmentee. OUVRAGE ORNE DE 25 PLANCHES DESSINEES PAR L’AUTEUR, ET GRAVEES AU TRAIT PAR MM. NORMAND FILS, HIBON ET THIERRY. PARIS, DE L’IMPRIMERIE DE FIRMIN DIDOT, IMPRIMEUR DU ROI, RUE JACOB, NO 24. 1828.
212x 135mm. 1 fep stuck to cover. Half title with bookplate of Alain Huchet. 1p list of Careme’s published titles with his facsimile signature. Engraved title page. [1] Extra title page. [1] 2p Memoire de Laguipiere. (1)8-9 Avant Propos. [1] (1)12-46 Discours Preliminaire. (1)48 – 407. [1] (1)410 – 422 Table des Chapitres. ½ fep pasted to the inside of the back cover. The original engraved blue cover with a small 3mm chip on the bottom of the spine and the corner of the back cover. A small amount of light foxing here and there, but overall nice and clean. Pages untrimmed and some uncut. A very nice copy of a very scarce edition in the original state.
- French Cuisine is one of the most refined styles of cooking in the world. It is a consequence of centuries of political and social change throughout the country. It wasn't until the year 1765 that restaurants in France could make and sell food. Up until this point foods to be sold had to be purchased from the food guilds. A tavern owner named Boulanger who served soups, challenged the guilds in court and won. Boulanger called these soups - restaurants, also known as restoratives, and will be forever credited with the term we all use today. French cuisine also owes its basis to its great regional seasonal foods and famous dishes. From the German & Swiss influences of the east, to the sublime produce of Provence, the Mediterranean seafood, the bounty of the middle regions, the influence of Paris and the butter and cream dishes of the north. It also has a highly refined and historic Viniculture and the well-developed variety of the cheese industry. French cuisine is blessed. Many of the great chefs of France worked for royalty, dukes and the noble families. With the French revolution and the fall of the monarchy, many chefs were out of jobs. With Restaurant owners able to make and sell their own food many of these great chefs opened their own restaurants. Ten years later there were more than 500 eating establishments in and around Paris alone, never mind the rest of France. Many of these great master chefs refined their cooking to a point we now know as Classical French Cuisine. The three most important of these chefs were Francois Pierre de la Varenne, who wrote the first book on French Cuisine, refining a lot of techniques. Marie Antoine Careme helped create some and to record the majority of classical cuisine's techniques and recipes. Finally and perhaps the most influential - was George Auguste Escoffier, whose work and books are still today arguably the most important references in the world of French classical cuisine. Antonin Careme was the archetype of the great modern chef. Of the role he saw cookery fulfilling in society, he wrote; ‘When there is no more good cooking in the world, there will be no more keen and elevated intelligence, no pleasing relationships, no more social unity’. Those ideas were extraordinarily new at the time, and part of his culinary testament in this volume here; ‘Le Cuisinier Parisien ou l’Art de la Cuisine au XIX Seicle’. Careme was a conscientious recorder of everything he undertook in the Kitchen. He was always taking notes. He wrote “It was my custom every evening, on returning home, to note down the changes I made to my work as a result of my daily experience. That daily account was the cause of the progress I made”. Careme goes further - “ My colleagues now see the clear evidence of the progress I have made in the French cuisine of the 19th century. I do not claim that this new work of mine will fix the culinary art for ever; other practitioners with the gifts and skill for it will doubtless create new things, but my work will have inspired them”. And how right he was ! Gastronomy – a word that had only recently been penned by the author Joseph Berchoux, was to mature beyond recognition. Francatelli (one of Careme's pupils) Gouffe, Dubois, Nignon, Ritz and above all Escoffier, were to shape and record the new heights and standards in which Gastronomy was taken. The legacy of Careme is firmly embedded in this history and his books are collected assiduously. Alain Huchet whose bookplate is tipped into this book is an ex-Chef de Cuisine who became a famous antiquarian bookseller on the Quai de Conti in Paris. He also specialises in prints as well as books and has a very large collection of Larousse Gastronomiques.

