The Practice of Cookery

Dalgairns, Mrs. The Practice of Cookery adapted to the business of every day life. (4th Ed) Robert Cadell: Edinburgh 1831. 8vo (170x110mm) rebound brown cloth, gilt lettered bds xxxviii,[2],546,2,[2]pp. owner name to title-page; handwritten recipes to rep

DALGAIRNS, Mrs [1780s-1844 (Catherine Emily Callbeck)]

The Practice of Cookery, adapted to the business of every day life. Fourth Edition.

Edinburgh: Robert Cadell, 1831. Printed by Ballantyne and Company, Paul's Work, Canongate.

 Octavo (170x110mm) brown calico-texture cloth, gilt lettered spine;  xxxviii,[2],546,2,[2]pp.

Neatly recently rebound, new endpapers. Owner name "Mary Montgomery" to title-page; three handwritten cordial recipes to the original rear endpaper. Sporadic faint foxing; one or two faint signs of kitchen use (mostly in the preserving section); edges a trifle age-toned/lightly soiled; a few small corner folds to bottom edges. Pages lightly buckled.  Overall a clean and tight copy.

Dalgairns was a British North American who left Prince Edward Island, Canada for Dundee, Scotland in the 1820s.  First published in 1829, The Practice of Cookery was an instant critical and commercial success.  In June 1829, the review in The Spectator asserted that Mrs. Dalgairns was "far more copious than [Mrs Rundell or Dr Kitchener] are, far more various, and to us more novel."  Certainly the number of recipes is much larger than can usually be found in contemporary books and the breadth of the recipes equally uncommon.  An entire chapter is devoted to curry.  Although known for its' Scottish recipes', there are many more from North America, England, Europe and even Asia; a recipe for 'China Chilo' appears in the chapter on mutton.

The 4th edition brought the total number of copies issued to just 6000.  Despite a price of 7/- it was unlike its' competitors, unillustrated.

§ This edition not found in any bibliography. Cf. Bitting p.113 and Axford p.330 (later editions); Cagle 639 (earlier edition); Oxford p.163 (earlier and later editions).  OCLC records one holding; British Library.