Those who pass by our Fulham Road shop on a regular enough basis will already be aware that our window display changes frequently. Just in case you won’t have the chance to see it for yourself, we thought we’d keep you up-to-date on the books, prints and curiosities making an appearance each time a reshuffle takes place.
Below you’ll find listings for each of the items featured; Should you wish to enquire further, you can simply email mail@peterharrington.co.uk or call us on 020 7591 0220.
BAKER, Charles H.
The Gentleman’s Companion.Volume 1: Being an Exotic Cookery Book, or, Around the World with Knife, Fork and Spoon. Volume II: Being an Exotic Drinking Book, or, Around the World with Jigger, Beaker and Flask.
New York: The Derrydale Press, 1939
2 volumes, octavo. Original burgundy cloth-backed boards, red buckram sides, titles gilt to spines. Humorous photographic frontispieces to both volumes. Bookseller’s ticket to volume 1. Spine somewhat dulled, ends and corners rubbed, cloth sides faintly marked, entirely clean within; very good condition.
First edition, first printing; limited to 1,250 copies, both volumes numbered 98. The first volume is warmly inscribed by the author, “With mine good wishes, always, Charles H. Baker”. Charles H. Baker was a writer for Esquire magazine, based in Florida, and was known as the “Town & Country Gourmet”. He was regarded by the Hemingway set as the pinnacle of knowledge in all matters of the good life, notably food, drink, and travel, to the better enjoyment of which this production is dedicated. The book takes the form of a gastronomic world-tour, wittily described with anecdote and an excellent turn of phrase. The recipes themselves, drawn from around the world, are in fact none the worse for their comedic conveyance.
£1,250
BARNARD, Alfred.
The Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland.
London: Sir Joseph Causton & Sons,
4 volumes, quarto (245 x 190 mm). Contemporary dark green cloth, bevelled boards, titles and floral decorations to spines and front boards gilt, all edges gilt, green floral pattern endpapers. Numerous engravings throughout, including views and plans of various breweries. Extremities slightly rubbed, minor wear to spine ends and corners, inner hinges gently cracked but holding firm, free endpapers tanned, light foxing throughout. A very good set.
First edition of this richly illustrated guide to British and Irish breweries, written by the English distillery and brewery historian Alfred Barnard (1837–1918). With loosely inserted autograph letter signed by the author, dated 11 July 1891, addressed to Alfred Pope. In the latter half of the 19th century, Pope was part owner of the Dorchester-based brewery Eldridge Pope; Barnard’s letter to him briefly discusses the publishing of Barnard’s work as well as the breweries mentioned in the series. Also included is another letter and a small hand-written note, both addressed to Pope, as well as a small advertisement for Gudgeon & Sons.
£1,750
BEARD, James.
American Cookery.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1972
Octavo. Original yellow cloth, titles to spine gilt, vignette to front board brown and red, red endpapers. With the dust jacket. Frontispiece and vignettes in the text printed in red and black throughout by Earl Thollander. Top edge lightly foxed, internally fine; an excellent copy in the bright jacket, with a small chip to the head of the rear panel, and a few small chips and nicks to extremities.
First edition, first printing. Presentation copy, inscribed on the front free endpaper by the author: “For Frances Yarborough, successful cooking! James Beard.”
£1,250
“Bernard.”0
100 Cocktails and How to Mix Them.
London: W. Foulsham & Co., Ltd.,
Octavo. Original green wrappers printed in black. With the dust jacket. Contemporary bookseller’s ticket to front pastedown. Faint spotting to endpapers. A bright copy in a lightly rubbed and creased jacket with a few short closed tears and one small tape repair to the verso.
An attractive little mid-century cocktail guide in the colourful jacket depicting a shaker surrounded by a number of dainty little cocktails.
£65
BOND, Richard. M.R.I.P.H, M.R.S.T.
Sea Cookery.A manual for cooks afloat or ashore.
London: James Laver , c.1910
Octavo. Original red cloth, titles to spine and front board black. With the dust jacket. black and white illustrations through out. Mild rubbing along lower edge, light rubbing to corners, in the dust jacket with shallow chipping and wear along top edges and corners, shallow chipping to ends of spine, closed tear along front spine edge. A very good copy.
Fifth printing. Author was Chief instructor to the city of Liverpool Technical Education Committee Nautical Training School for Ships’ Stewards and Cooks. He was also holder of the highest technological certificates of the city and guilds of London Institute for confectionary and bread making. A must uncommon title.
