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Simon. Andre Louis - A continous set dated 1934-50 with a 2 page letter signed 'Andre'.
The Wine and Food Society.
A GASTRONOMICAL QUARTERLY EDITED BY ANDRE L. SIMON Published for the Wine and Food Society by SIMPKIN MARSHALL, LTD. STATIONERS' HALL COURT LONDON, E.C.4. (1934).
17 Volumes. In each volume there are 4 quarterlies bound together and they all have individual title pages. All volumes bound at various times in half black calf with black cloth boards and gilt lines. The spines of volumes dated 1940 & 42 are slightly sunned. All spines with raised bands, gilt lines and tooling, with gilt lettering in three compartments. Overall all volumes internally and externally in good condition with a slight variance in standing size and thickness due to being bound at different times. ITEM #2: 222 x 152mm. 2p. Dated 15.11.56. A fine two page letter written and signed by Simon. In a nice agreeable cursive script in blue ink from his home address; to Mrs Prideaux, thanking her for the menu of the Pavilion Banquet, also explaining the meaning of 'Cafe double'. A very handsome set and rare with Simon's letter enclosed within the first volume of 1934.
- André Louis Simon (Image #1 below) born 1877 - 1970, was the charismatic leader of the English wine trade for most of the first half of the 20th century, and the grand old man of literate connoisseurship for a further 20 years. In 66 years of authorship, he wrote 104 books. For 33 years he was one of London's leading champagne shippers; for another 33 years active president of the ‘Wine & Food Society’. Although he lived in England from the age of 25, he always remained a French citizen. He was both Officier de la Légion d'Honneur and holder of the Order of the British Empire. A. L. S. was born in St-Germain-des-Prés, the second of five sons of a landscape painter who died of sunstroke in Egypt, while they were still youths. From the first his ambition was to be a journalist. At 17 he was sent to Southampton to learn English and met Edith Symons, whose ambition was to live in France. They married in 1902 and remained happily together for 63 years. A.L.S. was a man of good judgement, single-mindedness, and devotion. He was also a man of powerful charm. He became a champagne shipper, the London agent for the leading house of Pommery through his father's friendship with the Polignac family. It allowed him a base at 24 Mark Lane for 30 years, in the centre of the City's wine trade. From it he not only sold champagne; he soon made his voice heard as journalist, scholar, and teacher. Within four years of his installation in London he was writing his first book, ‘The History of the Champagne Trade in England’, in installments for the Wine Trade Review. He spoke English as he wrote it, with a fondness for imagery, even for little parables but with an ineradicable French accent that was as much part of his persona as his burly frame and curly hair. His first book of 'History' was rapidly followed by a remarkable sequel: ‘The History of the Wine Trade in England from Roman Times to the End of the 17th Century’, in three volumes dated 1906, 7 and 9. It was the best and most original of his total of over 100 books. None, let alone a young man working in a language not his own, had read, thought, and written so deeply on the subject before. It singled him out at once as a natural spokesman for wine, a role he pursued with typical energy, combining with friends to found, in 1908, the Wine Trade Club. There-after for six years he organized tastings and gave technical lectures of a kind not seen before; the forerunner by 45 years of the Institute of masters of wine. In 1919 he published ‘Bibliotheca Vinaria’, a catalogue of the books he had collected for the Club. It ran to 340 pages. Also in 1919, Simon bought the two homes he was to occupy for the rest of his life: 6 Evelyn Mansions, near Westminster Cathedral (where he attended mass daily), and Little Hedgecourt, a cottage with 28 acres beside a lake at Felbridge, Surrey. He also ended his association with Pommery after 33 years.. Simon began a second life at 55, with A. J. A. Symons he founded the Wine & Food Society (now International Wine & Food Society). Its first Alsace lunch at the Cafe Royal in London in the midst of the Depression caused a sensation. But its assured success came from the ending of prohibition in America. Sponsored by the French government, Simon traveled repeatedly to the US, founding its first Wine & Food Society branch in Boston in December 1934 and its second in San Francisco in January 1935. Starting in the spring of 1934 with the first Wine and Food Quarterly. A.L.S. immersed himself in the research, writing, and editing (and finding paper to print) the Society's Quarterlies that was to occupy him throughout the Second World War. In 1962, his friend Harry Yoxall suggested that at 85, daily responsibility for the Society and its magazine was too burdensome and bought the title from him for Condé Nast Publications. But in his 90s, Simon was still exceptional company at dinner and gave little picnics for friends beside his woodland lake. He passed away in 1970. On what would have been his 100th birthday, on 28th February, 1977, 400 guests at the Savoy Hotel in London, drank an exceptional claret to his memory, that he had with kind foresight left for the occasion; Chateau Latour 1945. (Hugh Johnson -- The Oxford Companion to Wine. 3rd edition.) These Wine and Food Society volumes provide a fascinating insight into the Catering industry and it's leading characters, for a tempestuous and epoch changing 16 years that included WW11 and after.

