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ACTON, MISS ELIZA; REVISED BY MRS. S.J. HALE Modern Cookery in All Its Branches (Revised by Mrs S.J. Hale)
Philadelphia PA, John E. Potter and Company. 1864, Later Printing. Hard Cover, 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. (USA) 18 x 12.5 cm, rebound in black cloth with gold psine titles, new endpapers, xxxvi, 37-418pp, index, i-xiii pp ads. A few B&W diagrams showing cuts of beef, cake moulds, and the like. This book first appeared in Britain 1845 and is one of the most practical, orderly and concise of cookery books. Elizabeth David says that Acton " was the first English writer to go into the minutest detail in her recipes and who first used the concise and uniform system of setting them out which was later adapted by Mrs Beeton." Beeton borrowed this admirable system of setting out the ingredients, the quantities, and the timing of the recipes in a uniform and concise manner. This book, according to David, is the first English cookery book in which such instructions were given: "It was the singleness of purpose animating Eliza Acton, her methodical mind and meticulous honesty which made her cookery book then, and makes it even still, far and away the most admired and copied in the English language." The recipes are still excellent. Esther Aresty, in her book THE DELECTABLE PAST, has presented a few of Acton's more whimsically-named recipes (Veal Goose, the King of Oude's Omlet), but it is in the recipes for jellies, jams, marmalades that this book is unsurpassed. This American edition first appeared in 1860 and has been edited by Mrs Hale; her comments are usually in footnotes, so that we find tidbits such as the following note on "Anchovies"in a recipe for Common Lobster sauce: "Anchovies, from which this essence is made, are small sea-fish, not known in America. The flavoring must therefore be dispensed with (in this recipe)". This copy is clean, no markings, and tight without cracking or faults to the hinges. As noted it has been professionally rebound in black cloth and furnished with new endpapers, (I believe this was done in 1975). The pages have been slightly trimed, with a bit of foxing here and there with a very faint stain to the foreedge of the last few leaves. There is no musty smell and the pages are not brittle. VG overall;no Dj. A nice copy of an exceptional cookbook. (2.0 FO 46/3). Very Good.
Offered for US$ 195.00 by: JWMah Books - Book number: 39900
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