CAIRD.   JOHN     - Caird's progresssive cookery book.
THE COMPLETE CONFECTIONER and FAMILY COOK;
including MANY VALUABLE RECEIPTS, and ample directions for MARKETING, TRUSSING CARVING, &C. the whole being the result of MANY YEARS EXPERIENCE. (a double horizontal line) By J. CAIRD. (a double horizontal line) Illustrated with copperplates and woodcuts. Edinburgh: PRINTED FOR JOHN ANDERSON; AND SOLD BY LONGMAN, HURST, REES, & ORMEE, LONDON and WOGAN & CUMMING, DUBLIN. 1809.
FIRST EDITION: Octavo. 204mm x 120mm. 2 feps. [1] Engraved frontispiece on verso. Tittle page. Verso printer's details. (1)iv-vi Preface. (1)2-445. (1)447-454 Index. 2feps. Text block slightly dusted with original rough paper edges. Some pages have light foxing. Overall in good condition. 7 engraved plates. in-text illustrations. 1/4 size brown leather spine with gilt text and lines. Original paper boards with nice dark brown patina.
- In the Preface, Caird informs that the book is in three parts; the first is Confectionary, the second to Pastry, Baking and Pickling and the third relates to Cookery. It includes many recipes for still popular Scottish sweets, oat cakes, bannocks, shortbread, barley sugar, apple dumplings, and apple fritters, as well as recipes such as macaroni and cheese. John Caird was a grocer and confectioner based in Edinburgh, known for his internationally imported fruits and spices. This work is notable for containing the first known recipe for marmalade ice cream. Also, Caird shows his professionalism by having a separate and precise ingredient list attached to recipess, albeit in large quantities, which no doubt reflects his shop production rather than being geared just for the housewife. A good copy of a very scarce book.

click on image to enlarge
Information

Antiquarian category
ref number: 11104

Jenks.   James     Rare first edition of an uncommon book.
The Complete Cook:
TEACHING THE Art of Cookery In All Its Branches; And To Spread A TABLE, In A Useful, Substantial And Splendid Manner, At All Seasons In The Year. With Practical instructions To Choose, Buy, Dress and Carve all Sorts of PROVISIONS. Far exceeding any Thing of the Kind yet Published. CONTAINING The greatest Variety of Aproved Receipts in COOKERY, PASTRY, CONFECTIONARY (a perpendicular double line) PRESEERVING, PICKLING, COLLARING &cc. AND Dishes for Lent and Fast-Days. A Variety of Made Dishes. And to Dress both the Real and Mock TURTLE. With an APPENDIX Teaching the Art of Making WINE, MEAD, CYDER, SHRUB, STRONG, CORDIAL and MEDICINE WATERS. Brewing Malt Liquors. The Management and Breeding of Poultry and Bees AND RECEIPTS for Preserving and Restoring Health and Relieving Pain, and for Taking out Stains, Preserving Furniture, Cleaning Plate &c. (a single line) The Use of Families. (a single line) By JAMES JENKS, Cook. (a single line) LONDON: Printed for E, and C. DILLY in the Poultry. MDCLXV111.
FIRST EDITION. 1768. Duodecimo. 166 x 98 mm. 1 fep. Title page. (1)iv-x Introduction. (1)xii-xx Contents. (1)2-5 Market Tables. [1] (1)8-314. (1)316-364 Appendix. 1fep. Recent tan half calf, marbled paper boards, black morocco label to spine. Partially erased contemporary ownership inscription to the verso of the title page. Book stamp of I. A. Farrer on p.314. Text block a little shaken but sound, edges and tips occasionally nicked. Rubbing to extremities. Some slight foxing to contents, spot of grease to upper margin of a couple of leaves of gathering L, upper margin quite closely trimmed; a good copy of an oft-handled book.
- The rare first edition of this practical book of recipes and domestic management. As with many cookbooks of the period this work combines traditional English recipes with French cuisine dishes replicated "in the French manner", as well as introducing more exotic dishes, such as "Turtle the West-Indian way" (p. 117). The work also contains medicinal recipes, a number of which are accompanied by the instruction that they must be taken "at the changes of the moon" for full efficacy. Also in the appendix it has an unusual guide for keeping bees. Showing signs on page 204 of a previous owner's practical use of this copy, they have in the recipe for "A Poor Man's Pudding", highlighted the ingredients "nutmeg grated" and "some rose water or sack" by neatly drawing a line through them in ink: Thereby making sure this really is a poor man's dish. This edition is uncommon institutionally and in public, with just six copies traced in the UK, and seven copies appearing at auction. Bitting 245; Cagle 780; A. W. Oxford, English Cookery Books to the year 1850, p. 97-8.

