THE DINNER QUESTION : or, How to Dine Well and Economically,; 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

12mo; (5)-vi, (1), 8-192 pages; The Dinner Question advises the reader on myriad questions to do with dining, focusing on cooking and dining on an economical budget. Illustrated with a frontispiece engraving of "the author" - "From a photograph by Herbert Watkins." Publisher's advertisements on pastedowns and free endpapers. Bound in original publisher's paper covered boards. Still attractive, though lacks spine strip, corners rounded with some loss, edges rubbed. Some minor rubbing to the boards. Contents complete and clean, rear hinge intact, front hinge splitting with an amateur repair; first signature stands proud. A good example of this increasingly scarce work [see images]. "Tabitha Tickletooth" was the pseudonym of Charles Selby, a 19th century English comic actor and playwright. Though approaching the work with good humour, Selby was serious about this culinary and household guide for young housewivesNonetheless, the author peppered the work with witticisms and appears dressed as "Tabitha" in the frontispiece illustration. This book appeared at a time when middle-class couples were feeling increasingly insecure over the many details and decisions involved in running a modern household. Much of it pokes fun at the gastronomical snobbery of the time. The book provided 'plain instructions for the preparation of plain dishes at the least possible expense.' Isabella Beeton's more widely known Book of Household Management was published the year after, but Tabithaâs The Dinner Question is quite informative and much more entertaining. The author proudly asserts the book to have been âstewed down from fifty cookery books [and] seasoned with the practical knowledge derived from nearly forty yearsâ experience in housekeeping.â There are also sections discussing Parisian restaurants, and suburban and London dining-houses. Useful instructions on processes such as killing and skinning an eel are keenly presented. An historical footnote: "Among [Selby's] works was The Marble Heart (1854), a translation of Thà odore Barrià re's Les Filles de Marbre. The play is best known today for a 9 November 1863 performance in Washington, D.C., where President Abraham Lincoln watched John Wilkes Booth, playing the villain Raphael. Booth directed some of his threatening lines directly to Lincoln, causing one of Lincoln's party to remark "he looks as if he meant that for you." Lincoln agreed, noting "he does look pretty sharp at me, doesn't he?" [Wikipedia].…