£75
BROWN, Bob.
Homemade Hilarity.Country Drinks. Both Hard & Soft.
Weston, VT: The Countryman Press, 1938
Single small octavo quire bound in yellow card wrappers printed in black with a vignette illustration, stapled at the fold. Wrappers very mildly creased, rubbed and marked, and just starting at the ends, but overall in very good condition.
First edition, first printing, of this paean to bucolic alcoholism, celebrating “the days when Grandpappy was “dragged up” on dippersful of green whisky from the barrel in the harvest field”. This short but sweet pamphlet includes recipes for home-made wines (elderberry, mulberry, gooseberry, quince, cowslip and dandelion), birch bark beer, cow’s milk syllabub, whisky egg nogg, mead and more. This copy is inscribed by the author on the front wrapper verso, “Cousin Ethel, & some more, from Bob, at 3 1/2, January 1957.” Bob Brown, an acquaintance of William Carlos Williams and Carl Sandburg, authored a number of other books including “Let there be Beer” (1932).
£325
CAMPBELL, Ian Maxwell.
Wayward Tendrils of the Vine.
London: Chapman & Hall, 1947
Octavo. Original green cloth, titles to spine and design to upper board gilt, top edge gilt. Bookplate. Spine rolled and toned, cloth a little rubbed. An excellent copy.
First edition, first impression. One of a limited edition of 750 numbered copies signed by the author on the limitation leaf.
£75
CAPON, Robert Farrar.
Angels Must Eat. A Culinary Entertainment.
London: Robert Nelson & Sons Ltd, 1970
Octavo. Original blue boards, titles to spine gilt. With the dust jacket. An excellent copy in the rubbed and marked jacket.
First UK edition, first impression. Originally published in the US in 1969. From the library of poet Alan Ansen.
£45
(COCKTAILS.) ARTHUR, Stanley Clisby.
Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix’em.
New Orleans: Harmanson, 1944
Octavo. Original orange wrappers, titles to spine and rear cover in black, front cover lettered in orange and illustrated in black. Frontispiece and vignettes to text. Spine sunned, wrappers lightly creased and a little rubbed, internally fine. A very good copy.
First edition, sixth printing of this book of cocktail recipes and their histories, written “with a desire to acquaint the world—or that part of the world that may be interested—with the art of mixing a drink as it is done in New Orleans, the author of this book has cajoled from old and new experts the recipes handed down through succeeding generations and presents them herein for your delectation with a smile and a ‘Sante!’”. It was first published in 1937.
£45
CONROY, Pat.
The Pat Conroy Cookbook. Recipes of my life. With Suzanne Williamson Pollak.
New York: Random House, 2004
Square quarto. Original blue cloth boards, titles to spine in silver, brown endpapers. With the dust jacket. Prelim pages with previous ownership embossed stamp to upper corners, else an excellent copy.
First edition, first large print edition. Signed by Conroy and Pollak on the title page.
£125
(COOKERY.)
A Collection of Ordinances and RegulationsFor the Government of the Royal Household, made in divers Reigns. From King Edward III to King William and Queen Mary. Also Receipt in Ancient Cookery.
London: printed for the Society of Antiquaries by John Nichols: sold by Messiers White and Son; Robson; Leigh and Sotheby; Browne; and Egertons, 1790
Quarto. Contemporary speckled full calf, rebacked, greek key roll gilt bordering sides, spine gilt-rolled in compartments with blue morocco label. Corners worn, edges rubbed, sides a little scratched, some mild toning and spotting within, but still on the whole a very good copy.
First edition of this interesting antiquarian work collecting original sources (many printed in facsimile) concerned with the running of royal households from the 14th to the 17th century. At the rear are c. 50 pages of “Ancient Cookery” taken from an early 15th century manuscript, with many sumptuous royal recipes, up to an including a “Chaudern for Swannes”.
£400
(COOKERY.) CHARPENTIER, Henri, & Boyden Sparkes.
Those Rich and Great Ones,or, Life a La Henri being the memoirs of Henri Charpentier.
London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1935
Octavo. Original purple cloth, spine lettered in gilt, purple endpapers. With the dust jacket. Rear board dented, contents foxed. A good copy in the slightly soiled jacket that has some nicks and chips to extremities.
