"LIFE IS MADE ALL THE BRIGHTER BY SATISFACTORY FEEDING; AND HE IS A DULL PHILOSOPHER WHO DESPISES A GOOD DINNER": CASSELL'S DICTIONARY OF COOKERY, WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS

CASSELL. Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery. London, Paris, New York & Melbourne: Cassell, circa 1887. Thick octavo, original three-quarter pebbled plum morocco, raised bands. $450.

Early printing of this indispensable late 19th-century cookery guide in dictionary format, offering careful instructions and recipes for what to do with nearly every ingredient in the British kitchen, with chromolithographed frontispiece and numerous in-text wood-engraved illustrations.

"We are inclined to think that this should stand, if not at the head of English cookery books, anyhow in a very high place among them. We cannot, indeed, pretend to estimate the value, in point of practicability, economy, or delicacy of result, of the '9,000 recipes' which form the main part of this volume. But the system on which the information is arranged seems to be sound and convenient, and the information, where we have tested it, to be of good quality. The introduction, discussing the 'principles' on which we should eat and drink, or rather cater for the eating and drinking wants of others, is more easily appreciated. We… find it sensible and to the point" (The Spectator). The first edition was published circa 1875. Owner pencil signature dated 1887. Infrequent marginalia, a few penciled recipe notecards laid in.

Occasional minor foxing, light rubbing to extremities of morocco. An extremely good copy.