click on image to enlarge
Information

category
ref number: 11291

Anon.       - No other recorded complete copies. Extemely rare.
The Complete Housewifes Best Companion
CONTAINING I. A number of the most common and useful Receipts in Cookery, with the manner of trussing Poultry, Rabbits, Hares etc. illustrated with CURIOUS CUTS, showing how each is to be trussed. II. The best Receipts for all kinds of Pastry, Pickling etc. with some general Rules to be observed therein. III. Directions for making all sorts of English Wines, Shrub, Vinegar, Verjuice, Catchup, Sauces, Soups, Jellies etc. IV. A Table to cast up Expenses by the Day, Week, Month, or Year. GAINSBOROUGH: PRINTED AND SOLD BY H.MOZLEY. 1808. PRICE SIXPENCE.
FIRST EDITION. 12mo. Frontispiece of Complete Housewife. Title Page. 2pp. General hints and a Table. (5-84) including several engraved woodcuts of trussing. The text is lightly and evenly browned throughout. Fully bound in modern light brown calf. Spine with gilt lines, red label with gilt lettering and raised bands. A nice copy.
- Not recorded in any of the Bibliographies or Libraries. Only one other known copy in a private collection, which has a missing frontispiece. A very unusual but interesting cookery book. Nicely set out, with unusually, the receipts for Pastry and Jellies in the beginning before Cookery. The lovely woodcuts for trussing are nicely laid out within the text. Not in MacLean, Bitting, Cagle, Hazlitt nor Oxford. Copac and the BL do not have any copies either. Extremely rare in this complete state.