First UK edition, first impression. First published in the US the preceding year. A witty memoir by the accidental creator of crêpes suzette. From the publisher’s archive.
£225
DAVID, Elizabeth.
French Country Cooking.Decorated by John Minton.
London: John Lehmann Ltd., 1951
Octavo. Finely bound by The Chelsea Bindery in burgundy morocco, titles to spine, raised bands, twin rule to turn-ins, dark green endpapers, gilt edges. With black and white illustrations. A fine copy.
First edition, first impression.
£1,250
DAVID, Elizabeth.
French Country Cooking.Decorated by John Minton.
London: Dorling Kindersley Ltd, 1987
Small quarto. Original pictorial boards, titles to spine white and front board black, green endpapers. With the dust jacket. Illustrated throughout with line drawings by John Minton and colour reproductions of paintings by various artists. A little fading to board edges, internally fine; an excellent copy in the slightly rubbed and price-clipped jacket with sunned spine and a few shallow chips to extremities.
Signed limited edition. Number 326 of 450 copies, signed by the author on the title page. The author’s landmark second book, first published in 1951, was written whilst rationing was still in force. David (1913–1992) taught herself Mediterranean-style cooking while living abroad during the early 1940s, and in 1949 she began writing a food column for Harper’s Bazaar. Her first book was published to wide acclaim the following year, and she is now recognised for her profound influence on British culinary culture.
£375
DAVID, Elizabeth.
Summer Cooking.
London: Museum Press, 1955
Octavo. Original green cloth, spine lettered gilt. With the dust jacket. Line drawings throughout by Adrian Daintrey. Spine rolled, contents slightly foxed, boards gently bowed, head of rear pastedown abraded and a little worn; a very good copy in the unclipped jacket with faded spine and some loss to spine ends and head of rear panel.
First edition, first impression. David (1913-1992) taught herself Mediterranean-style cooking while living abroad during the early 1940s, and she began writing a food column for Harper’s Bazaar in 1949. Her first book was published to wide acclaim the following year and she is now recognized for her profound influence on British culinary culture.
£375
FISHER, M. F. K.
How to Cook a Wolf.
New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1942
Octavo. Original grey cloth boards, titles to spine in white, pictorial decoration to front board in white. With the dust jacket. Bookplate to front pastedown. Head of front board bumped, small smudge to fore edge, light abrasion to front pastedown; an excellent copy in the lightly rubbed, price-clipped jacket, with a few shallow chips and nicks to extremities.
First edition, first printing. This practical and humorous book, published at the height of food shortages during the Second World War, offered housewives advice on how to achieve a nutritious diet with limited ingredients, as well as other useful advice, such as eating in a blackout, and recipes for home-made toothpaste and a cheap sherry cocktail. She encouraged her readers to find pleasure in cooking balanced meals, and in preparing their own bread, rather than buying vitamin-enriched bread as advised by the US government.
£475
(FOOD AND DRINK) SWAN, W.A., HARRIS, I.E., SHAKMAN, J.G. & BORG, C.E.
Pabst Blue Ribbon Draft Beer. Transporting, Storing, Delivering, Dispensing … How Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer is made; Fundamentals of Merchandising; Your Company. A Brief History of the Origin and Growth of the Pabst Brewing Company – Salesman’s sample catalogue with samples of brewing materials.
Milwaukee, WI & Chicago, IL: Pabst Sales Company, Pabst Brewing Company, 1946-1950
Quarto, 17 parts bound in a singlevolume. Original black morocco-grained cloth post binder, rounded corners, embossed gilt lettering and company logo with Pabst Blue Ribbon on front cover. Numerous illustrations, diagrams, tables, several colour plates, 3 of them large folding, 1 colour-lithograph plate for Pabst Brewing materials, mounted on thick board with linen hinges, die-cut holes creating small round display windows in the board, and samples for malt, hops, grits & yeast inserted into the holes with glassine window covers, one of which is a just little damaged, 4 loosely inserted Pabst Sales Company memos from Astrup & Swan dated 1949-1951 Minor shelfwear, slight fraying to outer edge of the sample board, remains a very good copy.
