Beattie, May H (ed)

Recipes from Baghdad

Baghdad, Iraqi Red Crescent Society, 1961.
Second-hand softcover

Beattie, May H (ed). Recipes from Baghdad. (3rd Ed) Iraqi Red Crescent Society: Baghdad, 1961. 4to (240x165mm) printed cream wrappers, stapled 160,ix,[1]pp, folding chart. Near Fine

BEATTIE, May H (ed). [May Hamilton (1908 - 1997)]

Recipes from Baghdad

Baghdad : Iraqi Red Crescent Society, (Women's Branch), 1961. Third edition, first published 1946. Printed by El-Ani Press, Baghdad. Caricatures by Suad Salim*.

Quarto (240x165mm) printed cream wrappers, stapled 160, ix, [1]]pp. Folding chart. Rear wrapper and spine faintly soiled; top-edge faintly dusty; small binding blemish to top edge; bookseller's ticket "Cook's Books T & M McKirdy" to rear hinge.

¶ Although p.1 notes " This book lays no claim to be comprehensive manual of oriental and occidental recipes. It is simply a collection of recipes obtained from Baghdad residents of many nationalities.", and there are British, American and European recipes scattered throughout, this is first and foremost a compilation of the local and traditional dishes of the residents of Baghdad. It begins with a detailed and interesting introduction, explaining local ingredients and marketing, traditional spices and flavourings, the Iraqi kitchen, Arabic hospitality and difficulties with local measures (standardising using a Gold Flake cigarette tin as a measuring cup).

There are 457 recipes all written in the ingredient/method format, some with quite detailed instructions. About half of the recipes are Arabic or Middle-Eastern and include instructions for bastourma, kebabs, hummus, baba ghannuj, dolma, leban, Circassian chicken, pilau, burghul, sharbat and middle-eastern baked goods. There are also Eastern Mediterranean, general Arabic, Farsi, Armenian and North Indian dishes. The balance of the recipes reflect the international and increasingly cosmopolitan outlook for Baghdad when first collated in 1945 and first published in 1946 with the support of the Queen of Iraq to raise funds for the Indian Red Cross.

A second "edition" (but rather impression) was published in 1952 by the Iraqi Red Crescent (first established in 1932) and this third "edition", was published in 1961 after the removal of the monarchy and the establishment of the Nationalistic Republic of Iraq in 1958. This scarce edition, was published during a politically and economically difficult time in Iraq, perhaps explaining why it was privately published, in wrappers, not boards, and without the forewords by the former Queen of Iraq and British nobility. The illustrations are also left out, reducing the cost of production.

The chapter on the drinks of Baghdad includes an interesting contribution on cocktails from W M Hogg which begins "Cocktails are like Arabic verbs. At first acquaintance they appear disarmingly simple but a close study leads to headaches". Several local variations are included.

Beattie was a researcher, trained as a microbiologist, who moved to Baghdad with her husband in 1937. She lived in Baghdad until being evacuated to India during WWII. She returned to Britain in 1946. During her time in Iraq she was interested in and researched many aspects of Iraqi culture and the local middle classes. Recipes from Baghdad is a reflection of her interest in the women of Baghdad. In the 1950s her experience and research informed her ground-breaking published works on Persian and Oriental carpets. her fellow contributors Bedia Afnan and Renee Al Kabir were respectively an eminent Iraqi teacher who later worked for the United Nations, and a member of a prominent Baghdadi Jewish family.

"...not only a collection of recipes Oriental and Occidental but contains much lore of interest associated with... Arab dishes and beverages."¹

Extremely scarce. A near fine impression of the first Iraqi cookery book in English, and the first Iraqi book published for almost 700 years.

§ OCLC records only 5 holdings this version: UC Berkeley, Kansas, Harvard, Michigan, National Library of Israel. Only 15 institutional holdings all other versions, none in Asia, Australasia or Oceania.
§ Not in Axford.
* Although acknowledged on the title page, the caricatures are not present, and the text in most places reset. Suad [Hajj Su'ad Salim (1918 - 2001)] was an Iraqi artist, cartoonist and designer with connections to the former Iraqi royal family perhaps explaining the omission.
¹ The Middle East Journal Vol 1: Issue 4, 1947.

Item #11333

Price: $1,500.00 AUD

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