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

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Antiquarian category
ref number: 10913

Beeton.   Isabella Mary     The new and enlarged 2nd edtion of 1869.
The Book of Household Management
COMPRISING INFORMATION FOR 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. ENTIRELY NEW EDITION, REVISED AND CORRECTED, WITH NEW COLOURED ENGRAVINGS. TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SEVENTH THOUSAND. LONDON: WARD, LOCK, AND TYLER, WARWICK HOUSE, PATERNOSTER ROW.
Thick 8vo. The Paste-down and recto with tipped in recipes etc. Verso Frontispiece. Title page. Verso with advertisements. (1)iv Preface to the first and new editions. (1)vi General Contenets. (1)viii-xxxv Analytical Index. xxxvi-xl Index to Engravings. (1) List of 12 Coloured Engravings. 5p Advertisements. [1]2-1139. [1]+p45 Advertisements. The back Paste-down and End-paper with advertisements. With the original green cloth boards. The spine with the original ornate gilt-tooling. top and bottom edges slightly scuffed. Internally very clean and bright. Front and back additional pages browned. The title page has, at the top 'THE BOOK' missing. The second enlarged edition.
- This copy of the second edition is a well-used one still retaining it's originality. All the pages prefacing the main text are slightly bronwed with ragged edges. but no loss. It is quite scarce and should still be treasured. It is one of the cornerstones of a collection of English cookery texts. It broke the publishing mold of the time, because of Isabella Beeton's focused effort and vision. Also the full backing of her loving husband and publisher who was crucial to the enormous success of this book.

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Antiquarian category
ref number: 11066

Beeton.   Isabella Mary     A very scarce 1st Edition - 4th 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. Sixty-Fifth Thousand. LONDON: S.O. BEETON, 248, STRAND, W.C. 1864.
FIRST EDITION, Fourth Issue. Thick 8vo. 1fep. [1] Frontispiece (The plate that sits between p112-113 in the other first editions). Title Page. [1] [iv-iv] [1] [vi-xxxix] including the Preface to the first edition, the General Contents and the Analytical Index. [1] 2-1112. 1fep. Surprisingly bound in the original manner of the first edition-first issue with the original navy blue cloth with 1/4 navy blue calf. Gilt stamped on the front cover and gilt writing on the spine with original blind tooling. The spine has been sometime expertly re-laid without loss. Also the book is slightly thicker than the previous three issues of the 1st edition due to a thicker paper being used. Very clean internally. A nice copy of the very scarce, dated, fourth edition, usually found incomplete.
- There is almost no difference in the text, page by page, recipe by recipe in the collation of the 1st, 2nd & 3rd issues of the first editions except the Errata on p.vi is not present in this issue, but is on the preceding three issues. Another small difference is item nos. 2745 and 2751 of the Legal Memorandam of the 1st and 2nd issues are different in the 3rd and 4th issues. The other difference is the plates in this issue have the same content as the other preceding two first issues but have a different floral border and are of a higher quality. Isabella Beeton who had sound business acumen issued the 3rd and 4th editions using the leftovers from the first two issues. This explains why there is no unique frontispieces from the 1st and 2nd issues present here, but rather has the plate from p113 instead, even though the list of Coloured Plates on p.xxxix states the plate should face p.113. One assumes Isabella and Samuel ran out of plates completely, as this is the last one of the four first issues with the original plates, before publication of the new and very different ones of the revised and corrected second edition of 1869. This is a unique book and is the last edition Isabella Beeton would issue before her untimely death on February 5th, 1865.