First edition of this unusual and uncommon – no copies traced on OCLC – Pabst Blue Ribbon Company salesman’s sample catalogue and advertising manual. Divided into several bulletins, which were to be continually updated by the Pabst Brewing sales force and which detail the brewing process, Pabst operations, how to place beer cases on the floor, what kind of signage needed to be located in their prospective selling location, a detailed history of the company, and much more. One of the large folding colour diagrams details the brewing process in a colour cut-away view of a Pabst Brewery detailing the innovations by Pabst, including the first use of mash filters in America, sterile air in connection with large open coolers, bottom fermentation yeast for brewing lager beer, sterile liquefying of fermentation carbon dioxide, market beer in cans nationally, and high pressure speed bottle filters. Pabst had originated the use of a blue ribbon tag to be affixed to each bottle or beer in 1882 in order identify their brew. By 1889 they were advertising this blue ribbon, and promoting it as a “Select” brand. Of special interest is the wonderful sample leaf with its original period samples offers an invaluable historical reference for the brewing ingredients and processes in post-World War II America. From collection of Robert Horner, former regional sales agent for Pabst who fortunately ignored the directives to destroy the earlier portions of the manual.
£575
GABLER, James M.
Wine into Words.A History and Bibliography of Wine Books in the English Language. With a Foreword by Maynard A. Amerine.
Baltimore: Bachus Press Ltd., 1985
Large octavo. Original cream cloth, black lettered spine and front cover. With the dust jacket.
First edition, first printing. A fine copy.
£50
(GASTRONOMY.) FARMER, Fannie Merritt.
Catering for Special Occasions, with Menus and Recipes.
Philadelphia: David Mackay, 1911
Octavo. Original green cloth, titles to spine gilt and to front board white, pictorial label to front board, top edge gilt, illustrated endpapers. Frontispiece, rubricated title page, 6 plates. Illustrated with cherubs throughout by Albert D. Blashfield. Bookseller’s ticket to rear pastedown. Spine cracked but holding, ends rubbed, spine panel slightly darkened and cockled, tips a little worn, small bump to head of rear board. A very good copy.
First edition, first printing. Farmer was renowned for her best-selling book, The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, which first appeared in 1896. Here, Farmer offers a wide selection of menus and recipes for Christmas, New Year’s, Easter, St. Valentine’s and St. Patrick’s days, Hallowe’en, Thanksgiving, the Fourth of July, and Washington’s birthday, as well as for parties and weddings, all entertainingly decorated with images of cheeky cherubs and ideas for table settings.
£150
“Jimmy”, late of Ciro’s London.
Cocktails.
Philadelphia: David McKay Company,
Small octavo. Original yellow cloth-backed black boards, spine lettered black, front board lettered gilt and decorated with a martini glass in gilt, yellow endpapers, top edge yellow. With the dust jacket. Slight stain to head of spine, internally fine; an excellent copy in the bright, lightly creased jacket with a few nicks to extremities and short closed tear to head of rear panel, with tape repair to verso.
First edition, first printing of this book, uncommon in the jacket, of cocktail recipes from the exclusive London club, Ciro’s. It opened on Orange Street as a private club in 1915, and was renowned as one of the first London venues to host an all-black band. This very attractive little book features an early appearance of the Pegu Club cocktail, as well as the contested White Lady – the creation of which is claimed by two Harrys: Harry Craddock of The Savoy, and Harry MacElhone (later of Harry’s New York Bar fame) during his stint at Ciro’s in London in 1919. The precise identity of the bartender “Jimmy” remains unknown, though it is very possible that he is Jimmy Charters, bartender of the Dingo Bar in Paris and Ciro’s in Monte Carlo. All the recipes are easily replicated without special equipment, so that (somewhat questionably) “even a child of five may prepare his (or her) favourite beverage without the necessity of running to ask daddy: ‘Please, what is a jigger?’”
£975
LAKE, Max.
Vine and Scalpel.
Brisbane: The Jacaranda Press, 1967
Tall quarto. Original dark blue cloth, titles to spine gilt, patterned endpapers. With the dust jacket. Printed on handmade grey paper. Bookplate. Small spot to upper board. An excellent copy in the lightly rubbed jacket with some fraying to the upper panel and fading of the spine and top edges of the panels.
First edition, first impression. A unique and attractively designed volume that assembles the stories of medical doctors who have directed the development of the wine industry in Australia.
£45
LANDON, James Henry.
The Pytchley Book of Refined Cookery and Bills of Fare.
London: Chapman and Hall, 1885
Octavo (191 × 123 mm). Finely bound in recent brown morocco by Sangorski and Sutcliffe, spine lettered in gilt, boards ruled in gilt, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. A superb copy.
