Leeds University Library's Cookery Collection: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 10:52, 27 August 2020

Revision as of 00:56, 30 September 2020

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=== Overview ===

The Cookery Collection encompasses a series of collections from different origins acquired by the Brotherton Library and grouped together by the subject of cookery as a single collection group.<ref name="Cookery Collections Guide">{{cite web|title=Cookery Collections Guide|url=https://library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-cookery-collection|website=Special Collections|publisher=Leeds University Library|accessdate=5 April 2017}}</ref><ref name="The English Cookery Book">{{cite book|last1=White|first1=Eileen|title=The English Cookery Book: Historical Essays|date=2004|publisher=Prospect Books|isbn=1 -90301836 -6|pages=6–27|url=http://prospectbooks.co.uk/img/EnglishCookeryBook.pdf|accessdate=5 April 2017}}</ref>

=== Blanche Legat Leigh's donation ===

The Cookery Collection at Special Collections in the Brotherton Library began in 1939 when Blanche Legat Leigh, the Lady Mayoress of Leeds, donated her 1,500 printed books and some manuscript volumes to the Library.<ref name="Secret Leeds">{{cite book|last1=Edwards|first1=John |display-authors=etal |title=Secret Leeds|date=2017|publisher=Amberley Publishing|isbn=9781445655130|url=https://books.google.co.ukcom/books?id=vBjwDQAAQBAJ&dq=cookery+collection+leeds&source=gbs_navlinks_s|accessdate=5 April 2017|ref=Secret Leeds}}</ref> The majority of these books were British, French and Italian cookery books dating from the early 16th century to 1930.<ref name="The English Cookery Book"/> An item of note from Leigh’s collection is a first edition of [[Mrs Beeton]]’s ''[[Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management|''Book of Household Management'']]'' with a letter inserted in it written to Leigh from Mrs Beeton’s son, Sir Mayson Beeton.<ref>{{cite web|title=Beeton Inserted Letter|url=http://lib.leeds.ac.uk/record=b1808715|website=Special Collections|publisher=Leeds University Library|accessdate=5 April 2017}}</ref> Leigh’s donation included her correspondence with book owners held in Special Collections’ archives.<ref name="Correspondence with booksellers">{{cite web|title=Leigh's Correspondence with Booksellers|url=https://library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/5969|website=Special Collections|publisher=Leeds University Library|accessdate=5 April 2017}}</ref>

=== John Preston's donation ===

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=== Previously held Collections ===

Some material already held by the Brotherton Library and related to cookery has since been associated with the Cookery Collection.<ref name="Cookery Collections Guide"/> These include [[#Chaston Brewing|Alfred Chaston Chapman]]’s collection of books about beer and brewery which was donated to Leeds University Library in 1939.<ref name="A Descriptive Guide">{{cite book|last1=Offor|first1=Richard|title=A Descriptive Guide to the Libraries of the University of Leeds|date=1947|publisher=Brotherton Library|pages=51–55|url=https://books.google.co.ukcom/books/about/A_descriptive_guide_to_the_libraries_of.html?id=XwQZAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y}}</ref><ref name="Chaston Chapman notebooks">{{cite web|title=Chaston Chapman notebooks|url=https://library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/167087|website=Special Collections|publisher=Leeds University Library|accessdate=5 April 2017}}</ref>

===New acquisitions===

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{{further|English cuisine}}

Cookery A consists of British printed cookery books.<ref name="Cookery Collections Guide"/> Among the major works held are four copies of [[Hannah Woolley]]’s ''[[The Queen-Like Closet]]''. The earliest edition is from 1672.<ref name="A Descriptive Guide"/><ref name="The queen-like closet">{{cite web|title=The Queen-Like Closet|url=http://lib.leeds.ac.uk/record=b1804470|website=Special Collections|publisher=Leeds University Library|accessdate=5 April 2017}}</ref> Woolley was one of the first women in England who earned a living from writing and selling books.<ref>{{cite web|title=Biography of Woolley, Hannah|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29957|website=ODNB|publisher=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|accessdate=5 April 2017}}</ref> There are two copies of ''Pomona: or the Fruit Garden Illustrated'' (1729) written by the English garden designer, [[Batty Langley]];<ref name="Pomona: or the Fruit Garden illustrated">{{cite web|title=Pomona: or the Fruit Garden illustrated|url=https://library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/221291|website=Special Collections|publisher=Leeds University Library|accessdate=5 April 2017}}</ref> the book is a gardener's manual for growing, picking and preserving fruits, as well as pruning and caring for plants.<ref name="Monday Library Chat"/> Charles Carter's ''The Complete Practical Cook'': ''or, a new system of the whole art and mystery of cookery'' (1730) is an illustrated recipe book.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Complete Practical Cook|url=https://library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/257821|website=Special Collections|publisher=Leeds University Library|accessdate=5 April 2017}}</ref> It contains copperplate engravings showing how to set and arrange a table for various courses in an 18th-century dinner.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Day|first1=Ivan|title=Charles Carter's Banniet Tort|url=http://www.historicfood.com/Banniet%20tort%20recipe.htm|website=Historic Food|accessdate=5 April 2017}}</ref> Charles Carter cooked for nobility and specialised in French baroque cuisine.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Meal|date=2001|publisher=Oxford Symposium|page=167|isbn=9781903018248|url=https://books.google.co.ukcom/books?id=GsNyprRS7EIC&dq=The+complete+practical+cook+charles+carter&source=gbs_navlinks_s|accessdate=5 April 2017}}</ref>

