The Menu Book
The Menu Book. FOURTH EDITION OF PRACTICAL GASTRONOMY. A MENU COMPILER AND REGISTER OF DISHES [Copyrighted 1892] BY C.HERMAN SENN, G.C.A., Inspector and Consulting Chef, National Training School of Cookery, 1892-1908. AUTHOR OF "RECHERCHE COOKERY" "THE NEW CENTURY COOKERY BOOK" RECHERCHE SIDE DISHES" "THE PRACTICAL COOKERY MANUAL," ETC., ETC. (A vignette with "Food & Cookery Publishing London SW) LONDON. S.W.: THE FOOD & COOKERY PUBLISHING AGENCY. WESTMINSTER. mdcdviii.
12mo. The paste-downs and end-papers marbled. 1fep. Title page & on verso - advertisements. 1p Preface & on verso - advertisements. 5-8 Principal Contents. 9-320. 6p Advertisements. 2p Cookery Books by Herman Senn. 1fep. Crimson morocco binding with wonderfully fresh gilt vingette of a woman sitting at a table and the book title. Re-laid spine with the original gilt lettering cut out and laid down. There are numerous illustrations of menus throughout. On page 53 there is a nicely illustrated facsimile 'Menu du Souper' dated 1908. Enclosed with this copy of Senn's book is a menu that is the exact same one as that on page 53. Everything, from the embossed gilt crest, the drawing and actual menu is the same except the date. Interestingly the date is 1892. It suggests that the date on the menu on page 53 has been changed to match the published date of the book. There are also some stamps and writing on the back of the real menu that suggests it may have come from an archive. A rare book especially in this condition and with the handsome menu.
- Charles Herman Senn (1864-1934) was one of the founders of the Universal Cookery and Food Association - UCFA. The UCFA was never a very large organisation, but was a very interesting one because its origins were linked with those of L'Art Culinaire in France, yet it developed a most peculiarly English slant of its own. It grew out of a small group of about two dozen members calling itself The Culinary Society which under the leadership of Eugene Pouard, organised cookery competitions based on the model of the Art Culinaire group. THe UCFA"s first committee of management had a predominance of London based French chefs, as well as Queen Victoria's chef, Monsieur J.Menager. There were also several other foreign and english names including that of Senn. He was the dominating figure from its inception in 1887 until his death. The association grew rapidly from the 186 members in 1892 to more than 1200 in 1902. Though this was scarcely a mass movement, it was too large for the dominance of French chefs to endure and by the early twentieth century there was a separate Association Culinaire Francaise - ACF in London. Senn and UCFA maintained cordial relations with ACF. Senn himself never questioned the supremacy of French cooking, but perhaps for that reason steered the UCFA away from any attempt to compete in that domain. The focus he gave to the association was an overriding concern with educational and charitable work. The notion that the standing of the cooking profession can best be advanced through ever-greater achievements in haute-cuisine for a social elite was entirely absent from the UCFA"s thinking and aims. Instead its object was 'to promote and encourage the advancement of cookery among all classes of the community' -- (Cookery Annual, 1908: 56) How this was to be achieved was spelled out in a list of aims and activities. First among these was the holding of exhibitions - an aim shared with L'Art Culiniare. The UCFA organised cookery exhibitions in London in direct line of succession from the first in 1885 until the 1930s, when the collaboration of a special sponsor was enlisted. Out of these exhibitions directly stem the biennial Hotelympia events of the present day, out of which the very popular and competitive (among chefs and pastry chefs) 'Salon Culinaire' still forms a part. Senn's influence on the whole educational and professional grounding of all British chefs, even today, should not be overlooked. Although a most dedicated cook (even training under Francatelli at the Reform Club) and a prolific writer, he was also a consulting Chef to the National Training School for Cookery, and through his connections with the Westminster Technical Institute, he was often called upon by government agencies to create 'syllabuses and examinations, notably setting standards for the training of army, navy, hospital and prison cooks' - Driver pp 540.
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Antiquarian category
ref number:
11010