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Modern category

ref number: 11156

Manuscript Receipts - the Winstanley family. - with an excellent provenenance.
Old Braunston Hall, Leicestershire.
Three vellum bound volumes dated from the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries.
Volume 1. 182x120mm. dated 1659. Volume 2. 207x107mm. dated 1772. Volume 3. 195x158mm. dated 1844. ---- VOL.1: - On paste- down, the name of C[lemont] Winstanley, April 1659. Written in two hands in black and brown ink, in a slightly messy script. The first 39 pages are mixed receipts in medicinal, cookery, wine and veterinary. The next 25 pages are blank. The last 12 pages at the back are written upside down to the front. They consist of very interesting lists recording the distribution of fish from one pond to another. there are four dates: 1790, 1799, 1805, 1806. Some pages have been cut and removed from the front and back of the book. VOL. 2: - The front paste-down states this book belongs to T.Parkyns her book, October 3rd, 1772. At the back there is also an inventory of Mrs Winstanely's linen dated, July 21st, 1788. The first 104 pages are daily shopping lists in a fairly messy script. The next are 4 blanks then 10 pages of cookery receipts. VOL. 3: - The front paste-down has in bold ink - Mrs Pochin's Receipt Book. It also states intriguingly in ink, another name and date - Mrs Binley, 1651. Before marriage to Ralph George Pochin (also known as ‘George’) of Barkby Hall, Leicestershire. Mrs Pochin had been Anna Jane Winstanley. The book probably belonged to, and was inherited from either her mother or mother-in-law, as the recipe on page 82 is dated 1844, 18 years before she was born. The other date of 1651 probably came from a very early branch of the Pochin or Winstanely families called Binley. (further research has not solved the puzzle). The first 82 pages are filled with recipes in a neat longhand script. Most of them have names attached with many attributed to Mrs Smith and a few to Mrs G. Pochin (Anna Jane Winstanley). The rest of the pages, a little over half are blank. There are two dates of 1807 within the text and a last date of 1844 in the last written recipe. There is also another undated, loose 32 page manuscript, in a very neat but earlier script in faded brown ink. The pages are also slightly bigger (approx 10mm all round) and more age browned than the book indicating it came from another much earlier family cookery manuscript, very possibly pre-dating the first volume. One of the recipes is attributed to Mrs Winstanley and another to Mrs M. Pochin. Given the variance between the two dates of 1651-1844, indicating these recipe books were in use for a minimum of 193 years, with the dis-bound manuscript pages indicating even earlier.
- All three volumes were the property of the Winstanely Family of Old Hall, Braunstone, and the Pochin Family of Barkby Hall, both in Leicestershire. Book 1. was the property of Clemont Winstanely. Baptised, January 15th. 1644-1672. Book 2. belonged to Jane Parkyns who was married to a later Clement Winstanley, born 1739, died 1808. Jane herself died one year before in 1807. Book 3. belonged to Anna Jane Pochin (nee Winstanley) born 1862, died 1910. Her brother James died unmarried so for the first time the succession went to his sister. She had married Ralph George Pochin of Barkby Hall, Sheriff of Leicestershire who had also been a Commander RN. The Winstanleys’ came to Braunstone in the mid 17th century. James Winstanley (the father of Clement) purchased the estate from the executors of the Hastings family after the death of Henry Hastings’ in 1649, for the sum of £6,000. A quitclaim in 1651 gave him freehold interest in the estate of Braunstone. The Winstanley’s played a vital role in determining the future economic and social history of their properties in and around Braunstone and Kirby Muxloe for the next 275 years. They had a reputation for being fair-minded and judicious, holding important roles as leading dignitaries in The Leicester Corporation. Their decisions influenced the lives of the communities of both Braunstone and Leicester. James Winstanely, Clemont's father was a puritan and a lawyer by profession in the service of the Duchy of Lancaster before taking up residence in Braunstone. He and his wife Catherine had three children. James was a member of Grey’s Inn and the Recorder of Leicester, a position he held until his failure to conform in 1662. While in office he Proclaimed Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector. He died in 1666 and the estate passed to his eldest son Clement. Clement like his father was a member of Grays Inn and his wife was also called Catherine. Clement died in 1672 and was buried in the family vault under the alter of the 12th century church of St. Peter’s in Braunstone village. Their eldest son James became the third Winstanley to inherit the estate. He was also a member of Grays Inn and M.P. for Leicester. James married Frances, daughter of James Holt of Castleton and their only son, also named James, took over on the death of his father in 1719. He was elected to the post of High Sheriff of Leicester and married his cousin Mary Prideaux. In 1750 he bored for coal near the lakes on Braunstone Park, hoping to cash in on the lucrative trade. But one night after two weeks of hard work by his estate hands, saboteurs, thought to be from the Leicestershire Colliers, filled the bore hole with rocks and stones. With his attempt to find coal thwarted he never continued with the venture. He died in 1770. James was succeeded by his son, another Clement. In 1775 he commissioned the local architect and builder William Oldham (who later became the Lord Mayor of Leicester) to construct the present Braunston Hall . The design typical of the period, a solid Georgian residence. (See image 1. below) The Hall was built on a rise with views overlooking Charnwood forest and set in one hundred acres of fine parkland. Clement also held the Office of High Sheriff of Leicester and in 1774 a remarkable procession took place. It was the custom to accompany the Judge to the Assizes Court at the Leicester Castle. The procession left from Braunstone Hall in military fashion. Thirty gentlemen wearing blue coats with crimson collars, white waistcoats and breeches formed the main escort, with a further 400 horsemen in attendance. The spectacle drew large crowds of bystanders who cheered them on their way. His wife was Jane Parkyns (the owner of the second volume) sister of the First Baron Rancliffe of Bunny, Nottinghamshire. He died in 1808. Jane had died one year before. The next to become heir was their eldest son Clement, J.P. Lieutenant – Colonel of the Leicestershire Militia from 1802-9. He was also the Chairman of the Leicester and Swanington Railway, which opened in 1832. He died unmarried in 1855. The estate passed to his nephew James Beaumont, High Sheriff of Leicester. He was only thirty when he mysteriously disappeared while abroad in Europe. When a body was found floating in the river Moselle in Germany the Winstanley family hired the private detective “Tanky Smith” to go to Germany to identify the body. A butler from the hall accompanied him and on the evidence of some clothing and a pair of cufflinks the body was identified as James Beaumont. The year was 1862. James was unmarried so for the first time the succession went to a female member of the family, his sister, Anna Jane Pochin - nee' Winstanley (owner of the third volume). Anna Jane was married to Ralph George Pochin of Barkby Hall in Leicestershire. The Pochin family were also long established in Leicestershire, having lived in Barkby Hall since 1604. The Pochin Family Tree extends from the early 13th. Century and claims to cover 23 generations. There are still large gaps, with many Leicestershire Pochins missing. In 1904 Anna Jane relinquished the estate in favour of her son Richard Norman Pochin and moved with Ralph to Braunston Hall. Interestingly, Richard Norman Pochin, changed his name by deed poll to Winstanley. In 1911 he extended the south side of Barkby Hall by adding a wing with toilets and bathrooms. It was in 1925 while he, his wife and six children were still in residence that the Leicester Corporation compulsory purchased his land in Braunston for much needed housing. One of their children, Rosemary Philippa Winstanely born in 1914 at Braunstan Hall married Robert Poore. Their son Andrew Phillip Poore, born 1951 and the great (x 7) grandchild of the Clement Winstanley mentioned at the beginning, is the one who gave me these manuscripts. His mother passed away on the 6th Oct. 2006 at Brown Edge, West Malvern, Worcestershire. As an interesting footnote, Andrew Poore's family have a long and well documented history in the West Country. Richard Poore on the death of his brother Herbert Poore, succeeded him to the position of Bishop of Salisbury by 27 June, 1217. During his tenure he helped plan and oversee the construction of the new Salisbury Cathedral as a replacement for the old cathedral at Old Sarum. He also laid out the town of Salisbury in 1219, to allow the workers building the cathedral a less cramped town than the old garrison town of Old Sarum. Richard died on 15 April 1237. He is commemorated with a statue in niche 170 on the west front of the Cathedral he built. NB: I gratefully received an interesting e-mail from Edward Geoff Pochin on May 2011, who corrected me on some erroneous facts I had entered about the Pochin Family tree. Another Pochin - Marian Peacock, also mailed me and told me the sad story of Ralph George Pochin's aunt, an Ann (not Anna) Jane Winstanley who tragically burned to death in her London house in 1847.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11157

