MODERN COOKERY, IN ALL ITS BRANCHES

London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1845. Third Edition. 173 x 110 mm. (6 3/4 x 4 1/4"). xxx, 607, [1] pp., 32 pp. (ads).
Publisher's blind-stamped cloth, plainly (and stoutly) rebacked Attractive woodcuts in the text throughout. Oxford, p. 175; Cagle 538 (fourth edition). Original boards rather soiled, faded, and worn, but the restored binding completely sound. Internally with light stains here and there (and more especially in the Index), but an inoffensive copy of this frequently referenced book.

This is a very sturdy copy of the third edition--issued in the same year as the first--of the cookbook that became the model for the genre through the remainder of the 19th century. Poet, schoolteacher, and cookbook author Eliza Acton (1799-1859) composed "Modern Cookery" at the suggestion of her publishers, who recommended she write something more marketable than poetry. She took to the project with zeal and determination, carefully testing each recipe included in the text. DNB tells us that this made her "the first of the modern cookery writers," saying that "she wrote with great charm and clarity, but what marked the book as innovative was her original plan of listing, very exactly, the ingredients, the time taken, and possible pitfalls for the inexperienced cook. This was a completely new format, all other books on the subject being far less exact in their instructions." While clearly used with some frequency for its intended purpose, ours is still a pleasing copy of an historically influential work..