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Digby. Sir Kenelme - First Edition - 2nd Issue.
The CLOSET Of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digby Kt. Opened:
Whereby is DISCOVERED Several ways for making of Metheglin, Sider, Cherry-Wine, &c. (the 2nd PART) TOGETHER WITH Excellent Directions FOR COOKERY As also for Preserving, Conserving, Candying, &c. Published by his Son's Consent. London, Prinetd by E.C. & A.C. For H. Browne, at the West-End of St. Pauls, 1671.
FIRST EDITION - 2ND ISSUE. 2 Parts. 1ST PART: Marbled end-papers with lovely elaborate gilt tooling. 2 fep. [1] Portrait frontispiece of Digby aged 62. Title page. [1] 2p 'To the Reader'. 1-103. 2ND PART: COOKERY: 104 - 251. 8p 'The Table'. [1]. 3fep. Marbled endpapers with lovely elaborate gilt tooling. Very handsome honey coloured polished calf by Bayntun (Riviere). French fillet frame on covers, raised bands, spine elaborately gilt in compartments with elegant central floral bouquet stamp, two crimson labels, intricately gilt turn-ins. At some time the back cover has split on one side from the board and been expertly rejoined as before, without loss. Marbled end papers, all edges gilt. From the Spokane Public Library, with the perforated and ink stamp on the 'To the Reader' leaf and with same accession number printed by hand on another page. The Frontis and title page have had expert repairs to page edges with no loss. Very slight hint of soiling here and there, but overall a very pleasing copy of a book not often found in agreeable condition. The binding at some time have had the boards break form the spine and getting reset. Now completely tight and very handsome. A very scarce item.
- The Frontispiece and Title page are slightly darker than the rest due to the book being on display at the Spokane Public Library for protracted periods of time. It also appears that the very good repairs carried out to those same page edges, (without loss) was due to paper brittleness accrued while on display. The first edition was printed in 1669. NUC locates an aggregate of nine copies of the two editions in seven libraries. Digby (1603-65) was a writer, navel commander, diplomat, scientist, philosopher, privateer, religious conversationalist, and more. In his book he devotes 89 pages to metheglin, which he also calls meath, a honey based brew to which various spices are added. From meath, Digby moves on to other liquids, including his own complicated 'aqua mirablis' recipe, the ingredients of which include cloves, spearmint, marigold and sack. Gradually the entries progress to more solid food, porridges and broths and end with meats and sweets. A few recipes include apples but there is singularly little talk of vegetables. The description of "how to fatten young chickens in a wonderful degree" gives one an insight into the Brobdingnagian zest of an aristocracy that had no misgivings about its place at the top of the food chain. Lit up by candles to ensure round-the-clock feeding, chicks were fed a pap of pulped raisins, bread and milk , to make them so fat that; "they will not be able to stand, but lie down upon their bellies to eat". Sir Kenelme Digby, who became as plump and rotund as one of his chickens, died on 1665. His first edition - first issue of 1669, was printed posthumously by his steward, George Hartman who used the recipes from Digby's papers. Hartman in turn, printed a book of Cookery in 1682 called 'The True Preserver'