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Information

Antiquarian category
ref number: 11067

Beeton   Isabella Mary     - The 2nd Edition, 1869.
The Book of Household Management
COMPRISING INFORMATION FOR 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. ENTIRELY NEW EDITION, REVISED AND CORRECTED, WITH NEW COLOURED ENGRAVINGS. TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SEVENTH THOUSAND. LONDON: WARD, LOCK, AND TYLER, WARWICK HOUSE, PATERNOSTER ROW.
Thick 8vo. The Paste-down and 1fep packed and verso of Half title with advertisements .[1] Frontispiece. Tissue guard. Title page. Verso with advertisements. (1)iv Preface to the first and new editions. (1)vi General Contents. (1)viii-xxxv Analytical Index. xxxvi-xl Index to Engravings. (1) List of 12 Coloured Engravings. 5p Advertisements. [1]2-1139. [1 A staggering 45 pages of Advertisements. The back paste-down and end-paper with advertisements. With the original green cloth boards. The sympathetically re-laid maroon spine with gilt-tooling. Internally very clean and bright. A handsome copy.
- This copy is quite different in appearance to the previous four issues of the first edition. Although also having 12 plates, they are very different, and in the book all available space is filled with advertisements, (an unbelievable 5 pages at the front and 45 pages at the back) giving a clue to the aggressive marketing by Ward, Lock & Tyler who knew full well the popularity of Isabella's literary legacy. By 1890 over half a million copies of 'The Book of Household Management' had been sold with no sign of demand abating, assuring its reputation as the publishing phenomenon of the nineteenth century. One assumes Isabella and Samuel ran out of the original plates completely, before this publication of the new and very different corrected second edition of 1869.

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Antiquarian category
ref number: 11068

Beeton.   Isabella Mary     - The first 'Big Beeton' of 1888.
The Book of Household Management
COMPRISING INFORMATION FOR 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, GOVERNESS. 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. (a single horizontal line) REVISED AND CORRECTED AND GREATLY ENLARGED, (a single small horizontal line) New Coloured Plates and Numerous Full-Page and Other Engraving; SEVERAL HUNDREDS OF NEW RECEIPTS For English, French, German, Italian, American, Australian, and Indian Cookery, New Menus for Breakfasts, Luncheons, Dinners, Teas and Suppers. With much Valuable Information upon Household and Domestic Matters. SEVEN HUNDREDTH THOUSAND. LONDON: WARD, LOCK, AND CO. LIMITED: WARWICK HOUSE, SALISBURY SQUARE, E.C. NEW YORK AND MELBOURNE.
Very thick 8vo. Paste-down and end-paper with Advertisements and on the verso. Half title. [1] Advertisements. Frontispiece folding colour plate of a Dinner Table. Title page.[1] (1)Vi-Viii Preface to the new edition dated 1888. (1)x Preface to the first and second editions. (1)xii General Contents. (1)xiv-xli Analytical Index. xlii-xlvi Index to Illustrations. (1)List of Coloured Plates. (1)List of Full-Page Illustrations. 4p Advertisements. I Folding Colour Plate of a Supper Table. (1)2-1644. 42p Advertisements and on the back paste-down. Original, well preserved ornate gilt lettering and devices on a 1/4 red morocco spine and clean dark green cloth boards. With 13 full page coloured plates and 68 full page illustrations, countless in-text illustrations, this copy is very good, and internally and externally, very clean.
- Ward, Lock & Tyler took over the second edition of 1869 from Samuel Beeton. They knew full well the popularity of Isabella's literary legacy. By 1890 over half a million copies of Beeton's 'The Book of Household Management' had sold with no sign of demand abating, assuring its reputation as the publishing phenomenon of the nineteenth century. From the quintessential Englishness of the early editions, this edition has grown quite universal, with added recipes for French, German, Italian, American, Australian, and Indian Cookery. Also Messrs. Tyler has been dropped from the company name and it is now the famous company 'Ward Lock'. This 1888 volume, considerably thicker than any 'Beeton' published before, is the first of the commonly called 'Big Beetons'. At nearly 3 inches thick it is 3/4 inch thicker than the 1869 edition. As with the second edition, it is also packed with advertisements. One wonders what Isabella, if she had still been alive, would have made of this very different volume from those of the 4 issues of the 1861 first edition that she herself had revised. Never the less, a very handsome copy of a cookery book of continuous interest and high reputation.

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Antiquarian category
ref number: 11070

