1. Mason, Charlotte.

The Lady’s Assistant – For regulating and supplying her Table; Being a Complete System of Cookery containing one hundred and fifty Bills of Fare, properly disposed for Family Dinners of Five Dishes, to Two Courses of Eleven and Fifteen ; with Upward of Fifty Bills of Fare for Suppers from Five Dishes to Nineteen ; and Several Deserts ; Including Likewise The Fullest and choicest Receipts of Various Kinds, With Full Directions for preparing them in the most approved Manner, from which a continual Change may be made, as wanted, in the several Bills of Fare : Published from the Manuscript collection of Mrs. Charlotte Mason, A Professed Housekeeper, who had upwards of Thirty Years Experience in Families of the first Fashion.

The Fourth Edition. Dublin, Printed for Robert Burton, 1778. Octavo. 446 pages plus 10 pages [of 16] of Index. Original Full 18th century Leather, restored and repaired in the 20th century. Front free endpaper missing. LAst few pages of Index missing. Pages a bit rough. Former copy of an Elise Lean, Cork.

2. [Newman, W. & Co.].

Dainty Dishes for Indian Tables.

Second Edition. Calcutta, W. Newman, 1881. Small Octavo. VIII, 448 pages plus several pages with advertising for menu cards and also an illustrated advertisement for a patented oven (Portable Mineral Oil Cooking Stove by T.E.Thomson & Co.). Hardcover / Original sage-green cloth with gilt lettering and illustrations on spine and front board. In protective Mylar. Edge slightly stained. Otherwise in unusually excellent condition with only minor signs of wear (some minor staining) and some minor bumping to corners. Binding firm.

3. Hazlitt, W.Carew.

Old Cookery Books and Ancient Cuisine. [Mentioning also Thomas Muffet’s “Health’s Improvement” from 1655 and a longer chapter: “The Early Englishman and his Food”] Essays also include: “Royal Fests and Savage Pomp” / “Cookery Books” [including a small bibliography of 38 important cookery publications from before 1850: The Book of Carving by W. de Worde / The Treasury of Commodious Conceits and Hidden Secrets by John Partridge / The Good Housewife’s Jewel by Thomas Dawson / etc. etc. / Also included is a chapter on “Early Receipts” – Select Extracts from an early receipt-book: “To make Dutch-Beef / To make a Ragout of Pigs-Ears / Meat-Pies and Puddings / Sweet Puddings / Cakes (To make Shrewsbury Cakes) / To make Whetstone Cakes / Conserves, Dried and Candied Fruits, Marmalades etc. Another essay is: “Diet of the Yeoman and the Poor” / “Meats and Drinks” / “The Kitchen” – “Etiquette of the Table”.

London, Elliot Stock, 1886. Wide Octavo. 271 pages including an Index. Original Hardcover in protective collector’s Mylar. Large paper edition (fine india paper) with extra – wide space next to the text for notes. Deckled Edges. Binding slightly rubbed with a tiny defect to upper spine. Very fine and only minor foxing to some pages. [The Book-Lover’s Library. Edited by Henry B. Wheatley]

4. [Commonwealth & Colonial History & Law] – Luke, Sir Harry [Lukach, Harry] – ‘the most unwasted life of any man I have known’ – (Sir Ronald Storrs on Sir Harry Luke)

Very Large Archive / Collection of British Colonial Official & Lieutenant-Governor of Malta, Sir Harry Luke. The Archive is Sir Harry Luke’s very personal and one might say, confidential collection of original autographed letters, correspondence and books he surrounded himself with at the end of his life. The Archive includes important and meaningful personal and official letters from important historical figures in the Arena of the Middle East and especially Palestine with for example interesting legal insights into the Jewish-Arab conflicts of the 1920s, as well as working-copies of books which Luke wrote himself at every location he was posted to during his career. In order to understand the vastness of the Archive you need to visit our website and see the nineteen (19) chapters of Material we synchronised chronologically with Sir Harry Luke’s life [Search for “Library & Collections” and find 19 chapters at the bottom of that page]. The Archive contains an unbelievable and impressive array of several highly interesting letters and correspondence regarding key historical events as disparate as the Mudros/Gallipoli-Campaign under Rosslyn Wemyss, the Jaffa Riots, the Western Wall Riots of Jerusalem in 1929 as well as information on diplomatic activity prior to the Suez Crisis, descriptions of locations like Guadalcanal prior to the War in the Pacific, detailed information on personell at Gardner Island / Phoenix Islands during the vanishing of Amelia Earhart, to only name a few bizarre coincidences. The books contain manuscript annotations and preparatory notes for later editions as well as many letters written to Luke regarding the many postings he served at during his long career in the Colonial Service. The Archive includes several hundred pages of correspondence between Luke and other officials within the Colonial Office, often in multi-page letters. Also included is proof of Luke’s connections to the Ecclesiastical World of the Vatican and Lambeth Palace, his diplomatic abilities are praised in letters from friends and officials alike. Luke received cordial letters from Queens (Queen Salote) as well as polarizing letters from Politicians. Included are manuscript notepads as well as confidential reports from other diplomats on locations where Luke was soon to be taking office, e.g. British Western Pacific Islands. The Archive is unique in its form because it represents not only the correspondence between Luke as an official but also allows us a view into the life of a Career Diplomat of the last days of the Colonial British Empire who develops a deep connection with everyone he served with and under. Luke did not only keep correspondence with famous friends like Ronald Storrs but also emotional letters from those who served under him and respectfully stay in touch beyond the termination of Luke’s service. Many letters to family colleagues in the Colonial Office, Politicians, Priests with political functions, are preserved with Luke’s original typescript-answer or initial letter. The official and often explosive and historically meaningful content with striking relevance for reinterpreting Mediterranean, Middle Eastern Conflicts etc. makes this archive a must for research and posterity. This is not just any diplomat’s archive. The majority of these letters are unpublished but are waiting to be discovered (see for example the long letter by Sir Kenneth Roberts-Wray on the Palestine Commission. Also included his Luke’s very valuable, handwritten manuscript-notebook of colonial postings-recipe-collections together with his working copy of the very special cookery book “The Tenth Muse”. The majority of the collection is now catalogued and visible on our website. A collection of c. 89 letters and 43 items of Ephemera has not been catalogued yet.