click on image to enlarge
Information

Antiquarian category
ref number: 10954

Carter.   Charles     Carter's monumental work.
The Complete Practical COOK
Or, A NEW SYSTEM Of the Whole Art and Mystery of COOKERY. Being a Select Collection od Above Five Hundred RECIPES for Dressing, after the most Curious and Elegant Manner (as well FOREIGN as ENGLISH) all Kinds of Flesh, Fish, fowl, &c. [a single thin line] FITTED FOR ALL OCASIONS: But more especially for the most Grand and Sumptuous Entertainments. [a single thin line] [a single thin line] Adorned with Sixty curious Copper Plates; Exhibiting the full Seasons of the Year, and Tables proper for Every Month; As also Variety of large Ovals and Rounds, and Ambogues and Square Tables for Coronation-Feasts, Instalments, &c. [a single thin line] The Whole intirely [sic] New; And none of the RECIPES ever published in any Treatise of this Kind. . [a single thin line] Approved by divers of the Prime Nobility; And by several Masters of the Art and Mystery of Cookery. [a single thin line] By CHARLES CARTER, Lately cook to his Grace the Duke of Argyll, the Earl of Pontefract, the Lord Cornwallis, &c. . [a single thin line] LONDON: Printed for W. Meadows, in Cornhill; C. Rivington, in St. Paul's Church-Yard; and R. Hett, in the Poultry. M.DCC.XXX.
FIRST AND SOLE EDITION. 4to. 255 x 202 mm.2 feps. Title page, printed in red and black. [1] Dedication page. [1] 10 pages To the Reader. [1] (1)2-208. 209 - 212 Terms of Art. (1)214 - 224 The Contents. 60 engraved plates, 3 folding. Spectacular fold-out contains dishes for King George II Coronation dinner. Some foxing to edges, but otherwise nice and clean. The edges of the text block nicely speckled. Full tan calf with spine and boards tooled in gilt. Spine with raised bands and red morocco label in gilt. Rebound by Chris Lewis of Bath, formerly a binder at Bayntun-Riviere. From the estate of Dan Samuel, 4th Viscount Samuel (1925-2014), grandson of Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel, High Commissioner of Palestine (1920-1925). A very good copy.
- Sam Bilton wrote online, the following article about Charles Carter and his book; The Complete Practical Cook. Her acute observations are worth re-printing here in their entirety: " Long before chefs began coveting stars, their reputations were built on the social standing of their patron. The bigger the ‘nob’ you worked for, the more prestige your position as a chef held in the 18th century. Charles Carter’s patrons included the Duke of Argyll, General Wood and several lords. He had the advantage of having worked in several European countries where he had been exposed to a wider variety of flavours (like garlic) than many of his English counterparts. He was very proud of his achievements and doesn’t shy away from telling the reader so in the introduction. Despite his lack of modesty, a lot of what Carter says still holds true today. He believes cookery is an art and that good cooks should be rewarded for their skill. He is highly critical of unscrupulous cooks who pass off the work of others as their own. He even starts the book by extolling the virtues of a good stock, a maxim which is as true now as it was in the 18th century. The recipes are very much of their time, with many meat-based dishes beloved by his wealthy benefactors. Nose to tail eating was definitely the order of the day. The recipe for 'Olio Podred'a (a type of Spanish stew) contains 11 breeds of bird including pheasants, ducks and larks plus beef, pork, veal and mutton, not to mention hogs ears, trotters, sausages and ham. The dish is served with a ragout of pallets, sweetbreads, lamb stones, cockscombs and a hefty dose of truffles. You get the meat sweats just by reading the recipe. A few recipes, like 'To Pot Otter' ', Badger or Young Bea'r, are decidedly odd and are likely to offend some 21st century sensibilities. However, others like 'Buttered Crab' ' Eggs à la Switz' (a spiced-up version of eggs florentine), 'Pike Babacu’d' or 'Beef la Tremblour' (slow cooked rump or sirloin, till it is so tender that it will tremble or shake like a quaking pudding) sound reassuringly familiar once you get past the archaic language. Some like 'Tamarind Tort' or 'Caraway Cakes' are crying out to be rediscovered by a modern audience. Unlike modern cookery books there is no strict division between savoury and sweet dishes reflecting the way meals were served 'à la francaise'. Carter even provides a large number of diagrams at the back of the book with suggestions for different dinners according to the season or occasion. (One of the folding plates measures a whopping 500mm long. See image #6 below) Clearly for the 21st century cook, this is far from a practical book. The recipes are designed to cater for large households so inevitably require scaling down. Some of the ingredients he uses, like 'eringo roots' (candied sea holly roots) or 'ambergris' (whale vomit) are difficult to come by or are best avoided. Carter claims this book will make cooks more inventive and a certain degree of ingenuity is required to make these recipes work today. If you have any interest in England’s culinary heritage it’s worth persevering with The Complete Practical Cook if for no other reason than to prevent it from being forgotten". [From the 'Cookbook Review' blog online]. Oxford p.61. Cagle p.592. Bitting p.77. Axford p.75. MacLean p.23.