Kidder. Edward A later edition with the 8 plates.
E. KIDDER'S RECEIPTS OF PASTRY AND COOKERY.
For the Use of his Scholars. Who teaches at his School in Queen Street; near St. Thomas Apostles On. Mondays, Tuesdays & Wednesdays, In the Afternoon, ALSO On Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays, In the Afternoon, at his School next to Furnivals Inn in Holburn. Ladies may be taught at their own Houses.
8vo. 190 x 110 mm 1 fep. [1] Frontispiece portrait by Robert Sheppard of the author in wig. Title page well laid out and enclosed within a lined border (Essentially an advertisement for Kidder's schools). 52 leaves, entirely engraved throughout on recto pages with versos blank. 8 engraved plates (three folding) of patterns and ornamental designs for pies and pastries. Original 1 fep. Contemporary paneled calf, covers blind tooled, with a margin surrounding the central panel painted and speckled. Nicely re-backed. Occasional light foxing or staining to text. Overall fine condition.
- Pastry Chef Edward Kidder - circa 1665/6-1739, opened his first pie shop in the Cheapside area of London. Soon he was known throughout the city for his delicious pastries, from rich lamb pies to savoury chicken to sweet custard tarts. He eventually opened a second location, and by all accounts was a highly successful businessman when he began to demonstrate his pie making techniques for wealthy ladies by opening a popular pastry school in London. His obituary in the London Magazine claiming that he "taught near 6000 Ladies the Art of Pastry." His school had several different locations in the first half of the 1700's, with the various addresses resulting in title-page variants on the different versions of his published book of Pastry and Cookery. Kidder's first edition was printed 1720/21, but there is manuscript evidence that the schools started at least as early as the 1700's. An engraved, printed title-page at the Brotherton Library of Leeds University of MS 75, is inscribed ‘London 1702’, and is followed by 71 folios of manuscript recipes similar to, if not verbatim copies of, the recipes which appear in the published Kidder texts. [Ref: The Recipes Project online] The title on this copy lists Kidder's address as "Queen Street, near St. Thomas Apostles," his location from around 1723 onwards. Although Kidder ran a pastry school, his recipes covered the whole range of soups, salads, meat, fish, poultry, sauces, and jellies, as well as pies and tarts. His recipes were repeatedly plagiarized throughout the eighteenth century, yet Kidder seems not to have plagiarized recipes himself. He probably taught his students to make established favourites, so even if his Receipts may not be especially inventive, it is a valuable record of 170 standard English dishes of the day, accompanied by attractive designs for pie shapes and decorations. The first recipe for puff pastry identical to the standard commercial product of today to appear in print is Kidder's. (ODNB). Kidder gave his students blank notebooks bound with a printed pre-title page from his cookbook. The students then copied his later cookbook text into these notebooks as their lessons progressed. There are five quite similar in content, hand written Kidder manuscripts by different ladies in five separate institutional collections. Three can be found online at the Universities of Pennsylvania, Chicago and Indiana's Lilly Library. An extremely scarce, handsome and an all-together intriguing book. ESTC T92424; Cagle 793; Axford, p. 124; Bitting, p. 259; Craig, p. 51; MacLean, p. 82; Oxford, p. 71.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11290

