BEETON'S BOOK OF HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT a First Edition Facsimile

NY: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1977. (USA) Book club edition with the blind stamped star imprint to the corner of the back cover. No markings, but there a several tiny faint spots to the leading edge of pages, the front endpaper has been removed, otherwsie Very Good in Very Good dust jacket. 7" x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2", red boards, xxxix, 1112pp. B&W illus. This is the first edition facsimile of the 1861 edition of BEETON'S BOOK OF HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT presented without any modern editorial comment nor changes. This is a useful work for those interested in this Beeton work as Isabella Beeton died at 28, and subsequent editions of her work were added to and transformed by many other people so that later copies bear little resemblance to the original material. Here we find Beeton's instructions to whiten scorched linen by using "dried fowl's dung", and for making a boot polish using red wine (ordinaire) as one of its ingredients. There are many, many recipes but these have not been veted for modern cooks. This copy has the red boards, not the red cloth, with the top edge of pages plain and not yellow as in the trade edition. As well, the book is not as thick as the trade edition and lacks all the colour plates even though these are listed on page xxxix. Finally there is no price to the dustjacket front flap and the back cover has a blind embossed star. (2.5 JM HOQ 101/3. Book Club (BCE/BOMC). Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall.