Kettilby.   Mary     - A first edition
A Collection of above three hundred receipts in cookery, physick and surgery;
For the Use of all Good Wives, Tender Mothers, and Careful Nurses. By several hands. LONDON, Printed for RICHARD WILKIN, at the King's Head in St. Paul's Church-yard. MDCCXIV.
FIRST EDITION 1714. 8vo. Pp. Half title. Title page. 12. 1-218. [219-232] Full contemporary two-tone dark brown calf boards, lightly cracked with nice polished patina. Sympathetically re-backed dark brown calf spine with raised bands. No labels. Pages evenly browned throughout, with a light mark on the title page where the date was written in biro and the binder has erased the ink. Does not affect the text or border. A small strip 2 inches long by 1/8 inch wide missing from the very last page of index with very slight loss of text. The strip has been neatly repaired. Overall a nice copy of the very rare first.
- In the first half of the 15th century, the English made a spiced jelly called 'Chardequynce' from quinces (or quinces and pears) and honey (or sugar). Then in 1495, only three years after Columbus's first epic voyage to America, a Portuguese ship's captain named Farnando Yanes delivered to the port of London the first consignment of 'Marmelada' to arrive in Britain. The English initially ate it as a sweetmeat or as an after-dinner digestive. It was solid, not semi-liquid, and it came in a box, not a pot. But gradually cooks began to experiment with other fruits, first using apples or at least their inherent pectin to aid the jelling process with other fruits. At this time a modern type marmalade as we know it came about. The first printed recipe for orange marmalade was published in this book, Kettilby's first edition of 1714.

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Antiquarian category
ref number: 10917