Sandford. Francis - A magnificent copy.
Coronation of James II
THE HISTORY OF THE CORONATION Of the Most High, Most Mighty, and Most Excellent MONARCH, JAMES II. By the Grace of GOD, KING of England, Scotland, France and Ireland. DEFENDER OF THE FAITH &c. And of His Royal Consort QUEEN MARY: Solemnized in the Collegiate Church of St. PETER in the City of WESTMINSTER, on Thursday the 23 of April, being the Festival of St. George, in the Year of Our Lord 1685. With an Exact Account of the several Preparations in Order thereunto, Their MAJESTIES MOST Splendid Processions, and Their Royal and Magnificent FEAST in WESTMINSTER HALL. The Whole Work Illustrated with SCULPTURES. By HIS Majesties Especial Command. (With a large engraved vignette of the Royal Coat of Arms) By FRANCIS SANDFORD Esq; Lancaster Herald of Arms. In the Savoy: Printed by Thomas Newcomb, One of His Majesties Printers 1687.
Large Folio. 410x270mm. Marbled paste-down and endpaper. [2] 2fep with verso bearing name of 'Imprimatur'. Title Page in red and black text and engraved vignette finely rebacked. [1] 2p To the King. 1p James R. [1] 2p Preface. 2p Contents. 1-135. [1] 2feps. Back endpaper and paste-down marbled. Full polished calf, panelled elaborate gilt spine with raised bands, inner gilt fillets on the paste-down and gilt edges to the boards and pages. In all, 3 engraved vignettes and 31 engraved plates. That is 2 detailed plates of the Regalia, Ground plan of Westminster, ground plan of St. Peter, 2 views of the Cathedral of Westminster during the service, The Royal Couple after the in-thronization, ground plan of Westminster Hall showing the King and Queen's Dinner plan, inside of Westminster Hall showing the King and Queen at Dinner with the service of the first course of the Hot meal, Manner of Champions, with 2 extra plates of the magnificent Fireworks display on the Thames and the procession of William 11. These superb plates engraved by S.Moore, W.Sherwin, N.Yeates, Sturt and Collins. This copy is an early issue before some of the headpieces and initials were printed. Page 33 is present in two states, with and without the marginal engraving of five crowns. Lipperhide #2688 mentions only 28 plates with 2 reproductions. Ex-libris the Rev. William Bree, Rector of Allesley. A magnificent and desirable copy.
- Many a 'splendid occasion' in European history - coronation, royal wedding, funeral, beatification, embassy or triumphal entry - has been commemorated in an illustrated 'festival book.' Like a souvenir scrapbook, such volumes record memorable events down to their most fleeting aspects, eg; the food and the fireworks. Catholic Italy and France, eminent in opera and liturgy, were the chief producers of festival books. Even though England came late to the genre, 'The History of the Coronation of James II' is one of the most splendidly illustrated books of the seventeenth century. It served as a visual touchstone for subsequent coronations, almost inventing a tradition. British royal ceremonial is one of the few to survive intact, and it remains the most magnificent and brilliantly orchestrated. Here in thirty one double-page plates, drawn under the direction of the herald Francis Sandford, one may follow every detail of the procession and banqueting, from the discreet presence of the diarist Samuel Pepys, holding a pole of the canopy that shields the king, to the "1,445 dishes of the delicious viands" consumed that day. Henry Purcell, one of England's greatest composers, died in November 1695, and is buried in Westminster Abbey. At the time of the coronation of James II in 1685, Purcell was Keeper of the King's Instruments and Organist of the Chapel Royal. The introit ‘I Was Glad’ with its text taken from Psalm 122 was written by Purcell especially for the coronation. This is just one of the myriad of details that make the event so exceptionally well documented, thanks to Sandford’s book published two years after the Coronation. Of particular interest to the cookery book collector is the large chapter starting on p108 titled 'The Royal Feasts in Westminster Hall'. It contains a list of all 144 dishes placed on the table of the Peers and Peeresses. In all there is a breakdown of the placement of the total 1445 Dishes. There is also 2 beautiful plates of the table layout and the actual Dinner of the King and Queen. On p119, Patrick Lamb Esq, His Majesties Master-Cook (and author of "Royal Cookery' 1710; see item 11025 in this book-site.) is mentioned for his part in the feast, and on p127, his payment of £50 is documented. Sandford's book was so well received and so admired that in many ways it set the standards for great British Royal occasions of the future. These traditions are singularly unique and unchanged even today. In a diverse and fast changing world the magnificence of these fantastic Royal occasions still attracts huge interest around the world. To view these traditional and colourful pageants on TV and to then read the book, one gets a true historical sense of the continuity of the British Monarchy.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11024

