KITCHEN LITERATURE

Evening Star, Issue 19856, 3 May 1928, Page 1

KITCHEN LITERATURE

EXHIBITION OF COOKERY BOOKS SOME RARE OLD VOLUMES. “The cook and the poet, are just alike; the art of each lies in his brain.”—Athenasus. The publication of a new translation of the first volume of ‘ The Deipnosophists,” by Athenams, with the original Greek on the left-hand page, coincides very happily with an exhibition at tho London Library, St. James’s square, of rare old cookery books from the collection formed by Mr. John Hodgkin, F.L.S. Both remind us that the art of the cook and , the science.of gastronomy are subjects worth the attention of the best brains (writes Mary Evelyn, in ‘John o’ London’s Weekly ’). Athenasus relatesthe conversation on food at a feast given to an assembly of philosophers, physicians, lexicographers, grammarians, poets, and musicians, by Pontifex Livias Larensis, a wealthy Roman, at tho end of the second or beginning of the third century a.d., whilst the first instalment of books lent for exhibition by Mr Hodgkin includes sojnc rare incunabula, which are of value not only as early cookery books, but also as well-preserved examples of early printing, paper, woodcuts, and binding. They are interesting from other angles. COOKERY AND HISTORY. As history, cookery books are an almost unworked mine of wealth; as literature, Professor Saintsbury remarks : “ All sensible and well-informed people know that cookery books are delightful. . . . Further, a smaller, though it is hoped not inconsiderable, number of still more sensible and still better-informed people know that old cookery books have, if a less practical, a peculiar charm of their own.” Edward Fitzgerald, in a letter to Fanny Kemble, confesses his love for them “ I was so comforted to find that your mother had some hand in Dr Kitchener’s Cookery Book, which has always been guide, philosopher, and friend in silch matters. I can’t help liking a cookery book.” And only last year Monsieur Vanderpyl, the well-known French critic, writing on ‘ Art and Gastronomy,’ refers to the fact that Balzac, to describe the characters of his heroes perfectly, makes us dine with them, and gives a recipe, or the details of a dish, which in tho space of a second will inform those who read of the mentality of a housewife, or tho type of boarding house to which belongs the pension Vauquer in ‘ Pero Goriot.’ A UNIQUE COLLECTION.

Mr Hodgkin’s collection of cookery hooks and pamphlets, which includes between 2,000 and 3,000 items, is pro ba)bly unique. When Mrs Pennell showed a few of her treasures in the London Library somo years ago she was able to include only one copy of Platina’s famous book, and that a faded and battered specimen; Mr Hodgkin kindly allows us tho privilege of seeing eight different copies, each in a fine state of preservation. Of these-there is the first, edition, with a date, printed at Venice in 1475; a very fine edition (bound up with a copy of Apicius) dated 1498, which" has the initial capitals of each paragraph in blue and red alternately; and other editions dated 1499; one in Italian, 1516; one in German, printed at Strasburg in 1530; another at Augsburg, 1533; and a French one at Lyons in 1571. The Strasburg copy is the first German edition of Platina, and has a woodcut hy Michael Foster on the title page; tho Augsburg edition has a, copy of this, and a comparison of the two is illuminating. FROM FOREIGN PARTS. Only about twenty-five books are shown at a time, and these ere arranged in four different groups. 1. Foreign books. 2. English books. 3. Books on tea, coffee, drinkables, and carving. 4. MSS. and recipe books. Those exhibited are what Mr Hodgkin considers to bo of rather more special interest than what may bo called the well known or ordinary rarities. The foreign books, to which, of course, the Platina belongs, were on view for over three weeks in January. It was intended at first to show each group for two weeks only, but for various reasons the time was extended; this means that one group or the other will be probably on view up-to April. A second edition of Scappi’s famous work was a special feature of the foreign books. This is a rare unknown issue with a large folding plate showing how the victuals were served at a Papal Conference which lasted from November 29, 1549, to February 7, 1550, and resulted at 3 o’clock in the night in tho election of Guilio 111. Scappi was private cook to Pope Pius V., and wrote for the instruction of his pupil Giovanni, who had been recommended to him by Cardinal Carpi. In addition to the woodcut showing the ordering of the food served at tile Papal Conclave, there arc a number of others which show the arrangement and equipment of the kitchens, together with the utensils in daily use at that period in Italy, and one illustrating the best arrangements for an outdoor kitchen in the country. A portrait of Scappi forms the frontispiece and shows him to ho a man of dignty and authority. RECIPES JN VERSE. . A German book by Walter Ryff, a medical man, Frankfurt, 1545, is one of the earliest on sick-room cookery. The title page has a wonderful illustration showing the interior of a hospital printed in red and bjack. ‘ Festin Joyeux ’ is an eighteenthcentury collection of cookery recipes written in verso and set to popular airs, which arc given at the end of the book in twenty-four pages of engraved music. This is dated Paris, 1738. Altogether, there were three books shown belonging to the fifteenth century, fourteen of the sixteenth, four |of the seventeenth, and two of tho eighteenth.