click on image to enlarge
Information

Antiquarian category
ref number: 10981

Skuse.   E.     As new. In fantastic condition.
THE CONFECTIONERS' HAND-BOOK AND PRACTICAL GUIDE
TO THE ART OF SUGAR BOILING In all its branches. The Manufacture of Creams, Fondants, Liqueurs, Pastilles, Julubes (Gelatine and Gums), Comfits, Lozenges (Plain and Medicated), Chocolate Creams, Drops, Bars &c,: American Caramels, Ice Creams and Moulded Ices of every description; JAMS, JELLIES AND MARMALADES (BY FIRE AND STEAM). Preserved and crystalised Fruits, Candied Peel, ENGLISH AND SCOTCH PASTRY, Cordials and Syrups for American Hot & Iced Beverages. AERATED WATERS Of every description, by Hand and Machine, for Bottle, Syphon, or Fountain, Ginger Beer, Horehound, and other Fermented Beers. (a large square etching of E. Skuse with a thermometer and a steam comfit pan). The Recipes are accompanied with full and clear instructions in every branch. Every information about Colours and Flavours; the best to use and how to make them. Useful notes on Machinery for every purpose, and About One Hundred Illustrations. (a double line) PUBLISHED BY E. SKUSE, 30 PRAED, STREET, LONDON, W.; SIMOKIN, MARSHALL & Co., STATIONERS' HALL COURT; HAMILTON, ADAMS & C., PATERNOSTER ROW. [Copyright. Fourth Edition.] Price 7s. 6d.; Postage 4d.]
220x145 mm. n/d circa 1883 (taken from adverts) 1fep. Ornate Title page. [1] Introduction 1p. Contents (1)v- viii. (1)2 - 184. E. Skuse's Advertisements 22p. 1fep. Original publisher's dark brown full cloth binding. With ornate impressed blind black tooling. With gold text on the front cover and spine. In fantastic condition; as new.
- This appears to be the earlier different title to Skuse's 'Complete Confectioner' published 1890. This copy of 'The Confectioner's Hand-Book' is too similar to deny. E. Skuse calls his business in Praed St. Paddington, London a 'Manufacturing Confectioner'. In his Price List, July 1883 he lists many pages for sale, of herbs, spices, chemicals etc to make the recipes in the book. Also listed are the sweets available and possible to have shipped free in London to any stations or ports. The advertising pages dedicated to all the modern machines needed for the serious manufacturing confectioner is interesting and amazing. As promised in the title page there are approx. 100 illustrations of equipment in the book. It's a fine and handsome copy of a very under-rated book.

click on image to enlarge
Information

Antiquarian category
ref number: 11295

Read.   George    
THE CONFECTIONER’S AND PASTRY-COOK’S GUIDE:
OR, CONFECTIONERY MADE EASY: CONTAINING THE MOST APPROVED RECEIPTS FOR MAKING ALL KINDS OF PASTRY, PATTIES, TARTS, PIES, PUDDINGS, JELLIES, BLANC-MANGER, ICE AND OTHER CREAMS. WITH DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING BRIDE CAKE, ROUT CAKES, BUNS, TEA CAKES, ETC. THE BEST METHODS OF PRESERVING FRUIT; ART OF SUGAR-BOILING; &c. &c. BY GEORGE READ, PRACTICAL CONFECTIONER AND PASTRY-COOK. TO WHICH ARE ADDED PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR FAMILY BREAD BAKING, FOURTEENTH EDITION, REVISED AND IMPROVED, WITH MANY IMPORTANT ADDITIONS. LONDON: DEAN & SON, St. Dunstan’s Buildings, St. Dunstan’s Court, 160A, Fleet Street. Price One Shilling and Sixpence.
n/d circa 1850. 180 x 120mm. 1fep. Title page lightly browned. [1] (1)iv Preface. (1)6-93. (1)95-98 Index. 1fep. Original full wine red embossed, blind tooled cloth cover with quite bright gilt lettering on the front cover. Binding split inside, but holding well. In very good overall condition. An uncommon book.
- Nothing can be learned about George Read online, or in this book. In the preface he directs the reader’s attention to professionals and professional practices. Cagle p688 has a first edition of 1842 of Read’s other book ‘The Confectioner’. Bitting p389 has an un-dated fifth edition of this book with 94 pages. Confusingly Oxford cites ‘The Pastry-cook’s and Confectioner’s Assistant’ of 1842. He goes on to inform us that the 6th edition is called ‘The Confectioner’s and Pastry-Cook’s Guide’. All complete editions are scarce.