click on image to enlarge
Information

Antiquarian category
ref number: 11176

Escoffier.   Georges Auguste     - 2 Escoffier menus, one hand-written by him.
Framed menus; Carlton Hotel, London.
A draft menu hand-written by Escoffier, undated, and another Escoffier menu, but written by another hand in cursive script, dated 1908. Both menus are from Escoffier's tenure at the Carlton Hotel, London.
Enclosed in a glass fronted gold framed picture 322mm x 378mm. The menu in the cursive script is on display. Escoffier's hand written menu is taped under plastic on the back of the picture. All in fine condition. Very rare.
- The very rare draft menu written by Escoffier in his typically messy scrawl would have then been sent to a comptroller who writes on the menu, the date and the name of the recipient of the special Dinner, as seen on this one in blue crayon. It is then sent to someone (probably in the Food & Beverage department) to be written properly and sent to the client. In this case, written in ink in a beautiful hand. Another would be written and then posted in the kitchen on the banquet notice board one week before the dinner. It appears that the letter may be written for the client, a Mrs Williams. But I think this one has come from the Kitchen itself, possibly Escoffier’s office. There were three lots in the auction from where these two items came. All lots were similar with written menus in Escoffier’s hand and menus written on Carlton Hotel headed paper in the same beautiful hand as this one. Also some Carte du Jour menus were in the lots. (See also item # 10980. The written menu by Escoffier, and a Carte du Jour menu as well, all from Escoffier’s time at the Carlton). These two items here are very rare Ephemera and give an interesting glimpse of the way the process works from Escoffier’s office to the client to the Kitchen to the eventual meal served and placed in front of the guests.