Green Thomas - 2 volumes - 1824.
THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL;
VOLUME 1: OR, BOTANICAL, MEDICAL, AND AGRICULTURAL DICTIONARY. CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF all the known Plants in the World, ARRANGED ACCORDING TO THE LINNEAN SYSTEM. SPECIFYING THE USES TO WHICH THEY ARE OR MAY BE APPLIED, WHETHER AS FOOD, AS MEDICINE, OR IN THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. WITH THE BEST METHODS OF PROPAGATION, AND THE MOST RECENT AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENTS. Collected form indisputable Authorities. ADAPTED TO THE USE OF THE FARMER - THE GARDENER - THE HUSBANDMAN - THE BOTANIST - THE FLORIST - AND COUNTRY HOUSEKEEPERS IN GENERAL.. BY THOMAS GREEN. THE SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND IMPROVED. VOL.1. (Printers device) LONDON: PRINTED AT THE CAXTON PRESS, BY HENRY FISHER, Printer in Ordinary to His Majesty. PUBLISHED AT 38, NEWGATE-STREET; AND SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. VOLUME 2: THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; OR, BOTANICAL, MEDICAL, AND AGRICULTURAL DICTIONARY. CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF all the known Plants in the World, ARRANGED ACCORDING TO THE LINNEAN SYSTEM. SPECIFYING THE USES TO WHICH THEY ARE OR MAY BE APPLIED, WHETHER AS FOOD, AS MEDICINE, OR IN THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. WITH THE BEST METHODS OF PROPAGATION, AND THE MOST RECENT AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENTS. Collected form indisputable Authorities. ADAPTED TO THE USE OF THE FARMER - THE GARDENER - THE HUSBANDMAN - THE BOTANIST - THE FLORIST - AND COUNTRY HOUSEKEEPERS IN GENERAL.. BY THOMAS GREEN. THE SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND IMPROVED. VOL.11. (Printers device) LONDON: PRINTED AT THE CAXTON PRESS, BY HENRY FISHER, Printer in Ordinary to His Majesty. PUBLISHED AT 38, NEWGATE-STREET; AND SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS.
Large thick 4to. 2x275x220mm. VOLUME 1: 2feps. [1] Hand-coloured allegorical frontispiece of Wisdom and Activity collecting Vegetables. An engraved allegorical hand-coloured vignette title. [1] Title Page. [1] 2p Preface. (1)2-10 Introduction. [1] 1 hand-coloured plate of simple leaves. 11-790. 3 feps. VOLUME 2: 3feps. [1] Hand-coloured allegorical frontispiece of Elements producing Plants & Flowers. Title Page. [1] (1)4-883. (1)2-56 Apendix. 4feps. Both volumes hold a total of 109 -- 3 frontispieces and 106 very finely coloured botanical plates. Each plate is dated, also with the Latin name from the Linnean System and common English name given for each plant. Both volumes finely and fully bound in modern dark tan calf with blind tooling on the edge of the boards. The spines have raised bands with gilt lines and devices in the compartments. Each has a dark red morocco label with gilt lettering. Internally very clean. A very handsome set.
- Thomas Green was a British author who published this massive herbal dictionary in 1816. Little is known about him, but he may be the same Thomas Green who wrote Extracts from the Diary of a Lover of Literature (1810), Memoirs of her Late Royal Highness Charlotte Augusta (1818) and A Biographical Memoir of the Late Edward Pearson DD (1819). These books on show here are illustrated with three fine allegorical frontispieces by William Marshall Craig and stipple-engraved (a method of engraving in which a grainy effect is produced by a series of tiny dots or flecks) by R. Hicks. Craig was a fashionable miniature painter who illustrated London Cries (1804) and exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1788 to 1827. The 106 botanical plates were engraved by F. Dixon, G. Dobie, W. Swift and others. Most of the plates depict two or four plants, and many were copied from originals by famous botanical artists such as Merian, Ehret and Miller. The pineapple, melon, lemon and pepper were copied from Maria Sybilla Merian's Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium (1705); the orchid, carnation, papaya, etc., were copied from Philip Miller's Gardener's Dictionary (1755). This handsome book 'The Universal Herbal' is an encyclopedia of herbal knowledge, augmented with gardening and cooking information, this popular book was re-issued in this second edition revised format in 1824 at the Caxton Press, London, and Henry Fisher, Liverpool. The BL has 4 copies. Surprisingly three are odd variants -- an 1820 and a n/d, both printed in Liverpool. One of 1923 has no place of printing, also one dated 1924. The BL does not have a first of 1816.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11079