Marshall   Agnes Bertha     - with the four coloured plates.
THE BOOK OF ICES
INCLUDING CREAM AND WATER ICES, SORBETS, MOUSSES, ICED SOUFFLES, AND VARIOUS ICED DISHES, WITH NAMES IN FRENCH AND ENGLISH, AND VARIOUS COLOURED DESIGNS FOR ICES. BY A.B. MARSHALL. (Copyright.) REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION. London: MARSHALL’S SCHOOL OF COOKERY, 32, MORTIMER STREET. SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., LIMITED, 4, STATIONERS’-HALL, COURT. [Price Half-a-Crown net.]
180 x 120mm. n/d. Front paste-down and end-paper with lovely advertisements. Half-title. On verso advertisement for all Marshall’s books. [1] Frontispiece – one of the four coloured plates. Title page with tissue guard. [1] (1)vi-vii Contents. [1] (1)2-52. (1)54-76 Advertisements featuring wonderful illustrated drawings of Marshall’s ice-moulds, ice-pots and machines. (1)78-79 Index. On verso advertisement for all Marshall’s dry goods. [1] End-paper and paste-down with lovely advertisements. Original bright blue cloth cover with blind tolled lines and bright gilt writing. Internally very clean with the four coloured plates with tissue guards. A lovely copy of this very scarce much sought after thin volume. Earlier copies were published without the plates and had limited advertisements.
- In Ivan Day's extremely interesting web-site "Historic Food" there is an article about the history of ice-moulds. It states "The tradition of making novelty ices in the form of vegetables, fruits and other food items seems to have started in late seventeenth Naples, where moulded sorbetti were known as pezzi duri (hard pieces). A pewter mould for making asparagus ices is illustrated in Gillier's 'Canammeliste Francaise' - Nancy: 1750. By the 1860s these moulds were to be found at ‘most ironmonger's', so bunches of ice cream or water ice asparagus (see image #6 below) seem to have become popular by this time with Victorian diners. They were frequently illustrated in nineteenth and early twentieth century cookery texts, such as this work by Marshall, also Theodore Garrett and John Kirkland. American mould manufacturers were still making asparagus moulds in the 1950s, though by this time, they had become much stouter in order to facilitate easy demoulding. The earlier, narrow moulds are not easy to use, as the asparagus ices are difficult to turn out without breaking. They should be dipped into cold water for about twelve seconds and the ices rolled out onto a clean table napkin with the finger tips, rather than the point of a knife, which is usual with most other ice-moulds".--- If you go hunting thro' the stalls on Portobello Road, London, on a Saturday morning you will still be able to find those Victorian pewter or copper ice-cream moulds. The good ones can now cost hundreds of pounds. They are much sought after by serious collectors.

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Antiquarian category
ref number: 11146

Marshall   Agnes Bertha     - with the four coloured plates.
THE BOOK OF ICES.
[FOURTEENTH THOUSAND.] INCLUDING CREAM AND WATER ICES, SORBETS, MOUSSES, ICED SOUFFLES, AND VARIOUS ICED DISHES, WITH NAMES IN FRENCH AND ENGLISH, AND VARIOUS COLOURED DESIGNES FOR ICES. BY A.B. MARSHALL. (Copyright.) REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION. London: MARSHALL’S SCHOOL OF COOKERY, 32, MORTIMER STREET. SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., LIMITED, 4, STATIONERS’-HALL, COURT. [Price Half-a-Crown nett.]
180 x 120mm. n/d. Front paste-down and end-paper with lovely advertisements. Half-title. On verso advertisement for all Marshall’s books. [1] Frontispiece – one of the four coloured plates. Title page with tissue guard. [1] (1)vi-vii Contents. [1] (1)2-52. (1)54-76 Advertisements featuring wonderful illustrated drawings of Marshall’s ice-moulds, ice-pots and machines. (1)78-79 Index. On verso advertisement for all Marshall’s dry goods. [1] End-paper and paste-down with lovely advertisements. Original bright blue cloth cover with blind tolled lines and bright gilt writing. Internally very clean with the four coloured plates with tissue guards. A lovely copy of this very scarce much sought after thin volume. Earlier copies were published without the plates and had limited advertisements.
- Mrs. Agnes Bertha Marshall (born Walthamstow, Essex 1855 – died Brighton 1905) was a celebrity cook similar to today's television stars who hold cookery demonstrations and write books. Had there been television in her day, Mrs. Marshall would have without question, been a cookery pundit on the small screen. She was very well informed and always keen to adopt new technology. Agnes Marshall wrote four books: ‘The Book of Ices’ 1885; ‘Mrs. A.B. Marshall's Book of Cookery’ 1888; ‘Mrs. A.B. Marshall's Larger Cookery Book of Extra Recipes’ 1891; ‘Fancy Ices’ 1894; These are considered to be some of the finest books of their type ever written, especially those on ices, of which Mrs. Marshall was the Queen. Her recipes are clear, accurate, and well illustrated. She was very industrious, owning and running a domestic staff agency business, selling domestic and cooking equipment, and running a successful school of cookery in Welbeck St, London. She campaigned vigorously for better standards of food hygiene. Agnes toured extensively, lecturing and demonstrating her techniques to huge audiences. She even took her lectures to the United States in the summer of 1888. Two years earlier in 1886 she had started a magazine called "The Table". Mrs. Marshall can be credited with the invention of the ice cream edible cone, mentioned in her 1888 cookery book, the recipe being "cornets with cream". This predates American claims to the invention in 1904. There are no known earlier references to the edible ice cream cone, which nowadays we all take for granted. Her books stimulated demand for imported Norwegian ice, which was supplied from the building that is now the London Canal Museum. An exhibition at Syon House (1998) and at London Canal Museum (1999) told the story of her amazing life. Marshall has been neglected by historians, and is not famous today, unlike Mrs. Beeton, whose work benefited from commercial promotion long after her death. In contrast Mrs. Marshall's family did not make a long-term success of her business. Sadly, Agnes Marshall’s life ended too early. She died at age of forty nine recovering from injuries sustained from a riding accident. Marshall’s newspaper, company, and school survived her well into the twentieth century and her influence and opinions endured even longer.