click on image to enlarge
Information

Antiquarian category
ref number: 11138

Nott.   John     - With the bookplate of 'Steuart of Allanton' one of the oldest Scottish families
The Cook and Confectioner DICTIONARY:
Or, the Accomplish’d Housewife’s Companion. CONTAINING, 1. The Choicest Receipts in all the several Branches of Cookery; or the best and newest Ways of dressing all sorts of Flesh, Fish, Fowl, &c. for a Common or Noble Table; with their proper Garniture and Sauces. 11. The best way of making Bisks, Farces, forc’d Meats, Marinades, Olio’s Puptons, Ragoos, Sauces, Soops, Potages, &c. according to the English, French and Italian Courts. 111. All manner of Pastry-workss, as Biskets, Cakes, Cheese-cakes, Custards, Pastes, Patties, Puddings, Pyes, Tarts, &c. 1V. The various Branches of Confectionary; as Candying, Conserving, Preserving, and Drying all sorts of Flowers, Fruits, Roots, &c. Also Jellies, Composts, Marmalades, and Sugar-works. V. The way of making all English potable Liquors; Ale, Beer, Cider, Mead, Metheglin, Mum, Perry, and all sorts of Eng-lish Wines; Also Cordials, and Beautifying Waters. V1. Directions for ordering an Entertainment, or Bills of Fare for all Seasons of the Year; and setting out a Desert of Sweeet-meats to the best Advantage: With an Explanation of the Terms us’d in Carving. According to the Practice of the most celebrated Cooks, Confectioners, &c. in the Courts of England, France, c. and many private and accomplish’d House-wives. The Second Edition with Additions. Revised and Recommended By John Nott, late Cook the Dukes of Somerset, Ormond and Bolton; Lord Landsdown and Ashburnham. LONDON: Printed H.P. for C. Rivington, at the Bible and Crown, in St. Paul’s Church-yard. 1724. [Price six Shillings.]
8vo. 2feps. [1] Frontis-piece by J.Pine. Title page in red and black type. [1] 4p Introduction with printers device at the top. 2p Divertisements in Cookery. No page numbers but by the Alphabet 1+AL-YO. 14p Bills of Fare and Terms for Carving and setting out Dessert. 17p Index. 1p Advertisements. 2feps. Beautiful original two-tone dark tan boards with a modern dark calf spine with rasied bands and blind tooling. With a dark tan label and gilt lettering. A nice tightly bound and clean copy.
- John Nott, Cook to his Grace the Duke of Bolton strikes one in no small measure as being quite eccentric, at least on paper. In his book, the dedication is addressed to ‘all good housewives’ and starts ‘Worthy Dames----‘ He carries on, ‘-----it is unfashionable for a Book to come abroad without an Introduction, as for a Man to appear at Church with-out a Neckcloth, or a Lady without a Hoop-petticoat----‘ further on he states, ‘----of which I am satisfied you are already very sensible, or extol my own Performance; however, I flatter myself it will not, to you, be unacceptable----‘ he further addresses the Ladies, ‘---I have not troubled you with Fucus’s and Paints, for the putting of false Faces upon Nature, because you, my Country Women, for the Generality of you (as is allow’d even by all ingenious Foreigners) stand less in need of artificial Faces (your natural ones being more amiable) than those of your Sex in neighbouring Nations, with all their Paintings and Daubings;-----‘ Nott un-does his own efforts near the end of the dedication by proclaiming, ‘---And, indeed, great Pity were it if this Beneficence of Providence should be marr’d in the ordering, so as justly to merit the Reflection of the old Proverb, that though “God sends us Meat, yet the Devil does Cooks”------.’ I am sure that if English and also foreign Housewifes, as potential customers, had read the Dedication before buying it, the sales of Nott’s book would have taken a severe dip. However in saying all of the above, it is after all, extremely scarce, interesting and well laid out. There are very few copies that come up for sale at auction, bookfairs, in antiquarian bookshops or dealers catalogues.

