Antiquitates Culinariae; or Curious Tracts Relating to the Culinary Affairs of the Old English...
London: R. Blamire, 1791. 1st Edition. Large quarto, early three-quarter blue morocco over blue patterned paper-covered boards, raised bands, spine and boards gilt, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt.
"[W]e are told by an historian, that the difference observable between the Saxon, and Norman modes of living, was exceedingly striking: the former, says our author, delighted in the abundance of their food, the latter in the delicacy of it." Richard Warner (1763-1857) was an English antiquarian and divine. His Antiquitates Culinariae was one of the first works to examine the history of early English cookery, part of a scholarly movement that developed in the last decades of the 18th century. The work is essentially a compilation of half a dozen English receipt books, or collections of recipes, in manuscript, from the 13th-17th centuries, and include, among others, "The Forme of Cury," a collection of nearly 200 recipes recorded by the cooks of King Richard II; a lengthy historical essay by Warner precedes the compilation. Engraved title, double-page tinted aquatint plate of "A Peacock Feast," single-page aquatint of "A Saxon Entertainment." ESTC T92345; Cagle 1049; Bitting 485; Vicaire 873. Small morocco bookplate gilt to upper pastedown. Minor foxing and fingersoiling to text. Light rubbing to spine-ends, joints, corners and edges. A handsome, wide-margined copy. Item #4840
$350.00