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10932

Harrison. Sarah - The extremely rare first edition
The House-keeper's Pocket-Book
The House-keeper's Pocket-Book, and Compleat FAMILY COOK, CONTAINING above Three Hundered curious and uncommon receipts in Cookery, Pastry, Preserving, Pickling, Candying, Collaring, etc. With plain and easy instructions for preparing and dressing everything suitable for an Elegant Entertainment, from Two Dishes to Five or Ten, etc. And directions for placing them in their proper order. CONCLUDING with many excellent prescription of the most eminent physicians, of singular efficiency in most distempers incident to the human body: And to the whole is prefix'd such a copius and useful bill of fare of all manner of provisions in season for every month of the year, that no person need be at a loss to provide an agreeable variety of dishes. By Mrs. Sarah Harrison of Devonshire. LONDON: Printed for T.Worrall, at Judge Coke's Head, over against St. Dunstans Church, Fleet Street. 1733. (price 2s 6d. bound.)
FIRST EDITION. 12mo. Pp. Title Page. (v-xii) (2-217) 20 pp of engraved Table Settings. 13 pp of Contents. Contemporary dark brown calf boards with blind tooling, nicely polished. Relaid tan calf spine with raised bands and red label with gilt lettering. Pages lightly browned throughout. A good copy.
- Atthough first published in 1733 and now extremely rare, all editions are very scarce, with only 12 copies in total of the five earlier editions recorded in the UK. Sarah Harrison, of Devonshire, provides recipes and suggested menus (bills of fare) for a year, as well as general housekeeping directions for removing stains, cleaning dishes, managing animals and livestock, as well as some instructions for distilling and brewing. For a typical October meal, she recommends a first course of haunch of doe venison with salted and boiled cabbages, cauliflowers and roots, neat's tongue and udders, or stewed carps, or fish to be garnished with spatch-cocked eels and sliced lemon and horseradish. The second course, like the first, takes advantage of the hunt, offering wild ducks to be served with gravy and claret sauce, larks, or chine of salmon. This meal concludes with seasonal fruits - apples, pears, nectarines, plums, mulberries, and grapes. MacLean states on page 66 of this first edition of 1733: "no copy located in the British Isles". The B.L. Integrated Cat. cites one incomplete copy of the 1733 edition. Considering MacLean's bibliography was printed as recently as 1981, her research leaves question marks. Nevertheless an extremely rare book.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10915

Rombauer. Irma Starkloff - The very rare first 'Family' edition
The Joy of Cooking
By Irma S. Rombauer. A Compilation of Reliable Recipes with a Casual Culinary Chat - Illustrations. Marion Rombauer.
FIRST FAMILY EDITION. 1931. 8vo. 204 x 140 mm. 1fep. Title page. Verso Printed by A.C. Clayton Printing Company, St. Louis, MO. 1p Un-headed preface by Rombauer. [1] 1-2 General Rules. (1) Contents. [1] 24p Index. 1-395. Several handwritten recipes on last 7 blanks and the paste-down. Very slight age yellowing to pages but internally very clean. Original full blue pebbled cloth binding with gilt lettering on the front cover which is very slightly marked. Overall in very good condition. A nice copy of an extremely rare book. NB: The errata line on page 370, handwritten by Irma Rombauer for the missing first line at the top of the recipe for Orange Paste with Nuts. This is found in all other copies of the first Family edition.
- This edition is generally referred to as the 'First Family Edition' of 1931. Published by A.C. Clayton of St Louis (a company which had never published a book before but printed labels for fancy St Louis shoe companies and for Listerine). Irma Rombauer, fifty-four years old and recently widowed, (her husband committed suicide) and with the encouragement of her son, Edgar Jr., and her daughter, Marion, sunk half of her inheritance of $6000.oo into a self-published run of 3000 copies of the 1931 edition and gave them out to family, friends and acquaintances. Eventually all 3000 copies were given away or sold. The book was priced at $2.25 with Irma receiving $1.17. Encouraged by the response, Irma Rombauer, in 1936, published the first ‘trade edition’ of 'The Joy of Cooking' with Bobbs-Merrill Company - Indianapolis and New York and being sold for around $3.oo. This is a cookery book that imbibes the definitive American character trait of restless innovation and change. The first chapter after the large early index is titled Cocktails. There one finds unusual items such as a 'Clam Juice Cocktail' (a concoction of seasoned, bottled Clam Broth with Paprika, Horseradish and Tabasaco Sauce). 'Oyster Cocktail with Catsup' follows with 'Shrimp in Grapefruit' following later. The next chapter is Canapes and Sandwiches, with one recipe for 'Pastry Snails'. Irma prefaces this recipe by informing us that "If the approval of guests is to be taken as a criterion of excellence, this is the prize winning Canape". This also highlights another fine American trait; that of generosity. Bearing in mind the date this book was printed, those unusual recipes also sit with other good, well known, early American dishes. If one takes into account that the most recent 'Joy of Cooking' issue celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary edition, printed Oct. 31st 2006, and numbering a whopping 1,152 pages, proves the enduring affection in which this cookery book is held. If one takes into account the very good accurate recipes of later modern versions and the fact it is one of the longest, continuously printed cookery books, then it must be viewed undoubtedly, as one of the great domestic cookery classics.

