First edition, first issue of the most famous book in English domestic arts and home cooking of the Victorian era.
Very good.
Price: $3,000.00
"I must frankly own, that if I had known, beforehand, that this book would have cost me the labour which it has, I should never have been courageous enough to commence it."
Selling an astounding two million copies by 1868, Mrs. Beeton's book grew to such a Victorian household staple that her name became the shorthand for authoritative opinions on home cooking. One of the keys to its success was the presentation of recipes in a standardized form, listing ingredients followed by instructions — a structure we expect today, but which was only rarely used before Beeton. A classic of the field.
Read more: Bitting, Gastronomic Bibliography, 32; Cagle, A Matter of Taste: A Bibliographical Catalogue of International Books on Food and Drink in the Lilly Library, Indiana University, 561.
London: S.O. Beeton, 1861. Octavo. 7'' x 4.25''. Contemporary half calf, gilt- and blind-rules, black goatskin spine label. Grey endpapers. Illustrated with color frontispiece and engraved color title page (address "18 Bouverie St."), plus 12 full-page color plates. xl, 1112 pages. Three ink owner inscriptions to front fly leaves, earliest dated 1871. Front joint and spine label unobtrusively repaired; rear joint cracked but firm. Some soil to text, largely at margins, light wear to boards. Firm.
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