The Dinner Question - or, How to Dine Well and Economically

This is an exceedingly rare copy of "THE DINNER QUESTION" - or, How to Dine Well and Economically by Tabitha Tickletooth. 1860 "New Edition" (stated) - published the same year as the 1st edition; Routledge, Warne, and Routledge; London. Hardcover. "Combining the Rudiments of Cookery with Useful Hints on Dinner Giving and Serving, and Other Household Words of Advice: Garnished with Anecdotes of Eminent Cooks and Epicures, as Well as Saws in Gastronomy from the Great Masters." "Tabitha Tickletooth" was the pseudonym of Charles Selby, a 19th century English comic actor and playwright. With an Index at the back, and three pages of publisher's advertisements at both the front and back. Rare in any condition. "Selby/Tickletooth provides recipes appropriate for the era along with a dose of tongue-in-cheek humor. Much of it pokes fun of the gastronomical snobbery of the time. As he says, the book provided 'plain instructions for the preparation of plain dishes at the least possible expense.' Tickletooth also provides advice on other items of domestic life, including, appropriately enough, care of the teeth. Restaurant in London and Paris are reviewed, and he quotes an older gentlemen's warning about eating rabbit in certain French establishments: 'the hares cooked in these cheap establishments have in general short ears, and are apt to mew.'" Condition: Soiling to the covers; worn corners. The leather over the spine is incomplete with pieces missing. Disbound - the front cover and opening pages up to page 32 have separated from the spine and are not attached. Despite being disbound, all pages are present including the opening advertisement pages, frontispiece, title & copyright pages, contents pages, introduction, and all numbered pages up to page 32. The remaining pages (page 33 and on) are attached to the spine. The pages are in great condition - clean with only a small chip at the outer edge of the title page, and a light stain at the inner edge of the frontispiece. A nice candidate for repair because of the clean interior. …