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Modern category

ref number: 10936

Careme. Marie Antonin - William Hall, Translator
French Cookery
COMPRISING L'ART DE LA CUISINE FRANCAISE; LE PATISSIER ROYAL; LE CUISINIER PARISIEN. BY THE LATE M. CAREME, SOME TIME CHEF OF THE KITCHEN OF HIS MAJESTY GEORGE IV., TRANSLATED BY WILLIAM HALL, COOK TO T. P. WILLIAMS, ESQ., M.P., AND CONDUCTOR OF THE PARLIAMENTARY DINNERS OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD VISCOUNT CANTERBURY, G. C. B., LATE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. WITH SEVENTY-THREE PLATES ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE ART. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. MDCCCXXXVI.
FIRST EDITION - 1836. 8vo. Title Page. 3pp 'Advertisements' (i-xliv) (1-422) [1] including 73 lithographed folding plates illustrating elaborate dishes. Fully bound in modern black calf with blind tooling on boards. Spine with raised bands, blind tooling, 2 Bottle green labels with gilt lettering, gilt lines with gilt dots. Internally almost new, however some very slight foxing to the title page. There is at least one other edition dated 1856.
- This English translation of three of Careme's major books is very rare, especially a nice clean complete copy like this one. Careme became, because of his brilliance as a Patissier and mastering all other departments in the large Kitchens, the epoch changing force and most important influence on European cookery of the time. This was partly due to the writing of his seminal works, cooking for 12 years for the great gourmand - Talleyrand , serving also, such Royal personages as George IV of England and Alexander I of Russia. His writing stands above all others of that era, in part, due to the monumental aspect of the plates of 'Pieces Montees' and the amount of details of quality in the recipes. The mind is staggered, in these modern days of electrical appliances, processors, refridgeration, hi-tech H&S, controlled storage and distribution systems etc just how Careme produced, day after day, the Grand Buffets for the great houses. The coal fumes, heat and punishing hours took their toll, and Careme, worn out, died at 48 years of age, leaving behind a legacy that is still admired and being written about today.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10952

Tryon. Thomas - Rare.
The Way to HEALTH, LONG Life and Happiness;
Or,A Discourse of TEMPERANCE, And the Particular Nature of all Things requisite for the Life of Man; As, All sorts of Meats, Drinks, Air, Exercise, &c. with special Directions how to use each of them to the best Advantage of the BODY and MIND. Shewing form the ground of Nature, Treatise of most sorts of ENGLISH HERBS, With several other remarkable and most useful Observa-tions, very necessary for all Families. The whole Trea-tise displaying the most hidden secrets of Philosophy, and made easie and familiar to the meanest Capacities, by various Examples and Demonstrances.The like never before Published. Communicated to the World for a general Good, By THOMAS TRYON, Student in PHYSICK. The Second Edition, with Amendments. LONDON; Printed by H.C. for R. Baldwin, near the Ox-ford-Arms in Warwick-Lane, 1691.
8vo. Title Page. 4pp To the Reader. 8pp The Contents. 1-500. [2] 1-18. Pages lightly age browned though-out. Contemporary dark brown calf boards with nice patina. Spine relaid in sympathetic dark brown calf with blind tooled lines with a dark brown label with gilt lettering. Overall a nice copy of a rare item.
- Thomas Tryon (1634-1703) English humanitarian: Born in the bucolic village of Bibury, Gloucestershire. At the age of 18 he left Bibury without telling his parents and travelled on foot to London with £3 savings, where he became a hatter, and also in his youth, a spinner and a shepherd. He had no formal education but taught himself to read and write. He eventually went on to write many books on vegetarianism, health, wealth, slavery, education, abstinence from alcohol and tobacco also advocating animal rights. He lived a very ascetic life even though married, eventually becoming a prosperous merchant. 'The Way to Health' became his best known book and after publication he toured and lectured on it in the United States. The book much impressed Benjamin Franklin, who followed some of its tenets and often quoted from. He had a horror of war, and was shocked by the cruelty of slavery which he saw at first hand when he travelled to Barbados. In the last two decades of his life he published 27 works on a wide range of subjects. His dietary ideas were largely plagiarised by Joseph Ritson in his Essay on Abstinence from Animal Food, published in 1802. Playwright Aphra Behn, and Percy Bysshe Shelley were also advocates of Tyron's writings. A supplement to this book called 'The Good Houswife Made A Doctor' (item 10945 on this site) was published after the publication of the first edition of 1683. Cagle 1028; MacLean pp.142/3; Oxford, p.43 (in a note); see Wing T3181.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10963