click on image to enlarge
Information

Antiquarian category
ref number: 11037

Eaton.   Mrs. Mary    
THE COOK AND HOUSEKEEPER'S
COMPLETE AND UNIVERSAL DICTIONARY; INCLUDING A SYSTEM OF MODERN COOKERY, IN ALL ITS VARIOUS BRANCHES, ADAPTED TO THE USE OF PRIVATE FAMILIES: ALSO A VARIETY OF ORIGINAL AND VALUABLE INFORMATION, RELATIVE TO BAKING, BREWING, CARVING,COLLARING, CURING, ECONOMY OF BEES, ----- (ECONOMY) OF A DAIRY, ECONOMY OF POULTRY, FAMILY MEDICINE, GARDENING, HOME-MADE WINES, PICKLING, POTTING, PRESERVING, RULES OF HEALTH, AND EVERY OTHER SUBJECT CONNECTED WITH DOMESTIC COOKERY. BY Mrs. MARY EATON. EMBELLISHED WITH ENGRAVINGS. BUNGAY: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY J. AND R. CHILDS. 1823.
FIRST EDITION 1923. 8VO. 2fep. Half Title. [2] Frontispiece of Mrs Eaton. First engraved title page with 1/2" torn of the top of page (without loss of text) [1] Second Title page. [1] (1)vi-xxxii Introduction. 1-495. [1] 2feps. Full modern dark brown calf with raised bands and gilt box and gilt writing in one compartment. With slight age browning to Frontis. Overall a very nice copy.
- Mrs Eaton appears to be a very confident woman. She states in her introduction; --- "A great number of outlandish articles are intentionally omitted, as well as a farrago of French trifles and French nonsense, in order to render the work truly worthy of the patronage of the genuine English housekeeper. It may also fairly be presumed, that the superior advantages of the present work will immediately be recognized, not only as comprehending at once the whole theory of Domestic Management, but in a form never before attempted, and which of all others is best adapted to facilitate the acquisition of useful knowledge". --- The unique, beautifully engraved title page gives a date of 1822, but clearly the publication was delayed until the next year as the normal printed second title page bears the date 1823. Cagle surmises that the work may have been published in parts which would explain the discrepancy in dates based on the labeling of the signatures, but this is not proven. Oxford is the only bibliographer to mention another edition of 1849, and the compiler is also aware of an 1833 edition. Simon BG 542; Bitting p.139; Oxford, p.152; Cagle 661.

click on image to enlarge
Information

Antiquarian category
ref number: 11073

Dods.   Mistress Margaret    
THE COOK AND HOUSEWIFE'S MANUAL:
A PRACTICAL SYSTEM OF MODERN DOMESTIC COOKERY AND FAMILY MANAGEMENT; CONTAINING A COMPENDIUM, OF FRENCH COOKERY, AND OF FASHIONABLE CONFECTIONARY, PREPARATIONS FOR INVALIDS AND CONVALESCENTS, A SELECTION OF CHEAP DISHES, AND NUMEROUS USEFUL MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS IN THE VARIOUS BRANCHES OF DOMESTIC ECONOMY. By MISTRESS MARGARET DODS, OF THE CLEIKUM INN, ST RONAN'S. Eleventh Edition, Revised. EDINBURGH: OLIVER AND BOYD, TWEEDDALE COURT. LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO. 1862.
186 x 124 mm. Paste-down and end-paper with advertisements. [1] Half title. [1] Title page. [1] 1p Advertisement. [1] (1)8-12 Advertisement. (1)14-15 Contents. [1] (1)18-598. (1)600-624 Index. [1] End-paper and paste-down with advertisements. Numerous woodcuts of carving in the text. Original dark green cloth boards with blind tooling and very slightly bumped tips. Sympathetically relaid original spine with gilt tooling, still in good condition. The bottom line of gilt with minimal flaking. Internally in very good condition. A wonderful copy.
- Mrs. Christina Jane Johnstone brought out her well-known contribution to the cookery section of literature under the title of “The Cook and Housewife’s Manual" (first edition 1926). Hiding her authorship behind the pseudonym of Mistress Margaret Dods, who was the landlady in Sir Walter Scott’s tale of 'St. Ronan’s Well' published three years before in 1824. Mrs. Johnstone imparted a novel feature to her book by investing it with a fictitious history and origin. We learn how Peregrine Touchwood, Esq, the ‘Cleikum Nabob’ sought to cure his ennui and hypochondria by studying Apician mysteries; concluding with a syllabus of thirteen lectures on cookery, which were delivered by the aforesaid Nabob. Progressing further one comes to the main part of the manual, which can be readily distinguished from an ordinary one by a literary tone, which certainly betrays a little of the influence of Scott himself. Although this is a Scottish production, with all the smells and flavours of a good Scotch broth, it is not so narrow in its aims. The title page gives a London publisher as well as one from the ‘Auld Reekie'. Mrs. Johnstone has benevolently adapted her labours to both her countrywomen as well as the un-worthy Sassenachs 'doon sooth'. The Cleikum Inn was a hitherto unnamed cotter’s house belonging to the Benarty estate, which was acquired by Lady Scott in 1825 as a lodge at the west entrance to Lochore estate and thereafter given the name of ‘Cleikum Inn’ by Sir Walter Scott. Mistress Dods was the landlady of the Inn near Peebles which hosted the gatherings of the Cleikum Club. The aim of the club, which counted Sir Walter Scott among its members, was to celebrate Scottish national literature. They certainly were among the first organisations to celebrate a Burns' Night. The mighty Mistress Dods was a superb cook and rigorous task master. Staff and guests trembled before her! We assume her book 'The Cook's and Housewife's Manual' was meant to have the same iconic relationship to Scottish cuisine as that of Mrs Beetons’ households south of the border. Surely Mrs Johnstone’s efforts are echoed in the last paragraph of page 16, where we are reminded not to be so impressed by Mr Touchwood’s eloquence as to lose sight of the fact that this is after all; a cookery book, albeit a little unusual!

