A New System of Domestic Cookery
London, John Murray, 1814. A Lady [Mrs Rundell]. A New System of Domestic Cookery. (New Ed) John Murray: London, 1814. 12mo (170x100mm) half bnd, brown calf, marbled bds [24],xxx,352pp. 9 engraved plates , frontispiece
Second-hand hardcover
[RUNDELL, Maria Eliza née Ketelby (1745 - 1828)]
A New System of Domestic Cookery; formed upon principles of economy: and adapted to the use of private families by a Lady. A new edition corrected.
London : John Murray, 50 Albemarle-Street. Printed by T Allan & Co, printers, Edinburgh. Price 7s. 6d. in boards.
Duodecimo (170x100mm) contemporary half-bound brown calf, marbled boards, smooth spine, simple gilt ruled, dark brown, gilt lettered title label [22], xxx, 352pp. Collation: [a]¹², b¹⁴, B - P¹², Q⁶. Engraved frontispiece depicting a well-stocked larder and nine copper-engraved plates illustrating cuts of meat, carving and trussing. Contemporary ownership inscription in ink to title-page. Spine lightly creased and worn, corners lightly bruised; top edge a trifle dusty; small closed tear to head of B1; a few pencil marks; otherwise internally crisp and clean.
¶ An important early edition of one of the earliest comprehensive English manuals of household management, and one of the most successful domestic books of the nineteenth century.
First published anonymously in 1806 as the work of “A Lady”, Rundell's New System of Domestic Cookery was originally assembled for the instruction of her daughters and extended well beyond recipes to encompass household economy, servants, preservation, brewing, carving and domestic remedies. The work became a publishing phenomenon, running through more than sixty editions and contributing substantially to the early commercial success of John Murray's publishing house. Among its notable recipes is an early English formula for “Tomata Sauce”, introduced in the 1807 edition, together with recipes for curry, including chicken curry, reflecting the incorporation of Anglo-Indian dishes into the nineteenth-century British household.
The work was extensively imitated by later writers, and its recipes continued to circulate in Victorian domestic literature, including in the cookery writing associated with Isabella Beeton. The 1814 edition is of particular interest in the publishing history of the work, appearing at a point when Rundell was complaining to Murray about errors in the editing and what she regarded as his neglect of the book and hindrance of its sales; these disagreements later developed into a prolonged copyright dispute between author and publisher.
An uncommon edition, not to be confused with the substantially different New York edition of the same year. An attractive complete copy.
§ OCLC records eight holdings of this edition: Harvard, Notre Dame, Vassar, Kings College, Leeds, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, National Library of Sweden, Dresden
§ Drexel 598; Simon BG 1321. For other London editions see Bitting, pp. 410-11; Cagle 971-977; Oxford, pp. 135–36; Quayle, pp. 118–126.
Item #11708
Price: $750.00 AUD