click on image to enlarge
Information

Modern category
ref number: 11219

Dali.   Salvador     With a beautiful lithograph hand-signed by Dali in pencil.
DALI: THE WINES OF GALA.
Translated from the French by Olivier Bernier. Published by Harry N. Abrams Inc. 1978, New York.
FIRST EDITION. 4to. 216 x 305 mm. Inside cover with double page portrait of Dali. 1fep. Half Title. Double page Title. Verso with printer info. p 5-7. Contents. p 8-11 Intro; La Cave. (10-16). p 16-293. p 294-296 Guide to more than 140 illustrations, including 124 in full colour. Original white silk cloth hardcover. With titles in gilt and multi-colour. Dali design to front cover. A near fine copy in very good gold embossed jacket. ITEM 2. 493 x 276 mm. A lithograph of the 'King of Cup Hand' Tarot suite. [Ref: The official catalogue of the graphic works of Salvador Dali by Albert Field]. Hand signed in pencil by Dali. Also numbered 'EA' (Epreuve d' Artiste). Housed in a marbled paper folder. To accompany the 'Wines of Gala'.
- The 'Wines of Gala' is an extravagant production, eccentric and personal by the great Spanish surrealist, Salvador Domenech Felipe Jacinto Dali. As a follow-up to his phenomenal best-selling cookbook 'Les dîners de Gala', it's in this delightfully eccentric guide to wine, the surrealist master shares his passion for the gift of the gods. The book explores the many myths of the grape, in texts and sensuous, subversive works by the artist, always true to his maxim: “A real connoisseur does not drink wine but tastes of its secrets.” Dali's take on pleasures of the grape and the book sets out to organize wines "according to the sensations they create in our very depths." Through eclectic metrics like production method, weight, and colour, the book presents wines of the world in such innovative, Daliesque groupings such as "Wines of Frivolity," "Wines of the Impossible," and "Wines of Light". The significant wine regions are, 'Dix Vins du Divin' [ten Divine Wines] that Dali highlights including descriptions of the wines of Ay, Shiraz, King Minos, Lacrima Christi, the Great Red Bordeaux, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Romanée Conti, Sherry, Châteaud’Yquem, and California wines. Bursting with the imagery of the 140 fantastic illustrations by Dali, many of which are appropriated artworks, including various classical nudes, all of them reconstructed with suitably Surrealist, provocative touches, like Jean-Francois Millet's 'The Angelus', one of Dali's favourite points of reference over the decades. Dali also included what is now considered one of the greatest works from his late "Nuclear Mystic" phase, 'The Sacrament of the Last Supper' (1955), which sets the iconic biblical scene in a translucent dodecahedron-shaped space before a Catalonian coastal landscape. Dali was by this stage a devout Catholic, simultaneously captivated by science, optical illusion, and the atomic age. Rather than any prescriptive classification, the book is a flamboyant, free-flowing manifesto in favour of taste and feeling, as much as a multisensory treat, also a full-bodied document of Dali's late-stage oeuvre, in which the artist both reflected on formative influences and refined his own cultural legacy. Wines of Gala was published in 1977, first in French, as 'Les Vins de Gala et du Divin' by Draeger, then in English by Abrams in New York a year later. Dedicated to Dalí’s long-time wife and muse, Gala, an imperious Russian woman 10 years his elder. The book covers Dalí’s famously intense obsession with sexuality and desire for food and wine, three sensual topics he’d rarely addressed in his work. But while the earlier cookbook has grown in notoriety and acclaim since it went out of print, reliably selling for hundreds of dollars whenever a used copy turns up, 'Wines of Gala' sank beneath the surface, an afterthought at the tail end of the 20th-century master’s career. How-ever a full reprint of the 1st edition published by Taschen in November 2017 changed all that. The book became the winner of the 2018 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, causing this second book of Dali's to be as sought after as his first one. A fine addition to a gastronomic library, made all the more collectable with the accompanying large, expanded sized lithograph of the tarot card, hand-signed by Dali. (image #5 below). The cards were designed by Dali and first published in a 1984 limited edition box set of 78 cards, each dazzling in colour, that has since long been sold out.

click on image to enlarge
Information

Modern category
ref number: 11300

Douglas.   Dr James     Rare. 1732. Unusual first account in English.
AN ACCOUNT OF SAFFRON:
The Manner of its Culture and saving for Use, WITH THE ADVANTAGES It will be of to this KINGDOM. (a single horizontal line) Published by Order of the DUBLIN SOCIETY. (a single horizontal line) DUBLIN: Printed by A. Rhames, Printer to the Dub-lin Society. M.DCC.XXXII.
FIRST EDITION:. 200 x105 mm. Inside covers in marbled-paper. 2 feps. [1] Frontispiece. An engraving of the saffron flower (crocus), its bud, and the bulb. Title page. [1] (1)3-14. 1 full leaf of advertisements. 2 feps. Modern retrospective panelled calf, raised bands, spine panels with gilt ornament, red morocco label. An extremely fine copy.
- This rare little account promoting the cultivation of the saffron crocus in England and Ireland seems to be the first separately published work in English entirely devoted to saffron. It is a condensed version of a paper Dr. James Douglas published in "Philosophical Transactions" in 1728, with added notes at the end by an Irish writer who claims that saffron grown in Ireland "is superior in every quality to that grown in other countries." Scottish physician James Douglas (1675-1742) studied at the University of Edinburgh and received his medical degree at Rheims before establishing an obstetrics practice in London, where his patients included Queen Caroline. In addition to writings on anatomy and midwifery that are still referenced today, Douglas, a keen gardener, also delved into botany, penning works on the Guernsey lily, the coffee plant, and ipecacuanha, the plant from which medicinal ipecac derives. The present work is based on his studies of saffron farming in the town of Saffron Walden in Essex, a major producer of the spice in the Middle Ages, when it was widely used in medicines to combat the plague. The present title is rare in the marketplace; we could trace just two copies recorded at auction by ABPC and RBH--the Crahan copy, which sold twice in the mid-1980s. Also a copy that sold at Bloomsbury in 2011. Henrey II, 206; ESTC T86873. Hunt 488; who notes that works such as this, that promoted industries or crops were common in the 17th and 18th centuries.