Soyer. Elizabeth Emma [nee Jones] - Drawn by the artist when she was fifteen
An Original Drawing.
Exquisite black crayon period portrait of older man seated. Wearing a jacket with wide lapels, a waistcoat and a white neck-scarf. Identity of the sitter unknown. Signed by Emma Jones and dated 1828.
Actual Drawings - 7.5"x 9" = 190 x 228mm. Frame - 11.5 "x13" = 292 x 330mm. Sympathetically mounted on a dark green/grey cardboard backing with glass fronted, gold brushed frame. The edges of the paper slightly cracked but altogether nicely aged. Overall a very rare and handsome item.
- Elizabeth Emma Jones was born in London - 1813. In 1836 she married Alexis Benoist Soyer the famous Chef de Cuisine of the Reform Club, Pall Mall, London. She died on the 29th of August, 1842, aged twenty-nine. Miss Emma Jones acquired the rudiments of her vocation under the guidance of Mons. Simonau, a Flemish artist, who subsequently became her step-father. She showed talent from a very young age and first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1823, at barely ten years old. This highly accomplished artist focused on portraiture and studies of nature. Her works were popularised through engravings and she went on to exhibit at the Paris Salon from 1840-42. Her reputation in France stood higher than even her native country. She was regarded as unusual and precociously gifted. Her works were admired because they were said to have been marked by great vigour and breadth of light and shadow. This can be seen in the portrait on offer here. Astonishingly, it was completed when she was just fifteen years old and shows a great degree of artistic maturity. The famous portrait of her husband Alexis Soyer wearing his beret, (see below) is a stipple engraving by Henry Bryan Hall originally from a drawing by Emma. It is housed in the National Portrait Gallery. Notwithstanding Madame Soyer's death at such a young age she was a prolific artist who left behind upwards of 400 paintings, which received commendations of the highest character. Soyer's already bright reputation was considerably enhanced by his marriage to Emma. While he was in a meeting in Belguim with the king, Emma became very frightened during a severe thunderstorm and she had a miscarriage and died. Soyer was distraught and never forgave himself for his absence, not even when, in 1850, receiving a letter from Alexis Lemain claiming to be his son - the result of an early liaison in Paris - he accepted paternity. Emma and Soyer are both buried together at Kensal Green cemetery. As of August 2008, Emma and Soyer's impressive but weather-beaten monument has been granted public money for a complete renovation, to be started by the October of that same year. The plot holds four bodies. Besides Alexis and Emma there is Francois Simonau (1859) the artist, mentor and stepfather to Emma mentioned above. Then finally a Lady Watts (1929) who was Francois Simonau's grand niece. Emma (Soyer) Jones's paintings and drawings are very rare and seldom appear at auction or on the market.

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Ephemera category

ref number: 11091

Soyer. Elizabeth Emma [nee Jones] - Drawn by the artist when she was fifteen
An Original Drawing.
Exquisite black crayon period portrait of an old man seated. Wearing a peaked cap, high necked waistcoat, small knotted neckerchief and a jacket with wide lapels. Identity of the sitter unknown. Signed by Emma Jones and dated 1828.
Actual Drawings - 7.5"x 9" = 190 x 228mm. Frame - 11.5 "x13" = 292 x 330mm. Sympathetically mounted on a dark green/grey cardboard backing with glass fronted, gold brushed frame. The edges of the paper slightly cracked but altogether nicely aged. Overall a very rare and handsome item.
- Elizabeth Emma Jones was born in London - 1813. In 1836 she married Alexis Benoist Soyer the famous Chef de Cuisine of the Reform Club, Pall Mall, London. She died on the 29th of August, 1842, aged twenty-nine. She showed talent from a very young age and first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1823, at barely ten years old. This highly accomplished artist focused on portraiture and studies of nature. Her works were popularised through engravings and she went on to exhibit at the Paris Salon from 1840-42. Her reputation in France stood higher than even her native country. She was regarded as unusual and precociously gifted. Her works were admired because they were said to have been marked by great vigour and breadth of light and shadow. This can be seen in the portrait on offer here. Astonishingly, it was completed when she was just fifteen years old and shows a great degree of artistic maturity. The famous portrait of her husband Alexis Soyer wearing his beret, (see below) is a stipple engraving by Henry Bryan Hall originally from a drawing by Emma. It is owned by the National Portrait Gallery. The first picture below is a self-portrait drawn by Emma.