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Antiquarian category
ref number: 11135

Gouffe.   Jules     - A compliment to Gouffe's Royal Cookey Book
THE BOOK OF PRESERVES
(LE LIVRE DE CONSERVES) CONTAINING INSTRUCTIONS FOR PRESERVING MEAT, FISH, VEGETABLES, AND FRUIT AND FOR THE PREPARATION OF TERRINES, GALATINES, LIQUERS, SYRUPS, PETITS-FOURS, &C. BY JULES GOUFFE CHEF OF THE PARIS JOCKEY CLUB; AUTHOR OF 'THE ROYAL COOKERY BOOK' TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY ALPHONSE GOUFFE HEAD PASTRYCOOK TO HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN Illustrated with 34 Woodcuts LONDON SAMPSON LOW, SON, AND MARSTON CROWN BUILDING, 188 FLEET STREET 1871 (All rights resrved)
FIRST AND SOLE EDITION. 224 X 146 mm. 3feps. [1] Frontispiece portrait of Jules Gouffe. Title page. [1] 1+vi Preface. 1+vii Contents. 1+2-322. 1+324-333. [1] Index to Woodcuts. [1] 3feps. Beautiful modern binding in half dark calf and corners with marbled boards. Spine with raised bands with elaborate gilt and blind tooling, a red and a green label with gilt lettering. Gilt edges to the text block. Externally and internally very clean. A wonderfully handsome copy.
- This book is very scarce and uncommon. Originally published in French under the title 'Le Livre des Conserves' Paris. 1869. Gouffe states in the preface that "The present volume lays no claim to being a complete Cookery book: it is rather the continuation or complement of the one I recently published under the name of the 'Livre de Cuisine' Paris. 1867." (The Royal Cookery Book. First edition in English published London. 1871) Gouffe also published another complimentary book, titled 'The Royal Book of Pastry and Confectionary' London. 1874. (see the previous item #11040). This book has some nice woodcut illustrations throughout the text but none of the wonderful coloured chromo-lithograph plates of the other two books. Contrary to Gouffe's own admission it appears quite complete.

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Antiquarian category
ref number: 11041

