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Manuscript Receipts - De Capell Brooke Family - a distinguished provenance.
Great Oakley Hall, Northamptonshire.
One 19th Century vellum bound volume.
204x165mm. Marbled paste-downs and end-papers. Loose first page which is a two column index of 73 recipes. First sixty pages are written recipes in black and brown ink in predominately two neat hands in an early Victorian script. 24 pages of tipped-in assorted recipes. 68 blank pages. At the back 22 pages of medicinal recipes. Two recipes are dated, #73, Stewed Rabbit - 1855 Jan. 22nd Oakley. and the last written recipe for Semolina Ghnocchi inscribed Mrs Symond. June 1894, - Internally quite clean, Fully bound in age dusted vellum with a 1 inch brown stain on the front cover. The hinge and guttering are cracked but holding well. Altogether a very interesting document with fine provenance.
- This manuscript recipe book belonged to Catherine De Capell Brooke of Great Oakley Hall, Great Oakley, Northamptonshire. The Hall has been the De Capell Brooke's ancestral home for over five centuries. The Brookes' are perhaps the most ancient family in Northamptonshire still living in their ancestral home. In 1472 William Brooke purchased a manor in the small village of Great Oakley . It is situated approx. 2 miles from Corby and 5 miles from Kettering. Much of Great Oakley has been in ownership of the Brooke Family since then. The present lord of the manor is Hugh de Capell Brooke, who lives with his family in Great Oakley Hall, which was extensively renovated in the 1960s. Although in recent years extensive new housing estates have been built at the top end of the village, a preservation order exists on all trees and stone houses in the village ensuring that some of the character of Great Oakley remains for future generations. Thomas Brooke is believed to have began building Great Oakley Hall in 1555. After the death in 1762 of Wheeler Brooke the estates descended to Mary Supple whose husband took the name of Brooke. Their son, Richard De Capell Brooke, Bart: was made a Baronet in June 20th 1803. His first son, Sir Arthur, the 2nd Baronet was a famous traveller and author. (died 1858). The second son, Sir William De Capell Brooke, Bart: (born 1801) succeeded to his brother's title and estate in 1858. A Barrister at Law, he died in 1897. In 23.4.1829 Sir William married Catherine [nee Watson] De Capell Brooke (born 1802), daughter of Lewis Thomas Watson, the 2nd Lord Sones. It appears Catherine started this cookery manuscript after she got married, and it further appears it was passed on within the family after her death on 24.11.1888. With the last date of 1894 recorded, we may assume it was written and in use from, circa 1829 - 1894. Considering these kind of items are handled fairly often, and used in a relatively hazardous and oily environment it has survived well. It is altogether a handsome and well maintained household book with interesting recipes and advice. Many come up for sale but without clear provenance. The dealer from whom I purchased this item also owned other documents and ephemera from Great Oakley. He also did most of the research on Catherine De Capell Brooke.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11158

Manuscript Recipes; Beautifully Bound.
A Winstanely Family Recipe Book.
- The Winstanley Family of Old Braunston Hall. Leicestershire.
ITEM 1. 128 x 72 x 12mm. n/d. Full red calf. Intricate guilt tooling. Some pages full many blank. the first 4 pages with script, 10 blank, 4 script, 15 blank, 5 script, 11 blank, 9 script, 17 blank and the last page with script. Very clean. ITEM 2. Fourteen pages of manuscript recipes written in a fine script. They are the property of Rosemary Philippa Winstanley. There is one recipe that is titled a cure for Mr Winstanley. There is one recipe that has been posted to Mrs Winstanley, Braunstone House, Leicester. Housed in a marbled cardboard folder. In fine condition.
- This little beautifully bound volume was the property of the Winstanely Family of Old Hall, Braunstone. Rosemary Philippa Winstanely born in 1914 at Braunstan Hall married Robert Poore. Their son Andrew Phillip Poore, born 1951 (A long standing friend of many years) is the one who gave me this book, having previously given me the Winstanley three manuscript recipe books that can be viewed under item # 11157 on this book-site. The book had been in the same lot of Andrew's mother's possessions he received after she passed away on the 6th Oct. 2006 at Brown Edge, West Malvern, Worcestershire. This book is something of a mystery. It has no name nor date. It has recipes of 1-9 pages, entered all in the same fine cursive script, but in five different places, starting at the first page and finishing at the last. Many pages are blank. There are no dates but some recipes are attributed to some names. The gilt tooling on both sides of the binding and spine is intricate, delicate and very appealing which only adds to mystery. What was it originally bound for.? Hard to imagine its sole purpose was always for Kitchen recipes. It's very clean appearance does not support the idea that it spent any time in a kitchen but rather untouched in some forgotten nook somewhere. The Braunston land was purchased by the Winstanley family circa 1651. Old Braunston Hall was built circa 1775. Has this book been around since then.? A mystery. The other manuscript recipes in the marbled folder adds to the mystery, as they appear to be in different hand writing and have been given or sent to Mrs Winstanley. She appears to have been a prudent collector of recipes, and they have all been kept in good condition. Two fine items.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10927