click on image to enlarge
Information

category
ref number: 11351

Point   Fernand     - With 2 menus; one is Fernand's & one is Mme Point's.
Ma Gastronomie
FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. Translated and Adapted by FRANK KULLA and PATRICIA SHANNON KULLA Introduction by JOSEPH WECHSBERG Special Drawings by ANDRE DUNOYER DE SEGONZAC Lyceum Books WILTON, CONNECTICUT
Samll Folio. 280x220mm. 1fep. Title Page. [1] 1p Table of Contents. [1] 5-9 Introduction. [1] Half Title. On verso, a copty of a painting of Point. 13-191. [1] 1fep. Hardcover binding in mustard coloured cloth with brown lettering on the spine. Bright yellow mylar DJ. With many full page photographs, illustartions and drawings. Also with two handwritten undated menus in the hand of Madame Point. One menu is from the time of Fernand and the other is from the time of Madame Point, and signed by her sometime after Fernand's death. As new, inside and out. A scarce item.
- The self-taught American chef, Charlie Trotter, of the famed 'Charlie Trotter Restaurant' in Chicago, was recently quoted --- "The figure who most impressed me during my culinary development was Fernand Point. I was impressed most by Point's sense of generosity...and to this day it is something which resonates within me". Because of this declaration which was repeated publicly many times, first English editions of Point's 'Ma Gastronomie' have become extremely scarce, and waiting lists are the norm for later editions. La Pyramide in Vienne, (approx. 18 miles south of Lyon) the famous restaurant run by Fernand Point and his wife was originally purchased by Fernand’s father Auguste, in Sept. 1923. Previously the restaurant was known as Restaurant Guleu in Vienne. It had been successfully founded and run for 20 years by Leon Guleu. Fernand married Marie-Louise in 1930. She supervised the dining room at La Pyramide, kept the books, paid the bills, and oversaw many daily details. The menus were always hand written daily by Mme. Point, according to what produce was the best and available. Fernand would place his orders by phone with suppliers in Les Halles – Paris. The orders would be shipped the same day by train from Paris to Vienne. Fernand Point started his career by being apprenticed at Foyot’s and the Hotel Bristol in Paris. He also apprenticed at the Royal Hotel – Evian alongside Georges Bocuse, father of Paul Bocuse. Ironically, Paul Bocuse later trained for five years at La Pyramide under Fernand. Point kept and wrote all his kitchen notes and thoughts on cream-coloured notebooks. The notebooks became known as “Ma Cuisine” One of his favourite sayings was “I’m not hard to please. I’m content with the very best.” After Point's death, La Pyramide’s kitchens were run very ably by his assistant & brilliant cuisinier, Paul Mercier. Although Elizabeth David famously stated "this is an awful book" it is nevertheless an important part of any serious cookery book collection. What ever E. David's opinions may be, it is a much sought after book, not least, by professional chefs. This item is made all the more desirable with the inclusion of two 'La Pyramide' menus, especially the one with the signed dedication by Mme Point.