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Ephemera category

ref number: 11092

Escoffier. Georges Auguste Uniquely rare.
Menus and recipes signed by Escoffier.
Two menus with recipes signed and annotated with one page also initialized by Escoffier and a single recipe from the Guide Culinaire in Escoffier's typical messy hand writing. Also one page of unusual Ephemera signed twice.
Comprising: 4 different items protected in separate plastic sleeves. All housed in a marbled folder with label. -- ITEM 1. 1page. 222 x 153mm. n.d. Recipe for ‘Boeuf en Miroton’, [circa.1903] written in Escoffier’s distinctive handwriting. Comprising 18 lines outlining the recipe with a comment beneath (‘J’avais oublié ce bon Miroton’), with other annotations in pencil, and blue crayon in another hand. The page appears to be extracted from a notebook. (The recipe for Boeuf en Miroton appeared in Escoffier’s Le Guide Culinaire, 1st edition of 1903). Enclosed with one page of English translation. Very good condition. -- ITEM 2. 2 pages. 265 x 207mm. Stapled. nd. Small tear to top left corner of second page; A typed menu in very clear blue ink on well preserved thin yellow paper, initialled by Escoffier on page 1, and signed by him on page 2. The first page is a “Homage à BRILLAT SAVARIN; En souvenir des Diners de la Gentilhommière de Vieu”. The first page explaining the inspiration behind the menu; Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin and his cousin, Juliette Récamier. The second page giving an extravagant 9 course menu, commencing with Hors d’oeuvres, Caviar and Huîtres crûes en Gelée de Champagne. Enclosed with 2 pages of English translation. Very good condition. -- ITEM 3. 5 pages, 268 x 209mm. Stapled. nd. A typed menu and recipes in very clear black ink on well preserved thin white paper. Annotated and signed by Escoffier on page 5. A six course delightful dinner titled “LA PROVENCE; LES DELICES DE LA COTE D’AZUR; Pays des Rêyes dorés”. Given for ‘un personnage de nationalité anglaise’. The dishes including Melon de Cavaillon au Frontignan, Mignonettes d'Agneau de lait Mireille, and la Mousse Abricot de Rose de Monteux. Followed by all the recipes for the dishes. Enclosed with 5 pages of English translation. Very good condition. -- ITEM 4. 1 page of ephemera. 190x 125mm. An invoice or stock note headed: Aktiebolaget Svenska Handelsbanken, Stockholm, on blue paper, interestingly, signed twice by Escoffier. With his home address in Monte-Carlo. Dated 9th January 1933. Very good condition.
- Escoffier's very full life and literary output is well documented. His Hotel collaborations with Cesar Ritz, his restaurants on board famous ocean liners, his 'Escoffier Company' range of preserved and bottled foodstuffs, his colleagues and apprentices who became famous in their own right. The associations and foundations that sprang up in his memory after he died, attest to the deep affection and respect in which he was held. These enclosed items serve up a fine glimpse of the loving and detailed effort he put into these two private functions. It also helps to show why he was held in the highest regard. -- ITEM 1: Written in Escoffier’s hand but with no date. Obviously, it’s a page from a notebook, and as it is not dated, one may assume it was written before the first publication of the recipe in his ‘Guide Culinaire’ of 1903. Otherwise why would Escoffier re-write it when it is already published. A mystery.! -- ITEM 2: Escoffier informs us that this dinner took place in the lounge of the Table Francaise of the Restaurant Garnier on rue de l,Isly. He further states that being the President of the Society of the Table Francaise, whose headquarters were also on rue de l,Isly, he Escoffier, was asked to compose the menu. -- ITEM 3. A lunch served for an unnamed English gentleman in a private villa between Cannes and Monte-Carlo. Escoffier describes the setting for the lunch in quite descriptive and poetic terms. One can almost feel the warm winter sunshine and smell the Mimosa etc. To have a menu created by the Master with accompanying recipes, is rare. -- ITEM 4. This little invoice is a mystery. Dated 23 months before his death, one wonders where Escoffier signed for this. Surely not Stockholm but a branch of Aktiebolaget Svenska Handelsbanken near the Monte-Carlo or further afield in France perhaps.? A search of the bank’s history did not enlighten. It also appears that Escoffier signed and dated the invoice in the first instance, then signed it a second time as a complimentary gift to someone. Rare indeed with the two signatures. --- Due to Escoffier’s output as a prolific writer, signed letters are very scarce but not rare, but still fetching large amounts of money at auction. However, we can elevate to extreme rarity these signed menus with fine detailed recipes and descriptions, of the two private functions organised and recorded by the great man himself.

