The Book of Household Management
London, S O Beeton, 1861. Beeton, Mrs Isabella. The Book of Household Management. (2nd Imp) S O Beeton: London, 1861. 8vo (185x115mm) half bnd, rebacked, original cloth bds, xxxix,1112pp. New eps; hinges repaired; lightly soiled & foxed
Second-hand hardcover
BEETON, Isabella [Mrs Isabella Mary, née Mayson (1836 - 1865)]
The Book of Household Management; comprising information for the mistress, housekeeper, cook, kitchen-maid. butler, footman, coachman, valet, upper and under house-maids, lady's-maid, maid-of-all-work, laundry-maid, nurse and nurse-maid, monthly, wet, and sick nurses, etc. etc. Also, sanitary, medical, & legal memoranda; with a history of the origin, properties, and uses of all things connected with home life and comfort.
London : S.O. Beeton, 248, Strand, W.C. 1861. First edition, second impression in book form, second state¹. Printed by Spottiswoode & Co, New-Street Square.
Octavo (180x120mm) professionally rebacked, smooth tan calf, spine in 4 ruled compartments, red, gilt lettered, spine label, publisher's original blue, diced grain and gilt lettered, cloth boards, original cream endpapers, all edges speckled red, xxxix, [1], 1112pp : [a]⁴, b-c⁸, B - 4A⁸, 4B⁴. Chromolithograph illustrated title-page and twelve out-of-text plates, approximately 600 woodblock engraved monochrome in-text illustrations; numerous monochrome wood engraved head and tail pieces.² Board edges rubbed, corners gently bruised; both hinges repaired, preserving the original endpapers; a light but consistent patina of home use throughout, page edges soiled, some folded corners, several creases and a few small closed tears, a note in ink to p.821.
In 1856, Isabella married Samuel Beeton, an entrepreneurial London publisher who had made his fortune publishing a pirate edition of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. By mid-1857 Isabella was editing S.O. Beeton's successful The English Woman's Domestic Magazine, an innovative women's magazine illustrated with French fashion plates and filled with serialised fiction. The Book of Household Management was first composed and published as a 24 part, 48 page supplement to The English Woman's Domestic Magazine. The supplements were serialised between 1859 and 1861, at a cost 3p each. Published in October 1861 in book form it was almost immediately a run-away commercial success, this impression being quickly printed within weeks of the first.
An extensive guide to running an urban household in mid-Victorian Britain, The Book of Household Management was larger than anything similar published to date. It was encyclopedic in intent and nature offering information and advice on any aspect of household duties one might need. Although mostly a cookery book there are extensive chapters on medical and legal practices, the management of servants, housekeeping, and the raising of children. Mrs Beeton claims very few recipes for her own. Some are attributed to Mrs Glasse, Miss Acton, Dr Kitchener, Mrs Rundell etc. Others, not attributed, were gleaned from reader contributions to the English Woman's Domestic Magazine, the authors already noted and many more sources besides. Equally much of the non-kitchen related content was gleaned elsewhere. Isabella's skills were not so much in the kitchen, but rather at her desk, as a writer, journalist, compiler, organiser and editor. The recipes are compiled with an almost ruthless clarity. Extensively indexed, each entry is numbered and each of the 2,751 recipes provides in order the ingredients, mode, time, average cost, sufficiency (no of serves) and seasonal availability; a style adopted in part from Eliza Acton, but which Mrs Beeton made her own and which has formed the basis for modern recipe writing ever since. A further unique feature of The Book of Household Management was its educational content aimed at women; i.e.,the inclusion of much factual information surrounding the subject of the recipes extending to relevant history, mythology, religion, agriculture, science.
The Book of Household Management was also one of the first cookery books to use colour illustrations. The illustrator for the head and tail pieces was Harrison Weir (1824-1906) and probably Myles Birket Foster (1825-1899). The artist for the colour titlepage is unknown. The engraver was most likely H Newsom Woods.³
Between 1861 and 1865, two smaller books under Mrs Beeton's name were published repeating and reordering content from this text. Work had also begun on a second edition. Isabella died in 1865. A second edition was published in 1869. Over the next century, a myriad number of 'new editions' (expanded, condensed, adjusted, rewritten etc), as well as versions, variations and selections under various titles were published under her name. They all stem from this text. Over the years, her name has become a generic term for a domestic cooking authority⁴. Regardless of the origins of some of the content, The Book of Household Management is a significant authority on Victorian cooking and home management and was a significant influence on the domestic identity of the emerging mid-Victorian British middle classes throughout the British Empire.
An apparently uncommon variant, as all other copies so far consulted were printed by Cox & Wyman
Uncommon. A solid very early working copy of one of the definitive British cookbooks of the mid-nineteenth century.
§ This impression not included in the usual bibliographies. cf for the first impression Axford p.38; Bitting p.32; Cagle 561; Craig, 8; Simon BG 186.
¹ Address on illustrated title-page is 248 Strand. First line of errata is corrected to p.657.
² Illustration as issued. The idyllic frontispiece included with the first impression was not used for this impression. None of the colour plates are on the white background used in the first impression, all on a salmon background, making this later in the second print run.
³ Hughes, Kathryn. The Short Life & Long Times of Mrs Beeton. London : 4th Estate, 2005, p.330.
⁴ Oxford English Dictionary
Item #11355
Price: $2,000.00 AUD