click on image to enlarge
Information

Antiquarian category
ref number: 11160

DODS.   MRS MARGARET     - The very rare first edition.
THE COOK AND HOUSEWIFE'S MANUAL;
CONTAINING THE MOST APPROVED MODERN RECEIPTS FOR MAKING SOUPS, GRAVIES, SAUCES, RAGOUTS, AND MADE-DISHES; AND FOR PIES, PUDDINGS, PASTRY, PICKLES, AND PRESERVES: ALSO FOR BAKING, BREWING, MAKING HOME-MADE WINES, CORDIALS, &C. THE WHOLE ILLUSTRATED NOTES, AND PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS, ON ALL THE VARIOUS BRANCHES OF DOMESTIC ECONOMY. BY MRS MARGARET DODS, OF THE CLEIKUM INN, ST RONAN'S. ------"Cook, see all your sawces, Be sharp and poynant in the palate, that they may Commend you; look to your roast meats and baked meats handsomely, And what new kickshaws and delicate made things." Beaumaont and Fletcher. EDINBURGH;PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, AND SOLD BY BELL & BRADFUTE, AND OLIVER & BOYD, EDINBURGH; LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEN, LONDON; ROBERTSON & ATKINSON, GLASGOW; AND JOHN CUMMING, DUBLIN. 1826.
FIRST EDITION: 183 x 121 mm. Grey front paste down and end paper. 2 feps. half-title. [1] Title page. On verso - a stamp of the Mitchel Library Glasgow. 2nd half title - Part 1. [1] (1)8-9 Preface. [1] (1)14-40 Introduction. 41-47 Directions for Carving. 48-62 Scotch National Dishes. 63-75 Bills of Fare. 76-79 Illustrated pages of table settings. [1] 81-82 Suppers. 3rd half title - Part 11. [1] (1)4-352. (1)354-366 Index. 2 feps. Grey back paste down and end paper. Half green morocco with green cloth boards and green morocco tips. Spine sun faded with raised bands with blind tooling. bright gilt lettering laid down, also Mitchel Library, Glasgow code numbers on 2 compartments. The text block is lightly age browned. The half title and last page more age browned and both pages laid down indicating a later binding. Overall a nice copy.
- This first edition is substantially different from later revised editions.

click on image to enlarge
Information

Antiquarian category
ref number: 11190