The Constance Spry Cookbook

Selected as one of the Greatest Cookbooks of all time in the January 2004 issue of Britain's Waitrose Food Illustrated, the Constance Spry Cookery Book is one of the best-known cookery books of all time.

It has long been out of print and we are delighted to be able to bring this huge volume of over a thousand pages, back to life with the kind permission of Constance Spry Ltd. It was written in the 1950s when both Constance Spry and Rosemary Hume were among the greatest names in cookery writing at the time. Their aim was to offer a supremely practical book with chapters covering kitchen processes, soups and sauces, through vegetables, meat, poultry and game to cold dishes and pastry making. In fact everything every cook, or aspiring cook, would need to know.

That the book has been so popular for over half a century is a true testament to how successfully they achieved their aim. The Constance Spry Cookery Book is now an established classic (and much requested on wedding gift lists) and a timeless treasure which stands the test of time, and is perhaps even more needed today when so many people have not been taught to cook by mothers or at school. It truly is the only cookbook you will ever need.

Rosemary Hume had opened her cooking school ‘Ecole du Petit Cordon Bleu’ in London in the early 1930s having graduated from the Cordon Bleu Cookery School in Paris and in 1945 went on to become co-principal of the London school where she helped and encouraged many of the world’s best cooks. She was a leading cookery writer of her day and was awarded an MBE before her death in 1984 at the age of 76.

Born in Derby but brought up and educated in Ireland, Constance Spry opened a small flower shop behind Victoria Station in London in the late 1920s and in the 30s this was followed by a school of flower arranging in Mayfair. Spry's outstanding skill and creativity made her much in demand at the highest social levels and her flower decorations became famous throughout the world; she was responsible for the flower arrangements at the wedding and coronation of the Queen. She became joint principal with Rosemary Hume of the Cordon Bleu Cookery School in London and later opened Winkfield Place, a residential school near Windsor, where young women could learn the complete art of cookery and entertaining. Before she died in 1960 Constance Spry had written twelve books on cookery and flower decoration.