Manuscript Recipes;
Fourteen loose recipes written in various hands.
- The Winstanley Family of Old Braunston Hall. Leicestershire.
n/d. Circa 1770. One of the recipe's appears inside a delivered note with Mrs Winstaley's name on the outside. These fourteen recipes appear to have been given to Mrs Winstanley from friends, as they all have been written in different hands and belonging to different ages. Contained inside a cardboard handmade folder with marbled paper and label. An interesting item.
- To date these manuscripts is quite easy. In 1775 Clement Winstanley 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. As the letter with the one recipe is addressed to Mrs Winstanley, Braunstone House. Leicester, then we can date it sometime before 1775. Exactly when can't be ascertained. The Winstanley's 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. Finally, I came into possession of these recipes when gifted to me by my good friend Andrew Phillip Poore, born 1951. He is the one who previously gave me the Winstanley three manuscript recipe books that can be viewed in this website under item # 11157 and a beautiful small recipe book under item # 10927. Andrew is the son of the late Rosemary Philippa Winstanely, born in 1914 at Braunstan Hall and passed away on the Oct. 6th 2006. These items all came from her late estate.

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Ephemera category

ref number: 11264

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

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10923

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

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

Mason. Charlotte
The Ladys Assistant
For Regulating and Supplying her Table, Being a Complete System Of Cookery Containing One Hundred and Fifty select Bills of Fare, properly disposed for Family Dinners Of Five Dishes, to Courses Of Eleven and Fifteen; With Upwards Of Fifty Bills of Fare for Suppers, from Five Dishes to Nineteen; And Several Deserts: Including Likewise, The fullest and choicest Receipts of various Kinds, With Full Directions for preparing them in the most approved Manner, from which a continual Change may be made, as wanted, in the several Bills of Fare: Published from the Manuscript Collection of Mrs. Charlotte Mason, A professed Housekeeper, who had upwards of Thirty Years Experience in Families of the first fashion. The Third Edition. "The most refin'd understanding and the most exalted sentiments do not place a " woman above the little duties of life." Mrs. Griffith. London; Printed for J. Walter Homer's- Head, Charing- Cross. M.DCC.LXXVII
8vo. 2fep with manuscript signature of Catharine Driffield 1701. Title Page. [1] 2pp. Introduction to First Edition and Adverts to the second edition. [1]+1-123 Bills of fare. [1] 125-428. 429-436 List of seasonal foods. 21pp Index. 1pp Adverts. 2feps. Light tan original calf boards with nice patina. New tan spine with blind and gilt tooling, and gilt lines, and red and green labels with gilt lettering. Minor foxing on last few leaves of index and the end papers. Very clean internally.
- An excellent copy. 123 Bills of fare according to the rules of polite society are the main subject of The Lady’s Assistant: its first 124 pages contain text-only arrangements for between five and nineteen dishes as well as simple cold suppers. The subsequent wealth of recipes, including some relating to New England cooking, are interspersed with pithy information about the resources required by a good cook including an entire section on spices, their origins and uses, and condiments (pp. 290-92). The work closes with lists of seasonal fruit, vegetables and meat for all months of the year, and an extensive index. The Lady’s Assistant was first published in 1773. Little is known about the author, Mrs. Charlotte Mason, whose active period ended with the eighth, i.e. final contemporary edition of this book in ca. 1800: in the subtitle, Mason declares herself ‘a professed housekeeper, who had upwards of thirty years experience in families of the first fashion’, and references her manuscript collection as a source for the material published in this book. The text is preceded by the introduction to the first edition, the ‘Advertisement to the Second Edition’ – which notes that the text has been revised and enlarged, with ‘a full, select, and really useful collection of receipts and amendments, which makes The Lady’s Assistant [...] the most complete book of cookery hitherto extant’ – and the ‘Note to this Edition’, which states that, ‘the continued quick sale of the last corrected edition of this publication [...] ascertains the merits of the book’. ESTC N12254; Maclean, p. 95. Simon, BG 1013.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10910