First edition of this cookery book, offering sample menus for each month in both French and English, and recipes for “small dinners of taste within the compass of ordinary mortals” (Introduction). Landon also includes a chapter on wines, with these choice words on the treatment of a bottle of champagne less than ten years old: “do not decant it, ice it as much as possible, the fizz and the ice may disguise the taste—I won’t call it flavour.” (p. 261). An attractively bound copy.
£375
MURPHY, Julie and Abney Stempinski.
The Cat Who…Cookbook.
New York: Berkley Press, 2000
Octavo. Original yellow boards, yellow cloth spine. With the dust jacket. black and white illustrations throughout. Ownership signature to front pastedown, otherwise an excellent copy.
First edition, first printing. Cookbook based Lilian Jackson Braun’s mystery novels.
£45
POSTGATE, Raymond.
Portugese Wine.
London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1969
Octavo. Original light grey boards, titles to spine in dark red and gilt, wine bottle design to front board in dark red, dark yellow endpapers and dark red top edge. With the pictorial dust jacket. 5 maps. A fine copy in a price-clipped, slightly rubbed jacket.
First edition, first impression of this guide to Portugese wines, written by Postgate, the author, gourmet, and founder of the Good Food Guide.
£85
RAWLINGS, Marjorie Kinnan.
Cross Creek Cookery.With drawings by Robert Camp.
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1942
Octavo. Original pictorial cloth, titles to spine in black and to front board in red, pictorial endpapers. With the dust jacket. Illustrations throughout. Contemporary gift inscription to frontispiece recto. Some spotting to rear board, light spotting and toning to edges of text block, partial tanning to one opening, occasional light spot of foxing to text. A very good copy in the chipped and rubbed jacket with a few closed tears and dampstaining to the spine panel.
First edition, first printing, of the author’s recipes from her farm kitchen in the Florida Scrub country. Rawlings won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1939 for her novel The Yearling.
£45
REDDING, Cyrus.
A History and Description of Modern Wines.
Ilkley, West Yorkshire: printed and bound by The Scolar Press, 1980
Octavo. Publisher’s gren half morocco, green cloth sides with a triple blind rule, spine gilt in compartments, marbled endpapers. Green cloth slipcase. Vignette illustration to title page and chapter headings. Extremities a little rubbed; an excellent copy.
An attractive modern reprint, by the Scolar Press, of the first edition of Cyrus Redding’s landmark wine book (London: Whittaker, Treacher, & Arnot, 1833).
£100
STREET, Julian.
Where Paris Dines.With information about restaurants of all kinds, costly and cheap, dignified and gay, known and little known: and how to enjoy them.
New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc., 1929
Octavo. Original black cloth, printed yellow paper labels to spine and front board, lettered and decorated in green and black, yellow coated endpapers, top edge yellow. With the dust jacket designed by Jeanette Warmuth. Vignettes in text. Spine slightly rolled and toned, occasional light foxing to contents; an excellent copy in the bright jacket, slightly creased with a few nicks and shallow chips to extremities, and lightly reinforced to verso with tissue.
First edition, first printing. A superb presentation copy, inscribed on the front free endpaper to Prosper Montagné, the French chef and author of the culinary bible Larousse Gastronomique: “Pour M. Prosper Montagné, avec mes meilleurs sentiments, Julian Street, 136 E. 79th St, New York, June 7 1929.” A pencilled note below the inscription reads: “Prosper Montagné fut l’élève de mon grand oncle Florentin Lejeune et l’ami de mon père Léon Pichon” (Prosper Montagne was a student of my great uncle Florentin Lejeune and friend of my father Léon Pichon). With the bookplate of Léon and Daniel Pichon Gastronomia Bibliotheque to the front pastedown. This pithy and entertaining guide to Parisian restaurants, written by the gourmand and travel writer Julian Street (1879-1947), is uncommon in the Art Deco jacket.
£650
STREET, Julian.
Wines:Their Selection, Care and Service, with a Chart of Vintage Years, and observations on Harmonies between certain Wines and certain Foods, and on Wineglasses, Cradles, Corkscrews and kindred matters.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1933
Octavo. Original purple cloth, titles to spine and front board in red, publisher’s device to rear board in red, top edge red. With the pictorial dust jacket. Folding map showing French vineyard regions. Edges gently rubbed, a few small white marks to rear board and tail of spine, endpapers lightly tanned. An excellent copy in a rubbed jacket with sunned spine, short splits to folds, a few short closed tears, and lightly chipped extremities, one chip affecting the last letter of “Julian” on the spine.