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Ephemera category

ref number: 11249

Tillinghast & M.H. Mary - Two books bound in one
THE YOUNG COOKS Monitor;
OR DIRECTIONS FOR Cookery and Distilling, BEING A Choice Compendium of Excellent Receipts. Made Publick for the Use and Benifit of my Scholars. The THIRD EDITION with Large ADDITIONS. By M.H. LONDON: Printed for the Author, at her House in Limestreet. 1705. --- BOUND WITH: Rare and Excellent RECEIPTS. Experienc'd, and Taught By Mrs Mary Tillinghast. And now Printed for the Use of her Scholars only. LONDON, Printed in the Year, 1690.
12mo. 2fep. Title page. 2pp. Epistle preface, signed M.H. (9-180) 2nd Title page. (1-30) 2fep. Nicely bound in contemporary full mottled tan calf with gilt lines and fillet on boards. Spine with raised bands, gilt lines, red label with gilt lettering. Clean internally with very light ageing and minor worming to some pages without loss of text. A very rare item.
- The first edition of the 'Young Cook's Monitor' was printed 1683. Oxford states that the 2nd edition of 1690 has an appendix. This third edition of 1705 also has an appendix. The second book; Tillinghast's 'Rare and Excellent Receipts' was first printed in 1678. This copy is the second of 1690. In Oxford's 'Notes from a Collector's Catalogue' he writes on page 87, that both his and the BM's copies of Tillinghast's book are also bound with the 'Young Cook's Monitor' There is also a surprising similarity between these 2 books bound in one volume, and the anonymous work, 'The True Way'. (item, #10962 on this site under 'Anon') The three books and receipts are remarkably similar with the three Title pages all proclaiming they are 'Made Publick for the Use and Benefit of my Scholars.' The Epistle Directories of both books have the same similar statement addressed to her Scholars. (There is no Epistle Directory in Tillinghast's book). The 'True Way' does not have any indication of authorship, while the 'Cook's Monitor' has M.H. after the preface. This compiler suggests that Mary Tillinghast is the maiden name of the M.H. of the 'Young Cooks Monitor'. I suggest that sometime after writing/publishing her 'Excellent Receipts' in 1678, Mary Tillinghast married and assumed her married initials of M.H. while keeping the authorship of 'The True Way' anonymous. At this point in time there is no way to prove this theory, but the startling similarities between the three works (bound in two volumes) are too evident to ignore. Further reference can be found in the 'The Recipes Project' online that informs: The British Library copies of the Tillinghast and second edition of the Young Cooks Monitor were bound together, sometime during the 19th century: BL shelf-marks C.189.aa.10 (1) and (2).

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10960

Davidson. Alan (Editor) - A unique set signed by Alan Davidson
Petits Propos Culinaires
Journals 1-73.
5 clamshell cases - each approx. 210x150x95mm. Each case in half bottle green morocco with green cloth covering. The spine with raised bands, gilt lines and a red morocco gilt lettered label. Each case with a light fawn felt cloth base. The cases are numbered; 1-15, 16-31, 32-48, 49-63, 64-73. Journal #1 is #345 of the first limited edition of 500. Numbers 1-59 and 61-63 are all signed by Alan Davidson. Number 60 is un-signed. Journals 63-73 are all signed by Tom Jaine. In journal #5, there is a letter of apology to Hugo Dunn-Meynell, for a printing mistake by A.D. in an article on Turabi Effendi. The letter is also signed by A.D. In journal #32 there is a page from Kidder's cookbook. In #49 there is a signed compliment slip signed by A.D, and two signed letters from Jenny Macarthur. All the journals as new. A very handsome set.
- Described by the editor Alan Davidson as 'a semi-academic periodical which comes out three times a year and deals with food, cookery and cookery books. Issues run approximately 64 to 72 pages, none occupied by advertisements, and contributors are a mixture of professional writers and amateurs. All issues are illustrated in black and white (reproductions of old engravings and woodcuts, etc.), plus drawings commissioned for PPC. PPC is not a collection of recipes, although most issues contain some of particular interest. These recipes have often been embodied in articles, e.g. by the late Elizabeth David and Richard Olney, both of whom played an important part in founding PPC. Extensive Book Reviews and an item called Notes and Queries are also regular features. The latter provides a forum for reports on research in progress and for posing questions which readers may be able to answer. This set on offer here are in a 'just published' condition. On the inside cover of journal # 1 is a typewritten note that has been tipped in. It states: "You may like to know that a new journal dealing with food, cookery and cookery books has been launched under the above title. The publishers are Prospect Books, a partnership including Elizabeth David, Alan and Jane Davidson, Jillian Norman and Richard Olney. The first edition was a limited edition of 500 copies, published in aid of the Anglo-American Jubilee Appeal of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. ---- The first issue sold out quickly. The second issue will appear in August. It will also be in aid of charity". It is quite possible that this lot of journals are unique. A.D. told me he had not signed a full set before with the exception of number 60 which is unsigned. This is because the full printed lot of #60 were destroyed in a fire. I was only able to obtain a published copy after A.D. passed away. Number 63 has a written dedication from Alan Davidson. It reads: "I have great pleasure in signing this, the last issue of PPC for which I and my wife were responsible, -- for Robert Hendry, who has been such a good friend to the journal. Alan Davidson". Journals 73 and onwards have been edited & published by Tom Jaine of Prospect Books, Totnes, Devon and they are also signed by him. A wonderful source of all kinds of gastronomic information and research by many enthusiasts and leading culinary writers of the day.

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Modern category

ref number: 11088