E. S. [Eliza Smith] - a rare 2nd edition
The Compleat Housewife;
OR, Accomplished Gentlewoman's COMPANION: Being a COLLECTION of upwards of Five Hundred of the most approved RECEIPTS in (2 columns) COOKERY, CONFECTIONARY, PRESERVING, PICKLES, CAKES, CREAMS, JELLIES, MADE WINES, CORDIALS.With COPPER PLATES curiously engraved for the regular Disposition or Placing the various DISHES and COURSES. AND ALSO BILLS of FARE for every Month of the Yaer. To which is added, A Collection of near Two Hundred Family RECEIPTS of MEDICINES; viz. Drinks, Syrups, Salves, intements, and various other Things of sovereign and approved Efficacy in most Distempers, Pains, Aches, Wounds, Sores, etc never before made publick; fit either for private Families, or such publick-spirited Gentlewomen as would be beneficient to their poor Neighbours. By E------ S-----. The Second Edition. LONDON: Printed for J. PEMBERTON, AT THE Golden Buck, over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street. M.DCC.XXV11.
8vo. 1fep. Title page with double line border. p10 Preface. I-XV Index. [2] 2-318. p2 Advertisements. 6 Copper plate illustrations of table settings and dishes. 1fep. Full contemporary dark brown calf with two-tone boards and original blind tooling. The spine sometime relaid with brown label and gilt lettering. The whole shows its age but has a nice patina. Internally very clean. A wonderful copy of an early edition.
- This 2nd edition printed 1727 in the same year as the 1st edition. The first had 326 pages. Maclean states erroneously that Smith's full name only appears after the 1st edition. The initials on this 2nd edition refutes that. Maclean also records 18 editions printed up to 1773. Along with Hannah Glasse and Elizabeth Raffald, Eliza Smith is one of the best known 18th century cookery writers, and it was her work which in 1742 became the first cookbook to be published in America. The 5th edition was reprinted in 1742 by William Parks as the 1st American edition. Unlike Raffald and Glasse, little is known about Smith. In her preface she informs us she has for thirty years and upwards been constantly employed in fashionable and noble Families. Maclean notes that Lord Montague of Beaulieu has stated "When I was first shown 'The Compleat Housewife' I was fascinated to find that several of the recipes contained were identical to those in manuscript form in my books. Although it is not known which of the great houses Mrs E. Smith worked, it is more than probable that some dishes were originally created in one of my ancestor's kitchens."

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10983

David. Elizabeth - Inscribed by E.D. and with a Xmas card from her publisher.
A Book of Mediterranean Food.
A Book of Mediterranean FOOD By Elizabeth David. Decorated by John Minton. John Lehman Ltd. London.
FIRST EDITION.1950. With nice clean John Minton designed d/j with small chip at top and bottom of spine. With inscription on fep in E.D's own distinctive handwriting -- "With the very best wishes for E.P. Warner June 1950". Half Title. Frontispiece and Title page. Introduction pp.v-viii. Acknowledgments pp.ix-x. 2pp Contents. 2pp. Soup.[15-181] (1) Index. pp.183-191. 1fep. With John Minton illustrations through out. Also enclosed is a Xmas Card designed by John Minton. The message reads "A Happy Christmas from John Lehman" It has been signed in blue ink by Lehman "To Elizabeth 1951"
- John Lehman was the entrepreneurial publisher of the adventurous and prestigious Penguin New Writing. He was unsure of E.D's original messy manuscript declaring it the untidiest he had ever received. In spite of his original misgivings he eventually became thrilled with the work and paid her an advance of £100.oo: £50.oo on signature of the contract and £50.oo on publication. No one at that time could possibly envisage the massive influence she would exert on a generation of food enthusiasts, cooks and chefs and the admiration and love in which she and her precise, captivating and eloquent writing would be regarded. This is a fine and very unique copy of E.D's first book. As she was not so well known at this time, copies of the first edition of 'Mediterranean Food' with inscriptions are very rare.