MASSIALOT. FRANCOIS - With the bookplate of Anton Mosimann
NOUVELLE INSTRUCTION POUR LES CONFITURES,
LES LIQUEURS, ET LES FRUITS; Ou l’on apprend a’ confire toutes; sortes de Fruits, tant secs que liquides; & divers ouvrages de Sucre qui sont du fait des Officiers & Confiseurs; avec la maniere de bien ordonner un Fruit. Suit du Nouveau Cuisinier Royal & Bourgeois, egalement utile aux Maitres d’Hotels & dans les Familles, pour scavoir ce qu’on sert de plus a’la mode dans les Repas. NOUVELLE EDITION. Revue, corrigee, & beaucoup augmentee, Avec de nouveaux Desseins de Tables. (Printer’s device) Du Fonds de Cl. Prudhomme. A PARIS, AUPALAIS, Chez SAUGRAIN Fils, Grand’ Salle, du cote’ de la Cour des Aydes, a’la Providence. M.DCC.XL. AVEC PRIVILEGE DU ROY. (With some Ms. writing not affecting the printed text).
12mo. Marbled paste-down and end-paper. [1] 1fep. Title page. [1] 6pp Preface. 4pp Table des Chapitures. 4pp Approbation. (1)2-518. 36pp Table des Matieres. 6pp Catalogue des Livres. Fep possibly lacking. Marbled paste-down and end-paper. With two folding plates of table settings with sweets displayed. Contemporary full dark brown speckled calf with raised bands and elaborate French gilt tooling in the compartments. With a black label with gilt border and writing. The corners of the boards slightly rubbed. With a nice patina. Internally very clean. A nice copy.
- François Massialot, born in Limoges, 1660, died in Paris, 1733. He was a French chef who served as chef de cuisine (officier de bouche) to various illustrious personages, including Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, the brother of Louis XIV, and his son Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, who was first duc de Chartres then the Regent, as well as the duc d'Aumont, the Cardinal d’Estrées, and the marquis de Louvois. His ‘Nouveau Cuisinier Royal et Bourgeois’ first appeared, anonymously, as a single volume in 1691. His other cookbook, ‘Nouvelle Instruction pour les Confitures, les Liqueurs et les Fruits’ appeared, also anonymously, in 1692, and reprinted several times in the eighteenth century. Massialot describes himself in his preface as "a cook who dares to qualify himself royal",... and it is not without cause, for the meals which he describes..."have all been served at court or in the houses of princes, and of people of the first rank." An innovation in Massialot's book was the alphabetical listing of recipes, a step toward the first culinary dictionary. Meringues make their first appearance under their familiar name with Massialot, who is also credited with Crême Brulée, in which the sugar topping was melted and burnt with a special dedicated red-hot fire iron. Another first with Massialot is two recipes in which chocolate is an ingredient: in a sauce for wigeon and in a sweet custard. Until then, chocolate was consumed solely as a drink. Massialot's works were translated into English as ‘The Court and Country Cook' 1702, and were often reprinted.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11103

Massialot. Francois - The very rare 1st English edition.
THe Court and Country Cook:
GIVING New and Plain Directions How to Order all manner of ENTERTAINMENTS, And the best sort of the Most exquisite a-la-mode Ragoo's Yogether with NEW INSTRUCTIONS FOR CONFECTIONERS: SHEWING How to Preserve all sorts of Fruits, as well dry as liquid: Also, How to make divers Sugar-works, and other fine Pieces of Curiosity; How to set out a Desert, or Banquet of Sweet-meats to the best advantage; And, How to prepare several sorts of Liquors, that are proper for every Season of the Year. A WORK more especially necessary for Stewards, Clerks of the Kitchen, Confectioners, Butlers and other Officers, and also of great use in private Families. Faithfully translated out of French into English by J.K. London: Printed by W.Onley, for A. and J.Churchill, at the Black Swan in Pater-noster-row, and M.Gillyflower in Westminster-hall. 1702.
FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. 12mo. 1fep. Title page with double lined border. [1] 5p Preface. 3p Table of Entertainments. 7p A Table. 14p A General Table. [1] 4p Preface to the Reader. 2p Contents of instructions to Confectioners. 1p Contents of instructions for Liquors. 8p A Table. [1] 8 Engraved plates of set tables. 1-276. 1-130 New Instructions for Confectioners (with 2 in-text engravings on P126 & 128). 1-20 New Instructions for Liquors. 2feps. Original full dark calf boards with fillet design very slightly rubbed on corners. Sympathetically re-backed with dark brown calf, gilt lines with brown label with gilt writing. In good condition with some worming up to the end of the tables. Overall a good copy of the very rare first edition.
- This is a translation into English of Massialot’s two famous books. Firstly his best; 'Nouveau cuisinier royal et bourgeois' first appeared in French, anonymously, as a single volume in 1691, and was expanded to two in 1712, then three volumes in a revised edition of 1733-34. His lesser cookbook, 'Nouvelle instruction pour les confitures', also appeared anonymously in French, in 1692. In an article online by Douglas Muster titled ‘The Origins and History of Meringue’, he informs – “François Massialot, the first chef of Louis XIV (1638 - 1715), published the recipe for a beaten and baked egg white and sugar confection he called meringue in a cook book published in 1692. In his book, Massialot dubs, what he calls “... a little sugar-work, very pretty and very easy ... can be made in a moment ...”. As Massialot’s book was translated and published into English by 1702, strangely, the citation in the Oxford English Dictionary for the first use of the term meringue in English is 1706. Although Massialot’s recipe for a baked beaten egg white and sugar confection was not the earliest, it appears it is embedded firmly in French and English and phonetic variations in other languages; Spain: merengue. Germany: meringe. Italy: meringa” - 8th century. Massialot also had the first printed recipe for Burnt Cream (Creme Brulee). This translation of Massialot's important books is among the scarcest and hardest to find. There are no translated copies recorded in any of the great collections that have come up for auction.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 11120

