Octavo (175x110mm) contemporary full sheep boards, raised bands, gilt decorated spine in 5 compartments, tan gilt spine label, all edges decorated, 'antique spot' marbled endpapers to pastedowns, [40], 277,[43]pp : π², ✱⁶, ✱✱⁸, ✱✱⁴, A - V⁸.  Monochrome engraved frontispiece by Jan  Goeree (1670-1731) showing five cooks in a kitchen preparing a meal; title page in red and black; several engraved floriated initials and ornamental tailpieces.  Boards faintly sprung, edges faintly rubbed; spine label chipped; ownership notes in ink from 1800 to front free endpaper; ex-libris  label "Skjenket til Fyens Stiftsbibliothek af Biskop Dr. Fr. Plum. 1834" to front paste-down; pages lightly and evenly agetoned, some light buckling; faded dampstain to top edge.

Apicius (as this work is often described) is the only surviving cookbook from the Roman Empire. The identify of the author(s), and the ultimate origins of the work are still much debated but it is generally thought to date from the 2nd to 5th century AD.  The work survived principally as two 9th century manuscripts (although there are other fragments).   The work was written in the vulgar Latin of Rome's lower classes leading Alan Davidson to suggest that it was "an aide-memoire for those who worked in the kitchens of the wealthy." ²

The first printed edition of Apicius was published in Milan in 1498.  A significant edition was published in 1542 with a commentary by Gabriel Humelberg (1487-1544), a German doctor.  There have been other editions with commentaries.  Lister (1639-1712) was an English physician and naturalist.  He was a member of the Royal Society and physician to Queen Anne.  He authored several significant works on English spiders, Shells,  Conches (Historia conchyliorum) and Molluscs as well as translating Latin texts.  His edition of Apicius is considered significant because his commentary: first, was presented in parallel (two column format) with other commentaries, particularly Humelberg's thus consolidating editorial commentaries and providing a full annotation; second,  provided a contemporary medical perspective on the recipes and their health consequences; and third,  provided explanatory details on Roman culinary traditions.

There are approximately 470 recipes in Apicius, of which almost half are for sauces.  The balance are mostly for meat, fish and vegetables.  There are only a few recipes for sweet dishes. Most of the dishes are heavily spiced.

From the library of Bishop Frederick Clausen Plum (1760-1834).  Plum was appointed to the Bishopric of Odense in 1811.  He had already taken a keen interest in public education, teaching communities to read, and the establishment of libraries.  Upon his appointment, he began to reform the school system. In 1813, he established Fyns Stiftsbibliothek, which was partially de-accessioned and closed in the mid-twentieth century.  

²  Davidson, Alan. The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. p.23.