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Modern category

ref number: 10995

Careme. Marie Antonin - Careme's final legacy
L'ART DE LA CUISINE FRANÇAISE AU XIXe SIÈCLE
L'ART DE LA CUISINE FRANCAISE AU DIX-NEUVIEME SIECLE. TRAITE ELEMENTAIRE ET PRATIQUE DES BOUILLONS EN GRAS ET EN MAIGRE, DES ESSENCES, FUMETS, DES POTAGES FRANCAISE, ET ETRANGERS; DES GROSSES PIECES DE POISSON; DES GRANDES ET PETITES SAUCES; DES RAGOUTS ET DES GARNITURES; DES GROSSES PIECES DE BOUCHERIE; DE JAMBON, DE VOLAILLE ET DE GIBIER, ETC. PAR Antonin CAREME, de Paris. TOME PREMIER. PARIS. AU DEPOT DE LIBRAIRE, RUE DES MOULINS, 8 PRES DE LA RUE THERESE, 11. 1854. Volumes 4 & 5 by PLUMEREY.
5 VOLUMES -- TOME 1; Marbled endpaper. 1 fep. Half-title with Careme facsimile signature. [2] Portrait frontis of Careme. Elaborate title page (designed by Careme) [1] Title page. [1] v-vj Dedication to Madame Rothschild. vij-xix To Lady Morgan. xxj-liij Notice Historique et Culinaire. [1] lv-lxvj Avertissement. lxvij-cviij Histoire. cix-cxix Fragments. [1] cxxj-cxxvij Un Repas. [1] 1-296. (1) 298-313 Table. [1] 1fep. Marbled endpaper. Many small vignettes throughout the book. TOME 2; Marbled endpaper. 1 fep. Half-title. Elaborate title page (designed by Careme) [1] Title page. [1] j-xxviij Aphorismes. xxix-xxxj Trait de Devouement d'un Domestique. [1] (2)7-326. (1)328-342. 1fep. Marbled endpaper. Nine plates (numbered 2-10) plus many small vignettes throughout the book. TOME 3; Marbled endpaper. 1 fep. Half-title. Elaborate title page (designed by Careme) [1] Title page. [1] (1)2-519. [1] (1)522-544 Table. 1fep. Marbled endpaper. Nine plates (numbered 11-22) plus many small vignettes throughout the book. TOME 4; Marbled endpaper. 1fep. [1] Title page. [1] (1)vi-xi Preface. [1] iv-(1) 1-411. [1] (1)414-425 Table. [1] 2p Errata. 1fep. Marbled endpaper. TOME 5; Marbled endpaper. 1fep. [1] Title page. [1] (1)xiv-xxvii Disertation. [1] (1)xxx-xxxv. [1] 1-526. (1)528-539 [1] 1fep. Marbled endpaper. All five volumes with bottle green marbled boards. Black half calf. Spines with red labels and gilt lines. All volumes in good condition with very light foxing due to poor paper. Overall a handsome set.
- Marie Antoine Carême was born into a working class family in Paris in 1784. When he died in 1833, he was recognized as the greatest chef of his time, and his name was familiar to the rich and famous throughout Europe. Carême's colleagues, and the public at large, first discovered his talents with the publication of ‘Le Pâtissier Royal Parisien’ in 1815. In his great work on cookery, ‘L'art de la Cuisine Française au XIXe siècle' (1847), Carême carries his love of extravagant decoration to new heights for savory dishes. As well as standing cutlets and poultry on end and presenting them in a circle, turban style, or sticking whole fish and roasts with a wide array of decorative hatelets garnished with truffles, crayfish, cockcombs, mushrooms etc etc, he built models of monuments, buildings and ruins etc, with Pastilliage. More importantly, he entirely revamped the art of cookery itself, arguing, among other things, for a cuisine based on "velvety" sauces, rather than the thin, watery sauces favoured in the past. For developing a series of basic preparations (brown and white sauces, court-bouillons, force-meats, etc.) that would become the building blocks of classic French cuisine upon which entire families of preparations could be constructed by combining them or changing the main ingredient or a flavouring. Despite all of his modernism, Carême preferred the monumental service ‘à la française’ in which all the dishes of a given course were placed on the table at once, to the newly-introduced service ‘à la russe,’ in which they were kept hot in the kitchen, then served sequentially from platters passed by waiters. "Certainly this method of serving is conducive to good eating," he wrote, "but our service ‘à la française’ is more elegant and lavish." His influence on French cuisine was enormous, and succeeding generations of chefs continued in the paths he had traced. It was not until 1903, when Auguste Escoffier published his ‘Guide Culinaire,’ that Carême's authority was finally challenged, but his name is revered to this day as a great master whose contributions irrevocably shaped the course of French cuisine. Careme wanted to publish five volumes. Tomes one to three were completed by him before he died, with the first edition being published - 1833-1835. Armand Plumerey completed Careme's work, publishing tomes four and five in 1844; An very important and influential work.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11022