[[File:The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy Hannah Glasse.jpg|thumb|left|upright|''[[The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy]]'', by [[Hannah Glasse]]]]

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[[File:‘A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons’ by Friedrich Chritisan Accum.jpg|thumb|''A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons'' by Friedrich Christian Accum]]

In the Cookery Collection there are multiple copies of one of the earliest health and safety conscious food books, Friedrich Christian Accum’s ''A Treatise on Adulterations of Food and Culinary Poisons'' (1822).<ref>{{cite web|title=Copies of A Treatise on Adulterations of Food|url=http://lib.leeds.ac.uk/record=b1805634|website=Special Collections|publisher=Leeds University Library|accessdate=5 April 2017}}</ref> The text provides instructions about how to identify dangerous additives in common foods and raises awareness about the dishonest practices of food sellers who use [[adulterated food#Economic-adulteration|adulterated food]] to increase sales.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Fennema|first1=Owen R|title=Food additives – an unending controversy|journal=The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition|date=1987|volume=46|page=201|url=http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/reprint/46/1/201.pdf|accessdate=5 April 2017|doi=10.1093/ajcn/46.1.201|pmid=3300261}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=A treatise|url=https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/fromdnatobeer/digitalgallery/detail-2541012R.html|website=US National Library of Medicine|accessdate=5 April 2017}}</ref>

[[Eliza Acton]]’s ''[[Modern Cookery for Private Families|Modern Cookery, in all its Branches]]'': ''Reduced to a System of Easy Practice, for the use of Private Families'' was first published in 1845 and a number of editions are in the Cookery Collection at Leeds.<ref>{{cite web|title=Copies of Modern Cookery|url=https://library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore?query=b1829607|website=Special Collections|publisher=Leeds University Library|accessdate=5 April 2017}}</ref> Acton was extremely influential because she was the first cookery book writer to list the ingredients needed in a recipe and to note how long a dish takes to cook - an innovation which has become a standard feature of modern recipes.<ref>{{cite web|title=Biography of Acton, Eliza|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/73|website=ODNB|publisher=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|accessdate=5 April 2017}}</ref>

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=== Historians ===

The Cookery Collection at Leeds University Library has informed an array of publications. Anne Wilson was a member of staff at the Brotherton Library and catalogued the [[#John Preston's donation|Preston donation]] to the Leeds University Library Cookery Collection in 1964. This inspired her interest in food history. She went on to found the Leeds Symposium on Food History in 1986, so the Brotherton Library’s Cookery Collection was integral to the establishment of the Symposium.<ref name="The English Cookery Book"/> The Leeds Symposium has held annual meetings for the discussion of food history and the presentation of papers since 1986.<ref name="Leeds Symposium">{{cite web|title=History|url=http://www.leedsfoodsymposium.org.uk/History.html|website=Leeds Symposium on Food History|accessdate=6 April 2017}}</ref> Anne Wilson wrote ''Food and Drink in Britain'' (1973) which draws on the Cookery Collection's early cook books.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wilson|first1=Anne|title=Food and Drink in Britain: from the Stone Age to recent times|date=1973|publisher=Cookery Book Club|isbn=0 -09 -456040 -4|pages=11–12}}</ref>

She wrote ''The Book of Marmalade'' which was published in 1985. In it, she cites the Cookery Collection:

"Many of the older recipe books consulted are among those in the Blanche Leigh and John F Preston collections of early cookery books in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wilson|first1=Anne|title=The Book of Marmalade|date=1985|publisher=Constable|isbn=0 -09 -465670 -3|page=14}}</ref>

Anne Wilson edited ''Luncheon, Nuncheon and Other Meals: Eating with the Victorians'' (1994) and ''The Country Kitchen Garden 1600–1950'' (1998). Both of these books mention the Brotherton Library’s Cookery Collection in their acknowledgements.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wilson|first1=Anne|title=Luncheon, Nuncheon and Other Meals: Eating with the Victorians|date=1994|publisher=Alan Sutton Publishing|isbn=0-7509-0528-X|page=viii}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Wilson|first1=Anne|title=The Country Kitchen Garden 1600–1950 (In association with the National Trust)|date=1998|publisher=Sutton Publishing|isbn=0-7509-1423-8|page=x}}</ref>

