THE ITALIAN CONFECTIONER
OR, COMPLETE ECONOMY OF DESSERTS: CONTAINING THE ELEMENTS OF THE ART, ACCORDING TO THE MOST MODERN AND APPROVED PRACTICE. By G.A. JARRIN, CONFECTIONER, NEW BOND STREET. THIRD EDITION, CORRECTED AND ENLARGED. LONDON: WILLIAM H. AINSWORTH, OLD BOND STREET. 1827.
First revised edition, corrected and expanded, the third edition overall. Octavo. 234x147mm. Frontispiece. Title page (cropped at both ends without loss of text) III-IV Preface to the third edition. V-IX. Preface to the first edition. X-XX. Contents. 1-260. 261-270 Index. 271-276. Description of the plates. 2 folding plates with a total of 37 Confectionery tools. 1 fep. Half brown calf, with raised bands to spine, with gilt lines and red label with gilt lettering. Marbled boards. Internally quite clean except for a little browning to the Frontis and the edge of one of the plates. Overall a very nice copy.
- - On the frontispiece we are informed W. A. (William Alexis) Jarrin was born in Colorno, Italy on 25th March 1784. He arrived in England in 1817 and published the 1st edition just three years later by 1820. One assumes that the original text would have been brought from Italy in Italian. The book sits comfortably within an English tradition of publishing recipes for food and confectionery, but it reveals more about the techniques involved and about the character of the author, than was usual in the genre. Proud of his ingenuity as an inventor, Jarrin described inventions and improvements he had devised for making confectionery. 'The Epicure's Almanack' of 1815 informs us that there were many high-class confectioners in London's smart West-end streets. One of the more famous being Gunter's of Berkley Square. Tracing its origins back to the 1760s when it was opened by Domenico Negri, as the famous 'Pot and Pineapple' confectionery shop. It went through many incarnations. From Negri and Witton (or just Witton) to Negri and Gunter, becoming Gunter's by 1806. Jarrin was employed there for some time and it played a significant part in his career. On the verso of the 'Italian Confectioner' title page, there is an advertisement for 'The French Cook' by Louis Eustache Ude where we are informed that Ude's book is an 'Invaluable Companion to Jarrin's Italian Confectioner'. (Ude was the famous Chef de Cuisine of Crockfords Club, which was just 300 yards from Gunters confectionery shop. It was/is common for Chefs then and even still today, to visit each other on their afternoon break in the middle of their daily split shifts). Jarrin's book is an elegant production with many precise, good and unusual recipes. The Italian Confectioner was reprinted at least ten times (the last in 1861, after his death), and was updated with new material on several occasions. Earlier editions incorporated small but often telling additions: for example, observations on managing ice-wells and the introduction of new instruments such as the saccharometer. For the 1844 edition he undertook a major reorganization of the material and added many new recipes" (ODNB). It is an important item in any collection of cookery books.
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Antiquarian category
ref number:
10973