Mollard. John - The rare first edition with very rare menu.
The Art of Cookery
MADE EASY AND REFINED; COMPRISING AMPLE DIRECTIONS FOR PREPARING EVERY ARTICLE REQUISITE FOR FURNISHING THE TABLES OF THE NOBLEMAN, GENTLEMAN, AND TRADESMAN. BY JOHN MOLLARD, Cook; One of the Proprietors of Freemasons’ Tavern, Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields. LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, AND SOLD BY J, NUNN, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS. 1801. T. Beasley, Printer, Bolt Court, Fleet Street.
FIRST EDITION. Large octavo. 1fep. Half-Title. [1] Title page. [1] 1p Engraved Dedication leaf to the Original Proprietor of The London Tavern, very slightly browned. [1] (1)vi-viii Preface. (1)x-xxiv Contents. 12 Plates of Monthly Table Settings with each verso blank. (1)2-314. 21p Index. 1fep. The whole text block with wide margins. Modern dark brown full calf with with elaborate gilt tooled edges to the boards and the inner edges of the paste-downs. The spine with raised bands with elaborate gilt tooling and gilt devices in the compartments. With a black leather label and gilt letters. ALSO enclosed: A Freemason's Tavern Menu enclosed: Dated January 18th 1890. Mr E. Stanford’s Dinner. Consisting of six courses and seventeen dishes. Written in English. Printed on cream coloured card with gilt edges and fine decorative text. A very clean handsome copy of the very rare first edition, with the equally rare enclosed menu.
- Before John Mollard owned the Freemason's Tavern he had been Head Cook at the London Tavern. In this book the beautifully scripted and engraved page is dedicated to the London Tavern Proprietor - Laurence Laforest, therein Mollard proclaims Laforest as a man of high reputation in the same Profession. In the Old Bailey records for May 14th 1777 at the trial of a George Hawkins who had stolen an engraved silver bowl and spoon from the London Tavern, we learn that Laforest was the owner of the Tavern with three other partners, Thomas Simkins, John Bladen and Henry Caridge. The unfortunate George Hawkins was found guilty, branded with a hot iron and received 8 lashes of the whip. In the same records we learn that two ladies were sentenced to be carried and whipped for 100 yards along Bishopsgate Street past the London Tavern. The contrast between the fine dining establishment of high standards and repute and the raw life-scenes outside are startling in the extreme. Lieut-Col. Newnham-Davis in his book 'Victorian London' 1899, writes extensively of the Freemasons' Tavern, and it is worth repeating parts here to give a glimpse of Mollard's past workplace and jointly owned establishment. -- The Tavern is not what the name implies. It was a restaurant, with a large public dining-room, with a fine ballroom, and with many private dining-rooms. Its outside was imposing (see picture 1 below). Two houses stand side by side. Built of red brick, with windows set in white stone and Elizabethan in appearance. At the entrance to the Tavern stand two great janitors. Facing the doorway, at the end of a wide hall, is a long flight of stairs broken by a broad landing and decorated with statues. Up and down this ladies and gentlemen are passing, and I ask one of the janitors what is going on in the ballroom. "German Liederkranz. Private entertainment. What dinner, sir? Victory Chapter. Drawing-room,” is the condensed information given by the big man, and he points a white-gloved hand to a passage branching off to the right. On one side of the passage is a door leading into a bar where three ladies in black are kept very busy in attending to the wants of thirsty Freemasons. On the other side is a wide shallow alcove in the wall fitted with shelves and glazed over, and in this is a curious collection of plate, great salvers, candelabra, and centre-pieces. Beside the alcove is a glass door, and outside it is hung a placard with “Gavel Club. Private” upon it. At the end of the passage a little Staircase leads up to higher regions, and on the wall is an old-fashioned clock with a round face and very plain figures, and some oil paintings dark with age. On the first landing there is a placard outside a door with “Victory Chapter” on it, and higher up outside another door another