England / Palestine / Israel / Malta / Cyprus, Fiji / Sierra Leone etc., 1898 – 1968. Octavo / Quarto / Folio. c.15000 pages (books) / Collection of hundreds of Letters (see images) / Photographs and ephemera etc. Original Hardcover / Softover – Bindings (also private interim-bindings), often with the rare dustjackets in protective collector’s Mylar, some without dustjackets. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Please check our website under “Libraries & Collections” and see detailed listings of books and letters, all categorized.

5. Jelinek, Bretislav.

Handbuch Bewährter Konditorei-Rezepte. [Übersetzung des Werkes: Prakticke Pokyny A Recepty Rro Cukrare]. [Zusammengestellt und herausgegeben vom tscheslowakischen Gehilfenverband der Zuckerbäcker, Lebzeltner, Schokoladenerzeuger und Wachszieher mit dem Sitze in Prag.] Übersetzt, umgearbeitet und in deutscher Sprache herausgegeben von Bretislav Jelinek (Troppau).

Troppau, Im Verlage des Verfassers, Druck: Heinz & Comp. 1927. 15.5cm x 23 cm. 190 pages. Frontispiece photograph of author and four pages of contemporary advertisements. Original Hardcover (Dark orange cloth – title in dark brown lettering on front). Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Sehr Selten ! / Very rare Czech Baking Recipes !

6. [The Tenth Muse] – Luke, Harry Charles [Colonial Cookery Book Manuscript Notebook].

Manuscript Notebook, Working – copy and printed version of “The Tenth Muse: An unconventional cookery book of recipes from many lands”. [Including Sir Harry Luke’s Manuscript Notebook in which he collected on 96 pages and loosely inserted letters/notes some of his recipes when he was travelling. The notebook comes also with his personal working-copy of the printed book, with sources for recipes / letters / heavily annotated by Luke. The recipe-notebook, written in the 1930s, includes several pages with historical recipes of Food prepared in Cyprus, with special recipes of “Kyrenia Salad”, “Apricot Brandy (Cyprus)”, “Kyrenia Tomato Paste”, Kyrenia Salad”]. Collected and compiled, with an introductory chapter by Sir Harry Luke. With the collaboration of Elizabeth Godfrey.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London, Putnam, c.1930-1954. 22 cm x 14,5 cm. The Manuscript Notebook includes 96 pages with letters, notes and sclippings included / The working copy with letters and clippings and annotations: 240 pages. Original Hardcover. Harry Luke’s (Lukach) personal copy. With annotations and markings by Harry Luke.

7. Morphy, Countess [Hincks, Marcelle Azra].

English Recipes – Including the Traditional Dishes of Scotland, Ireland & Wales. [Including loosely inserted a Recipe for “Danish Pastries” and “Savarin a la Pompadour”].

New York, Herbert Joseph Ltd. for Selfridge & Co. Limited, 1935. 13,5 cm x 21,5 cm. 224 pages. Modern Hardcover / Recently rebound in modern cloth with new endpapers. Bookblock firm but with some foxing and occasional staining. Otherwise in very good, now firm and restored condition.

8. Barnard, Melanie.

Cincinnati à la Carte [20 Great Restaurants [in Cincinnati] share their best Recipes [Including a Recipe Index]. Edited by Laura Pulfer and Lilia F. Brady. Design by Kay Walker and Barbara Bendall.

Cincinnati (Ohio), Published by Cincinnati, 120 West Fifth Street, 1980. Octavo. 128 pages. Original, illustrated Softcover (Cover illustration by Jim Schaefer). Very good condition with only minor signs of wear. Extremely Rare !