Author: WALKER (Thomas):
Title: The Original. Second Edition.
Description: London: Henry Henshaw..., 1836. Large 8vo, 218 x 127 mms., pp. iv, 44, contemporary half calf, pebbled boards, gilt spine; a very good copy. The English barrister, police magistrate and author Thomas Walker (1784–1836) is remembered, if at all, for just this publication,a weekly serial, which began on 20 May 1835 and continued weekly until the following 2 December. Wikipedia notes that, "The Original was intended to raise 'the national tone in whatever concerns us socially or individually,' and comprised a collection of Walker's thoughts on many subjects. Its writing on health and gastronomy were most appreciated." Online, the Greenwich English prof adds, "The most famous and influential section of the miscellany in the nineteenth century and beyond was, however, "Aristology; or, The Art of Dining". Beginning in number 13 and continuing until number 22, it received particular favour in the Quarterly Review. It was eventually published separately in 1883 with the rather unlikely suggestion it become a school textbook, edited by no less than Sir Henry Cole, founder of the Albert Hall, the Royal College of Music – and the National School of Cookery. It is possible to see the influence of Brillat-Savarin's famous Physiologie du Goût (1825) in Walker's mixture of charming anecdote and pseudo-science. However, recipes are conspicuously lacking: unlike Brillat-Savarin, Walker concentrated on refining the delights of consumption rather than production. His work relates to the gastronomic literature associated with gentlemen's clubs such as George Vasey's Illustrations of Eating (1847) and J. Timb's Hints for the Table (1859) rather than to practical cookbooks such as Esther Copley's Cottage Comforts (1825), Acton's Modern Cookery (1845) or Beeton's Household Management (1861)." [https://blogs.gre.ac.k/andrewking/2013/04/29/thomas-walkers-the-original-1835/

Keywords: dining politics prose


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