Bradley.   Mrs Martha.     - Sole edition.
THE BRITISH HOUSEWIFE
Volume 1. - OR, THE COOK, HOUSEKEEPER’s AND GARDINER’S COMPANION. CALCULATED FOR THE Service both of London and the Country; And directing what is necessary to be done in the Providing for, Conducting, and Managing a Family throughout the Year, CONTAINING A general Account of fresh Provisions of all Kinds, Of the several Articles for the Table, pickled, or otherwise preserved; and the different Kinds of Spices, Salts, Sugars, and other Ingredients used in Pickling and Preserving at Home; Shew-ing what each is, whence it was bought, and what are its Qualities and Uses. Together with the Nature of all Kinds of Foods, and the Methos of suiting them to different CONSTITUTIONS; A Bill of Fare for each Month, the Art of Marketing and choosing fresh Provisions of all Kinds; and the making as well as chusing of Hams, Tongues, and other Store Dishes. Also Directions for plain Roasting and Boiling; and for the Dressing of all Sorts of Made Dishes in various Tastes; and the preparing the Desert in all its Articles. Containing a great Variety than was ever before publish’d, of the most Elegant, yet the least Expensive Receipts in COOKERY, PASRTRY, PUDDINGS, PRESERVES, PICKELS, FRICASSES,RAGOUTS, SOUPS, SAUCES, JELLIES, TARTS, CAKES, CREAMS, CUSTARDS, CANDIES, DRY’D FUITS, SWEETMEATS, MADE WINES, CORDIALS, and DISTILLARY. To which is annexed, The Art of Carving; and the Terms used for cutting up various Things; and the polite and easy Manner of doing the Honours of the Table: The Whole Prac-tice of Pickling and Preserving: And of preparing made Wines, Beer, Cyder.As also of distilling all the useful Kinds of Cordial and Simple Waters. With the Conduct of a Family in Respect of Health; the Disorders to which they are every Month liable, and the most approved Remedies for each. And a Variety of other valuable Particulars, necessary to known in All Families; and nothing inserted but what has been approved by EXERIENCE. Also the Ordering of all Kinds of profitable Beats and Fowls, With respect their Choice, their Breeding and Feeding; the Diseases to which they are severally laible each Month, and Receipts for their Cure. Together with the Management of the pleasant, profitable, and useful Garden. THE WHOLE Embellished with a great Number of curious COPPER PLATES, shewing the Manner of Trussing of all Kinds of Game, wild and tame Fowls, &c. as also the Order of setting out Tables for Dinners, Suppers, and Great Entertainments, in the Method never before attempted; and by which even those who cannot read will be able to instruct themselves. ( a line) Mrs MARTHA BRADLEY, late of BATH; Being the result of upwards of Thirty Years Experience. (a line) The whole (which is deduc’d form Practice) compleating the careful Reader, from the highest to the lowest Degree, in every Article of English Housewifery. LONDON: Printed for S. Crowder and H. Woodgate, at the Golden Ball in Paternoster Row. Circa1756. -- Volume 2. - THE BRITISH HOUSEWIFE OR, THE COOK, HOUSEKEEPER’s AND GARDINER’S COMPANION. CALCULATED FOR THE Service both of London and the Country; And directing what is necessary to be done in the Providing for, Conducting, and Managing a Family throughout the Year, CONTAINING A general Account of fresh Provisions of all Kinds, Of the several Articles for the Table, pickled, or otherwise preserved; and the different Kinds of Spices, Salts, Sugars, and other Ingredients used in Pickling and Preserving at Home; Shew-ing what each is, whence it was bought, and what are its Qualities and Uses. Together with the Nature of all Kinds of Foods, and the Methods of suiting them to different CONSTITUTIONS; A Bill of Fare for each Month, the Art of Marketing and choosing fresh Provisions of all Kinds; and the making as well as chusing of Hams, Tongues, and other Store Dishes. Also Directions for plain Roasting and Boiling; and for the Dressing of all Sorts of Made Dishes in various Tastes; and the preparing the Desert in all its Articles. Containing a great Variety than was ever before publish’d, of the most Elegant, yet the least Expensive Receipts in COOKERY, PASRTRY, PUDDINGS, PRESERVES, PICKELS, FRICASSES,RAGOUTS, SOUPS, SAUCES, JELLIES, TARTS, CAKES, CREAMS, CUSTARDS, CANDIES, DRY’D FUITS, SWEETMEATS, MADE WINES, CORDIALS, and DISTILLARY. To which is annexed, The Art of Carving; and the Terms used for cutting up various Things; and the polite and easy Manner of doing the Honours of the Table: The Whole Prac-tice of Pickling and Preserving: And of preparing made Wines, Beer, Cyder.As also of distilling all the useful Kinds of Cordial and Simple Waters. With the Conduct of a Family in Respect of Health; the Disorders to which they are every Month liable, and the most approved Remedies for each. And a Variety of other valuable Particulars, necessary to known in All Families; and nothing inserted but what has been