placard with “Perfection Chapter” on it. From the stream of guests and waiters which is setting up the stairs it is evident that there are many banquets to be held to-night. The drawing-room is white-and-gold in colour. Four Corinthian pillars, the lower halves of which are painted old-gold colour, with gold outlining the curves of their capitals, support a highly-ornamented ceiling, the central panel of which is painted to represent clouds, with some little birds flitting before them. The paper is old-gold in colour with large flowers upon it. There is some handsome furniture in the room— a fine cabinet, a clock of elaborate workmanship, and some good china vases. The curtains to the windows are of red velvet. At the end of the room farthest from the door is a horseshoe table with red and white shaded candles on it, ferns, chrysanthemums, and heather in china pots, pines, and hothouse fruits, and at close intervals bottles of champagne and Apollinaris. At the other end of the room, where stands a piano, with a screen in front of it, the gentlemen in evening clothes are chatting, having put their coats and hats on chairs and piano wherever room can be found. The waiters, in black with white gloves, are putting the last touches to the decorations. I have eaten some good dinners at the Freemasons’ Tavern, and others not so good. Tonight the cook is not up to his best form, and has not responded to the inspiration of the meuu --- Crevettes - Tortue clair - Filets de sole Meunière - Vol-au-vent aux huîtres natives - Faisan Souvaroff - Selle de mouton - Céleri braise Bordelaise - Layer. Pommes Parisienne - Poularde rôtie - Lard grillé - Salade - Bombe glacée Duchesse - Os à la moëlle - Dessert - Café. The turtle soup is not like that of the excellent Messrs. Ring and Brymer, or that of Mr. Painter; the faisan Souvaroff is dry, and the cook’s nerve has failed him when the truffles had to be added; but, on the other hand, the sole Meunière and the vol-au-vent are admirable, and the marrow-bones are large and scalding-hot. After dinner, one by one the guests who have appointments elsewhere, or who are going to the theatre, say good-night and go off; but a remnant still remain, and these make an adjournment to a cosy little clubroom on the top story of Freemasons’ Hall, where good stories are told, and soda-water-bottle corks pop until long after midnight. There is a small Masonic dining-club, called the Sphinx Club, which dines at the Freemasons’ Tavern, and which I mention because the dinner I last ate in company with my brother Sphinxes was one of the best efforts of the chef and of the manager Mons. Blanchette — which means that it was very good indeed. The club was founded as an antidote to the large amount of soft soap that Freemasons habitually plaster each other with in after-dinner speeches. No Sphinx is allowed to say anything good of any brother Sphinx, and when a candidate is put up for the club his proposer says all the ill he knows or can invent about his past life. A candidate can only become a member of the club by being unanimously blackballed. It is needless to say that the best of temper and good fellowship is the rule amongst the Sphinxes, and the Freemasons’ Tavern seems to always have a very good dinner for them. This was the menu of their last banquet --- Huîtres - Tortue clair - Rouget à la Grenobloise - Caille à la Souvaroff - Agneau rôti - Sauce menthe - Choux de mer - Pommes noisettes - Bécasse sur canapé - Pommes paille - Salade de laitues - Os à la moëlle - Petit soufflé glacé rosette - Fondu au fromage - Dessert - Café. THE MENU enclosed with this book: Dated January 18th 1890. Mr E. Stanford’s Dinner at the Freemason's Tavern; Consisting of six courses and seventeen dishes. Written in English, the menu offers relatively plain sounding fare compared to the more elegant dinner of the above Sphinx Club, that is presented in French, by Lieut-Col. Newnham-Davis, nine years later, in his book of 'Victorian London' dated 1899. The bibliographies have their usual variance. Oxford & Vicaire have each a first of 1801 and Oxford a 3rd of 1807 and a new edition, 1836. Bitiing has a 2nd of 1802. Cagle also has a 2nd and a 4th of 1808.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11121

