Mrs. Roundell's Practical Cookery Book: with many family recipes hitherto unpublished.

London: Bickers, Spottiswoode, 1898.

Thick octavo (21.5 x 15 cm.), viii, 580 pages. Index. FIRST EDITION. “The great faults of English kitchen management used to be Haste, Waste, Greasiness, Wateriness, and Clumsy Flavouring.” So the authoress begins her work. She boils it down to one root cause – “Ignorance” – and puts a fair bit of the blame on the earlier cookbooks. “Vague directions, impossible theories, and mistaken advice, are not unknown in these days of ‘writing table cooks’”. She seeks to remedy this ignorance with detailed instructions on the long list of ingredients and processes she covers. Notable are the sections on game (including game pies), and sausages. Text block somewhat age-toned and hinged shaken. Red cloth, gilt-title to front board. Wear and chipping to spine. Good only. With the bookplate of the industrialist George Stacey Albright C.B.E. (1855-1945), and the pencil inscription of his wife, I. Margaret Albright, dated 1902. [OCLC locates seven copies].

Price: $60.00

See all items in English Cookery