approved by EXERIENCE. Also the Ordering of all Kinds of profitable Beats and Fowls, With respect their Choice, their Breeding and Feeding; the Diseases to which they are severally laible each Month, and Receipts for their Cure. Together with the Management of the pleasant, profitable, and useful Garden. THE WHOLE Embellished with a great Number of curious COPPER PLATES, shewing the Manner of Trussing of all Kinds of Game, wild and tame Fowls, &c. as also the Order of setting out Tables for Dinners, Suppers, and Great Entertainments, in the Method never before attempted; and by which even those who cannot read will be able to instruct themselves. (a line) Mrs MARTHA BRADLEY, late of BATH; Being the result of upwards of Thirty Years Experience. (a line) VOL.II. (a line) The whole (which is deduc’d from Practice) compleating the careful Reader, from the highest to the lowest Degree, in every Article of English Housewifery. LONDON: Printed for S. Crowder and H. Woodgate, at the Golden Ball in Paternoster Row. Circa1756.
FIRST and SOLE EDITION in book form. 8vo. Two volumes. Vol. I – 2feps. [1] Frontispiece of a kitchen declaring – Frontispiece of the Compleat English Cook. Title page. [1] 3-752. 5 Ornately engraved plates. 2 feps. -- Vol. II. 2 feps with ink inscription ‘M. Bache Wyken 1794.’ Title page. [1] 1-469. Contents to the First Volume (ix). Index for the First Volume (xii). Contents to the Second Volume (v). Index for the second volume (vii). 7 plates depicting settings for various dinners and a wedding and one for trussing. 2 feps. The five plates bound in Volume I are duplicated plus two others in Volume II. Both volumes in full original calf, slightly worn with nice patina and with repairs and neatly re-backed in the old style with raised bands and red morocco labels. Some wear and damp staining to both volumes, small amount of worming to bottom margin of Volume I and title page of Volume 11 cropped on the bottom but text still visible. Mainly the contents are clean and tight. A nice set. For a fuller account of the dating of this work see Gilly Lehmann's introduction to the facsimile edition published by Prospect Books, 1996, see also Cagle 401-2.
- MacLean located an advertisement in ‘Scots Magazine’, January 1756 announcing the “British Housewife, No 1, To be continued weekly, 3d. Crowder.” While no copy has survived unbound in parts, part numbers 1-XLI are designated in the signatures. If the weekly schedule was maintained, publication would have been completed late in 1756. [Cagle p 402] Martha Bradley’s directions and style is straightforward and factual. She writes well. She endeavours to help the cook and housewife better than had previously been attempted. There are no glossy photographs to beguile the reader, however there are handsome etched plates showing how to set a fine table. Today, the abundance available to us all year round makes us forget the limits of that times and what the seasons allowed. For example, a winter table for twelve persons could have seven dishes placed on the table. February and March became the months when pickled and preserved foods provided the only variety. Then spring was the time to sow seasonal crops for future bounty. One of the etched plates shows an abundant table in July; the first course has seven plates laid out simultaneously and the second course another ten different dishes. An ostentatious display and one wonders what family and household’s position in society is the norm for a dinner like this. Gastronomically, seasons do not affect us anymore. Today our menus can include anytime, a plethora of tropical fruits, fresh vegetables, fish and meats, flown in bi-weekly from all over the globe. As the title states, Bradley’s instructions for the running of the household from the marketing and providing of the kitchen month by month, the garden, the still-room, the brewery, the stables, the disorders of many types of animals and their remedies etc. It is clear that the author wrote the recipes from her experience in the kitchen and she is absolutely clear and firm that they should be carried out as laid down by her instructions. She is adamant that vegetables should not be over boiled, there are strict rules on the poaching of eggs: 'This is the true way ... our People all mistake it, they let the Eggs boil.... Although little is known about her other than she is believed to have been a professional cook,with 'thirty years experience' (as stated on her title page) Bradley favoured the newest French cooking style of the 1730’s which featured light, clean flavours, but was not above preferring a ‘plain’ English recipe if she felt it was better. She borrowed heavily from other cookbooks but always improved the recipes in some way, often providing insightful comments and offering balanced appraisals of the merits of one dish versus another. A very desirable set that stands out in any collection.