Eileen White is a food historian specialising in domestic English cookery in the 15th and 16th centuries.<ref>{{cite webbook|title=About the Author|urlid=https://www.amazon.co.uk/English-Cookery-Book-Historical-Society/dp/{{ASIN|1903018366|websitecountry=Amazon|accessdate=6 April 2017uk}}}}</ref>

White edited and contributed to ''The English Cookery Book: Historical Essays'', based on papers from the 16th Leeds Symposium on Food History held in March 2001. The book celebrates the Cookery Collection at Leeds University Library and pays tribute to its value for researchers. Illustrations in the book are taken from the Brotherton Library’s collection.<ref name="The English Cookery Book"/>

White also edited ''Feeding a City: York'' (2000) and ''The English Kitchen: Historical Essays'' (2007), which also acknowledge the Brotherton Library’s Cookery Collection.<ref>{{cite book|last1=White|first1=Eileen|title=Feeding a City: York; The Provision of Food from Roman Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century|date=2000|publisher=Prospect Books|isbn=1 -903018 -02 -1|pages=14, 256}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=White|first1=Eileen|title=The English Kitchen: Historical Essays|date=2007|publisher=Prospect Books|isbn=978-1-903018-50-7|page=6}}</ref>

In 2003 White wrote ''Soup'' in which she acknowledges "The collection of cookery books in the Brotherton Library at Leeds University has given me access to a wide range of original sources."<ref>{{cite book|last1=White|first1=Eileen|title=Soup|date=2003|publisher=Prospect Books|isbn=1-903018-08-0|page=5}}</ref>

Peter Brears, Lynette Hunter and Jennifer Stead are other food historians who have consulted the Cookery Collection at Leeds University Library and contributed essays to the Leeds Symposium on Food History publications.<ref name="The English Cookery Book"/>

''Cecilia Leong-Salobir'' cites "The Cookery Collection, Leeds University Library" as source in the acknowledgments for her book, ''The Food Culture in Colonial Asia: A Taste of Empire,'' Routledge, 2011.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Leong-Salobir|first1=Cecilia|title=Food Culture in Colonial Asia: A Taste of Empire|date=2011|publisher=Routledge|page=64|isbn=9781136726538|url=https://books.google.co.ukcom/books?id=CWerAgAAQBAJ&dq=cookery+collection+leeds&source=gbs_navlinks_s|accessdate=6 April 2017}}</ref>

=== In books ===

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*''The English Cookery Book: Historical Essays'' (2004), edited by Eileen White, Prospect Books: In the Preface to this publication, Eileen White writes: "The existence of the Leeds Symposium on Food History is due to the large and varied collection of cookery books in the Brotherton Library. These books are a rich resource, not only for cooks, and deserve to be celebrated." In the third chapter of this book, Anne Wilson discusses the Cookery Collection at the Brotherton Library in great depth. She gives an account of its history, the range of topics it covers and the research it has informed.

* ''Secret Leeds'' (2007) by John Edwards, David Marsh, Christopher Allen, Amberley Publishing Limited:<ref name="Secret Leeds"/> This book investigates the city of Leeds and highlights its fascinating features, including the Cookery Collection at University of Leeds. It discusses the history of the collection, its structure and composition as well as some of its notable, bizarre and interesting items.

* ''International Dictionary of Library Histories'' (2016), ed. By David H. Stam, Routledge:<ref>{{cite book|last1=Stam|first1=David|title=International Dictionary of Library Histories|date=2016|publisher=Routledge|pages=401–403|isbn=9781136777851|url=https://books.google.co.ukcom/books?id=APtYCwAAQBAJ&vq=cookery+collection+leeds&dq=cookery+collection+leeds&source=gbs_navlinks_s|accessdate=6 April 2017}}</ref> In this reference book Stam cites cookery as a subject strength and area of concentration for the University of Leeds Libraries. He discusses the history of the Cookery Collection shows that it has been augmented with further donations overtime.

*''Directory of Rare Books and Special Collections in the UK and Republic of Ireland'' (2016), Ed by. Karen Attar, Facet Publishing:<ref>{{cite book|last1=Attar|first1=Karen|title=Directory of Rare Book and Special Collections in the UK and Republic of Ireland|date=31 May 2016|publisher=Facet Publishing|page=96|isbn=9781783300167|url=https://books.google.co.ukcom/books?id=sQUUDgAAQBAJ&dq=cookery+collection+leeds&source=gbs_navlinks_s|accessdate=6 April 2017}}</ref> This book recognizes the Cookery Collection at Leeds University Library and discusses its contributions from Blanche Leigh, John Preston, Michael Bateman as well as the brewery collection of Chaston Chapman.

==Access==