First edition, first printing of this early post-Prohibition book on wine. Signed by the author on the front free endpaper.
£250
TRUAX, Carol.
Liberace Cooks!Recipes from his seven dining rooms.
New York: Doubleday & Company, 1970
Octavo. Original blue cloth, white cloth backstrip, titles to spine blue, vignette of Liberace’s signature and a piano blocked to front board in blind, blue endpapers. With the dust jacket. 9 colour photographic plates. Light toning to extremities, endpapers darkening slightly along hinge, stitching a touch strained in places but holding well, a few recipes ticked and annotated ‘Beryl says’ in black ink. A very good copy in the toned dust jacket.
First edition, first printing. Signed by the author on the half-title with a drawing of a piano: “Liberace, to Norman Maen, Thanks for the new steps! love! 1971”. Maen was a noted choreographer, originally from Northern Ireland.
£225
TURNER, William.
A Book of The Natures of All Wines. Together with a Modern English Version of the Text by the Editors, and a General Introduction by Sanford V. Larkey and an Oenological Note by Philip M. Wagner.
New York: Sholars’ Facsimiles & Reprints, 1941
Small octavo. Original puce cloth, titles to spine and front board gilt. With the dust jacket. An excellent copy in a near fine dust jacket.
First edition thus, the facsimile edition of this landmark book on wines by distinguished Elizabethan botanist and physician William Turner, first published in 1568 and dedicated to William Cecil. The book is in fact the first work in English dedicated to the subject of wines, and is also of particular interest because, as noted by André L. Simon in Bibliotheca Bacchica (1932), it must have been a source-book for Shakespeare, since almost all his invocations of wines are done by the same name, and with the same evaluation, as Turner gives them. The bibliographic note of this facsimile edition identifies only seven known copies of the original book, and the current listing on OCLC is still only 10. In the trade, only 3 copies have come up for auction since 1922, the last in 1981. The original book being thus terribly rare, and not in fact reprinted until this edition, is thus only practically attainable in this facsimile form, which has become a scarce classic in itself.
£300
This item has been sold.
BEETON, Mrs Isabella.
The Book of Household Management;Comprising Information for the Mistress, Housekeeper, Cook, Kitchen-Maid, Butler, Footman, Coachman, Valet, Upper and Under House-Maids, Lady’s-Maid, Maid-of-all-Work, Laundry-Maid, Nurse and Nurse-Maid, Monthly, Wet, and Sick Nurses, etc. etc. Also, Sanitary, Medical, & Legal Memoranda; With a History of the Origins, Properties, and Uses of all things connected with Home Life and Comfort.
London: S. O. Beeton, 1861
Octavo (175 × 114 mm). Bound in contemporary dark green half morocco, neatly rebacked, marbled sides, titles to spine gilt on black morocco label, gilt rules to spine, red speckled edges. Colour frontispiece, engraved colour title-page, 12 illustrated colour plates. Black and white illustrations to text throughout. Sides rubbed, tips a little worn, a little faint foxing to contents. A very good copy.
First edition, first impression, first issue (with “Bouverie St” on the illustrated title page), of the domestic bible of the Victorian age. It was the first book to supplant the household culinary authority, Hannah Glasse’s Art of Cookery, which had remained so for over a century since its first publication in 1747. In its first year of publication Beeton’s Book of Household Management sold 60,000 copies, and two million by 1868. Despite its author’s death four years after publication (at the age of only 28, a fact which must snuff out any sense of Beeton’s passionate, energetic book as being the product of middle-aged housewifery), the book has been constantly updated and its popularity has lived on to the present day. As well as comprising over 900 pages of recipes (which are illustrated, for the first time in this genre of book production, with colour plates), Beeton’s boldly comprehensive text also contains guidance on home economics and general home life (including an interesting rundown of the laws the of the land), and even some more philosophical passages on the ethical role of women in the world of the Victorian male; “For Mrs Beeton, a people’s ‘way of taking their meals, as well as their way of treating women’ were marks of civilisation. Dining well ‘implies both the will and the skill to reduce to order, and surround with idealisms and grace, the more material conditions of human existence’” (ODNB).
£2,750