May. Robert - An important 17th century cookery book
THe Accomplisht Cook,
OR THE Art and Mystery OF COOKERY Wherein the whole ART is revealed in a more easie and perfect Method, than hath been publisht in any language. Expert and ready Ways for the Dressing of all sorts of FLESH, FOWL, and FISH, with variety of SAUCES proper for each of them; and how to raise all manner of Pastes; the best Directions for all sorts of Kickshaws, also the Terms of CARVING and SEWING. An exact of all Dishes for all Seasons of the Year, with other Al-a-Mode Curiosities. The Fourth Edition, with large Additions throughout the whole work: besides two hundred Figures of several Forms for all manner of bak'd Meats, (either Flesh or Fish) as Pyes, Tarts, Custards, Cheesecakes and Florentines, placed in Tables, and directed to the Pages yhey pertain to. Approved by the Fifty Five years Experience and Industry of ROBERT MAY, in his Attendance of several parsons of great Honour. London, Printed for Obadiah Blagrave at the Bear in St. Pauls Church-Yard, near the Little North Door. 1678.
8vo. 1fep. [1] Frontispiece. Title page with single line border. 2pp. The Epistle Dedicatory. 4pp. The Preface. 3pp. Authors Life. 5pp. Triumphs and Trophies. 8pp. Of Carving and Sewing. 6pp. Bills of Fare. 1-461. 10pp. The Table. 1p. Books Printed. 1fep. The four plates are present; 2 have been expertly repaired without loss but with some browning at the folds. Internally very clean with numerous woodcut illustrations in the text. Contemporary full dark brown calf boards with nice patina. Sometime very sympathetically re-backed spine with raised bands, blind tooling and gilt lettering. A very nice copy and extremely scarce in the complete state.
- Other Editions are; 1660 (1st) 1665 (2nd) 1671 (3rd) of which there are 2 imprints. 1678 (3rd & 4th) 1685 (5th) As a Frontis there is a portrait of May with 'AEatis Suae 71, 1660' in the background and beneath are the lines "What! wouldst thou view but in one face -- all hospitalitie the race -- of those for the Gusto stand, -- whose tables a whole Ark comand -- of Nature's plentie, wouldst thou see -- this sight, peruse May's booke, tis hee. -- Ja. Parry. For Nathaniell Brooke, at the Angell in Cornhill: There are two poems at the beginning in May's honour, and a story of his life which mentions that he was the son of a cook and he was trained in France. This training accounts for his giving nine recipes for preparing snails and one for baking Frogs. In the Preface May says that "God and my own conscience would not permit me to bury these my experiences in the Grave" and that 'The Queens Closet Opened' was the only book comparable to his own. May's "Accomplisht Cook' is one of the great 17th century cookery books and one of the cornerstones of a good comprehensive cookery book collection. It is the record of a professional cook of that time. It is a well laid out book covering all aspects of the contemporary kitchen. In some editions there are two very large plates which unfold. This edition (and most others I have seen) has the two large plates separated into four. The great Stuart Classic.

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Antiquarian category

ref number: 10965