Lady Bountiful's Legacy
London, Griffith & Farran, 1868. Timbs, John (ed). Lady Bountiful's Legacy to Her Family & Friends. Griffith & Farran: London, 1868. 8vo (180x125mm) tan cloth, gilt decorated bds viii,375,[1]pp. eps splitting but hinges sound; bds edges lightly rubbed & bruised; bookplate of John Fuller
Second-hand hardcover
TIMBS, John (ed) (1801-1875)
Lady Bountiful's Legacy to Her Family and Friends: a book of practical instructions & duties, counsels & experiences, anecdotes, hints & recipes in housekeeping & domestic management calculated to increase the comforts of house and home.
London : Griffin and Farran, (successors to Newbery and Harris), MDCCCLXVIII [1868]. First Edition. Printed by Murray and Gibb, Edinburgh, printers to Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
Octavo (180x125mm) publisher's brown cloth, titled and decorated to front panel and spine in black and gilt, rear panel in black only, beveled edges, viii,375,[1]pp.
Spine head and foot gently bruised and rubbed, boards faintly darkened; book plate "ex-libris John Fuller" to front paste-down; front hinge started and soft; rear hinge sound; t.e a trifle dusty; Bookseller's blind stamp "W H Smith & Son, The Strand London" to front free end-paper, and bookseller's ticket "W Bone & Son, London" to rear paste-down.
John Timbs was an editor, compiler, author and antiquary. His works, of which there are more than 150 and possibly more (some published under the pseudonym 'Horace Welby'), are all compilations of facts, stories and observations on subjects as varied as domestic economy, science and technology, literature, etc. and collated from almost anywhere.*
Entitled after Lady Bountiful, a character noted for her charity and generosity, in the 1707 comedy Beaux' Stratagem by the playwright George Farquhar (1678-1707), Lady Bountiful's Legacy is a treasure chest of miscellaneous domestic advice, gathered somewhat magpie like by Timbs from various sources often passed off as other "Lady Bountifuls" and garnished with anecdotes and asides, also assiduously collected. Occasionally Timbs acknowledges a source, more often not. There are a scattering of recipes in a few chapters; particularly in the chapter on Cookery for the Poor.
John Fuller (1916-2001) had a long career in hospitality journalism and education. Formerly Director of the Scottish Hotel School at the University of Strathclyde Professor Fuller was, until his retirement in 1976, Head of the Department of Catering Management at Oxford Polytechnic. He was also a significant collector of culinary material and the author of a number of hospitality, culinary and restaurant text books, many still relevant today. The John Fuller Collection is held at Oxford Brookes University.
An uncommon, curious and fascinating compendium of early Victorian domestic advice with excellent provenance.
§ OCLC records 13 holdings; COPAC records 5 holdings in the UK
§ Not in Cagle, nor Bitting nor Attar.
*Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Item #9605
Price: $220.00 AUD