A NEW SYSTEM OF DOMESTIC COOKERY; FORMED UPON PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMY: AND ADAPTED TO THE USE OF PRIVATE FAMILIES. BY A LADY.

[Mrs Rundell].

Publication Date: 1811

About this Item

1811, London, printed by George Ramsay & Co., for John Murray, new edition, corrected, (ppxvi) + xxviii + 354, engraved frontispiece and 9 plates, half contemporary calf over marbled boards, red label. "John Murray II (1778?Äì1843), is best known as the publisher of Lord Byron and of Jane Austen?Äôs last four novels. Murray, however, also published dozens of women writers, though there is one female author who is most responsible for the financial success of his house. This woman is Maria Eliza Rundell (1745?Äì1828) and the book she published with Murray was her 1806 New System of Domestic Cookery, formed upon principles of economy, and adapted to the uses of private families. Indeed, Murray?Äôs purchase of his premises in Mayfair, at 50 Albermarle Street, for £4,000 in 1812, was dependent upon the immediate and enduring success of this one book. Murray was encouraged by his early association with Lord Byron: the first work Byron published with Murray, Childe Harold?Äôs Pilgrimage, Cantos I and II, appeared in 1812, after which Byron claimed ?ÄúI awoke one morning, and found myself famous.?Äù ?But the actual financial security for the Albermarle property was two copyrights: one for Scott?Äôs Marmion and the other for Maria Rundell?Äôs Domestic Cookery. Rundell?Äôs cookbook was almost certainly Murray?Äôs most valuable property." [Michelle Levy, "The Women's Print History Project"] Interesting bookplate of Edward Braxton Reynolds, Public Analyst, from Exeter, featuring snakes curling around a spider's web meeting at a skull and crossbones with the message "There was Death in the Pot". Apart from being the south west's leading public analyst, Braxton Reynolds, known as an eccentric solitary character also achieved some notoriety in the region for opening Truro's first Sex shop, and thereby offending many locals.

Seller Inventory # 07421

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A NEW SYSTEM OF DOMESTIC COOKERY; FORMED UPON PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMY: AND ADAPTED TO THE USE OF PRIVATE FAMILIES. BY A LADY.
• Publication Date: 1811
• Condition: Very good.
• Seller catalogs:
  • Cookery