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Information

Antiquarian category
ref number: 11202

Frewin.   Leslie [Editor]     - With a Cafe Royal Christmas menu.
The Cafe Royal Story
A Living Legend EDITED BY Leslie Frewin WITH A FOREWARD BY Graham Greene LONDON: HUTCHINSON BENHAM.
FIRST EDITION. 1963. Large 4to. Paste-down and end-paper with sepia photograph. [1] Half title. [2] Frontispiece copy of a Charles Ginner painting of the Cafe Royal. Title page in black with a large ornamental decoration in red. Verso with printers info. 1p Introduction. [1] 2p Contents. 9-10 Paste-down and end-paper with sepia photograph. With numerous photographs and illustrations in-text, some full page. Fully bound in cream cloth. Spine with red writing and boards with fine illustration in red and black. All in excellent condition; as new, protected by a plastic wrapper. Also enclosed is a Christmas Luncheon menu for December 11th 1964, for 'The Horticultural Press Club'. Cream coloured with black text, in fine condition.
- The Cafe Royal, established in 1865, boasted its famously opulent Grill Room, considered one of London's finest dining rooms; the great Empire and Napoleon suite, elegantly lit by chandeliers made of Venetian glass, was favoured by those looking for a memorable party venue. For more than a century after it was built on Regent Street by a Parisian wine merchant, the rich and famous would flock there to eat, drink, dance and be merry. The Grill Room was also once its most notorious. It was there that the Marquess of Queensberry spotted his son, Lord Alfred Douglas (aka Bosie), lunching with Oscar Wilde "in the most loathsome and disgusting relationship". He later wrote a furious letter to his son, threatening to shoot Wilde on sight, to which Bosie insouciantly telegrammed back: "What a funny little man you are." The Café Royal was a favourite haunt of Wilde, who had a famous absinthe hallucination there when he thought the waiter, who was stacking chairs, was in fact watering the floor, covered in tulips, with a watering can. Other famous Patrons included Rudyard Kipling, Noel Coward, Sir Winston Churchill, Cary Grant, Brigitte Bardot, Elizabeth Taylor, Vitrginia Woolf, Mick Jagger, Princess Diana, Margaret Thatcher and Muhammad Ali. On 2oth January 2009, the curtains came down, literally, in the Café Royal. After 143 illustrious years, the fixtures, fittings and all the equipment of this venerable London institution was being put under the hammer of Bonhams the Auctioneers, after the Crown Estate decided to redevelop the site at that end of Regent Street. Had it spent its life almost anywhere else, the slightly battered silver serving trolley with the fickle steering would have barely raised an eyebrow in the dining room, let alone a flurry of paddles in an auction house. But this piece of functional furniture has had an extraordinary history. Amazingly, the electroplated trolley sold for £12,000 in the Everything-Must-Go sale. By the end of the two-hour auction, more than £200,000 had been raised. All 110 lots had been sold, some for as much as 10 times their asking price. An early 20th century Venetian chandelier adorned with 20 lights was the most expensive lot, going for £15,600, twice its guide price. Lot 93, a pair of late 19th century oak coopered barrels long drained of the alcohol they once contained, went for £8,400, almost five times their estimate. A number of pictures by artists so undistinguished their names weren't even listed in Bonhams' brochure sold for thousands of pounds – purely, it seemed, because they depicted scenes from the Cafe Royal, and had once hung in the venue's famously opulent chambers. One, a scene of the grill room filled with men in top hats and tails, sold for £4,800, despite Bonhams estimating its value at between £200 and £300. One buyer who bid purely for sentimental reasons was Susan Hughes, an antique dealer from Weybridge, who snapped up one of the auction's most curious lots. She ended up paying £4,200 for what the brochure, giving a guide price of £100-£200, described as "a 19th century electroplated duck press". It was in fact the press for ‘Canard a’la Presse’ – for more than a century the celebrated speciality of Paris’s grandest restaurant, La Tour d’Argent. This niche piece of equipment, which resembled a large grapefruit press, is used to squeeze out the juices of a freshly killed and roasted duck carcass, which in turn are used to thicken the duck jus. Hughes's father, Eric Hartwell (see image #3 below) was chief executive of the Forte catering and hotel empire, which bought the Cafe Royal 1954. "I spent much of my childhood playing in the Cafe Royal, and my father was very proud of the duck press," she said. As her husband loaded the contraption into the back of their car, he admitted that though the couple were delighted to own this piece of history, they wouldn't be using it. "We're both vegetarians," he said. So that is the final chapter that should be in the book. Overall it is a fascinating story of a grand eating establishment that was on a par with The Savoy, Claridges, The Ritz et al. One will never see the same again. This interesting volume is a meal, a fine wine and a waltz thro’ a different age with a hearty dose of gossip thrown in to round of a memorable time.

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