Woolley. Hannah - two incomplete copies, together making one whole.
The Gentlewomans Companion,
OR, A GUIDE TO THE Female Sex: CONTAINING Directions of Behaviour, in all Places, Companies, Relations and Conditions, form their Child-hood down to Old Age: VIZ. As, Children to Parents. Scholars to Governours. Single to Servants. Virgins to Suitors. Married to Husbands. Huswifes to the House. Mistress to Servants. Mothers to Children. Widows to the World. Prudent to all. With LETTERS & DISCOURSES upon all Occasions. Whereunto is added, A Guide fotr Cook-maids, Dairy-maids, chamber-maids, and all others that go to Service. The whole beingan exact Rule for the Female Sex in General. By HANNAH WOOLLEY. LONDON, Printed by A.Maxwell for Edward Thomas, at the Adam and Eve in Little-Brittan, 1675.
1ST BOOK: 16mo. 1 loose fep with manuscript signature. Title Page in red and black text with a double lined border. [1] 7p Epistle Directory. [1] 9p A Table. [1] 1-262. 5p Advertisements. [1] Only the back cardboard cover present but exposed. Original full dark calf binding, completely dis-bound. A 1" tear and crack on the spine. (Missing -- Frontispiece, I, I8, K8, L, R-R8. P159-160 has 2" tear on outer edge with some text loss. First 4p of the rear Advertisements). The text block is quite clean with minimal age browning and some minor tears without loss. A nice clean copy. 2ND BOOK: 16mo. 2fep. [1] Engraved Frontispiece cropped and laid down. Title page in red and black text, cropped to inside line of the 2 line border and laid down. [1] 5p Epistle Directory. [1] 9p A Table. [1] 1-262. 8p Advertisements. 2feps. (Missing - pA4 of Epistle Directory and the last page of the rear advertisements). Half dark calf with marbled boards with a sunned spine and gilt lettering. Text block age browned with the top of the pages cropped without loss. Both copies housed in a modern half mid-tan calf clam-shell box with mid-brown cloth boards. Lined with black felt cloth. The spine with raised bands and gilt lines. With two labels of red and green morocco with gilt lettering. Unusually Woolley's name spelled differently here from the 'Wolley' in her other book - 'The Queen-like Closet'.
- Woolley, (born 1623 - died circa 1675) was a writer who published early books on household management and was probably the first to earn their living doing this. Her mother and elder sisters were all skilled in ‘Physick and Chirurgery’ and she learned from them . Nothing is known of her father. From 1639 to 1646 Woolley worked as a servant for an unnamed woman, almost certainly Anne, Lady Maynard (died,1647), during which time she learned about medical remedies and recipes. She married Jerome Woolley, a schoolmaster, in 1646 and with him, ran a free grammar school at Newport, in Essex. This is very near the Maynard family's house at Little Easton. In the school she put into practice her skills at ‘physick’. A few years later, the Woolleys opened a school in Hackney, London. She had at least four sons and two daughters, and the marriage was remembered by Hannah as a happy one. Hannah was widowed in 1661 and from that year on began publishing books on household management. She covered such topics as: recipes, notes on domestic management, embroidery instruction, the etiquette of letter writing, medicinal advice, and perfume making. These proved to be very popular. Her first book The Ladies Directory was published at her own expense in 1661, and this was soon reprinted in 1664. Her second book The Cooks Guide, was printed at a her publisher's expense and is dedicated to Maynard's daughter, Lady Anne Wroth (1632–1677), and her own daughter Mary. Woolley earned a reputation as a successful physician, despite her amateur status and the unwelcoming environment for female medical practitioners at that time in history. She used her books as an advertisement for her skills and invited her readers to consult her in person. Woolley remarried in 1666 at St. Margaret's, Westminster, to Francis Challiner, a widower two years older than herself. But her second husband died before February 1669. Woolley's own date of death is unknown. Rather than try to make a made-up complete copy with the difference in cropped page sizes and varying paper colour, the two copies here have been kept as they are and housed together in a handsomely bound clamshell box. The first edition was published in 1673. Even though this is an unauthorized text based on Hannah's books, never the less it is still Woolley's work and extremely rare.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11130