click on image to enlarge
Information

Modern category
ref number: 11071

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

click on image to enlarge
Information

Antiquarian category
ref number: 10913

Markham.   Gervase    
The English Hous-Wife
CONTAINING The inward and outward Vertues which ought to be in a compleat Woman: As her skill in Physick, Surgery, Cookery, Extraction of Oyles, Banqueting stussc, Ordering of great Feasts, Preserving of all forts of Wines, conceited Secrets, Distillations, Perfumes, ordering of Wool, Hemp, Flax: making Cloth and Dying, the knowledge of Dayries: Office of Malting: of Oates, their excellent uses in a family: of Brewing, Baking, and all other things belonging to an houshold. A Work generally approved, and now the sixth time much augmented, purged, and made most profitable and necessary for all men, and the general good of this NATION. By G.M. LONDON, Printed by W.Wilson, for E.Brewster, and George Sawbridge, at the Bible on Ludgate-hill, neere Fleet bridge. 1656.
4to. 1fep. Title Page. [1] 2pp Epistle. 4pp The Table. 1-188. 1fep. On p119 illustrations of wine gages. Bound in dark brown modern half calf with marble boards and calf corners and gilt lines. Spine with raised bands, red label with gilt lettering and lines. Clean internally with very age browning. A handsome copy of a scarce book.
- Gervase Markham or 'Jervis', born 1568. English poet and miscellaneous writer, third son of Sir Robert Markham of Cotham, Nottinghamshire. He was a soldier of fortune in the Low Countries, and later was a captain under the Earl of Essex's command in Ireland . He was acquainted with Latin and several modern languages, and had an exhaustive practical acquaintance with the arts of forestry and agriculture . He was a noted horse-breeder, and is said to have imported the first Arab horse into England., otherwise very little is known of the events of his life . The story of the murderous quarrel between Gervase Markham and Sir John Holies related in the Biographia Britannica (s.v . Holies) has been generally connected with him, but in the Dictionary of National Biography, Sir Clements R . Markham, a descendant from the same family, refers it to another contemporary of the same name, whose monument is still to be seen in Laneham church . Gervase Markham was buried at St Giles's, Cripplegate, London, on the 3rd of February 1637 . He was a voluminous writer on many subjects, but he repeated himself considerably in his works, sometimes reprinting the same books under other titles . His booksellers procured a declaration from him in 1617 that he would produce no more on certain topics . Markham's writings include: The Teares of the Beloved (1600) and Marie Magdalene's Teares (1601) long and rather commonplace poems on the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. His best known book is 'A Way to get Wealth' which contains 'The English House-wife'. It is printed as '2 book' at the top of each page, indicating it is the second-book of Markam's 'Country Contentments' 1st edition - 1615. It was later published as 'A Way to get Wealth' with the 'English Hous-wife' being published as the third book.. It ran to many editions and Oxfords cites - 1623(2nd). (no 3rd). 1631(4th). 1637(5th). 1648. 1649. This copy of 1656(6th). 1660(7th). 1664. 1668(8th). 1675. 1683(9). An edition of 1653 was reprinted in 1907. Never the less, and despite so many editions, it is still a very scarce book and is usually found and sold on its own. It is as an important seventeenth century cookery book and a very interesting item that Oxford rates as having more modern recipes than those of preceding books, albeit with many obsolete dishes. He also rates the medical recipes and finds them disgusting and appalling, with the use of animal dung and other filthy ingredients being frequently used. Surprisingly the first recipe for Haggis is found in the 1615 edition (and subsequent editions) of Markham's 'English Hus-wife' in chapter 8 about the benefits of Oates. NB: I just received an interesting and welcome email from Regula Ysewijn, a food photographer, informing me that Haggis did not appear first in the English Hous-wife as I have mistakenly stated above, but in a cookery book called ‘Liber Cure Cocorum’, from the County of Lancashire in England. Written in verse and dating from around 1430. Called ‘Hagese’ in the book, the general recipe mirrors the one made in Scotland. As I was born in Scotland, it is a big surprise to find that it now appears our celebrated national pudding possibly originated in England. I am now going to see if I can take this very surprising news further. My research must now try to answer the following …. Did the Lancashire recipe originate in Lancashire or any other English location, or did it originate in Scotland and was brought to England. Lets see…. NB: There is an interesting site online called the 'Medievalists.net. There, there is further information about Liber Cure Cocurum to be seen.

click on image to enlarge
Information

Antiquarian category
ref number: 10923