Booksales on Hold

Due to renovations of the current abode, I have had to put bookselling on hold for the time being. My book stock is all locked in the store room - around which we are have an extension to the current master bedroom built. Hopefully bookselling services will resume shortly before Christmas. 

As a result of the above I have been slowly building up more stock - as and when I have spotted books of interest to myself or would be customers. Here's looking forward to a more profitable 2010!

The Duke's Custard

I thought you might like this recipe from the Eliza Acton cookery book that I mentioned a few days ago.

The Duke's Custard (p.455)

Drain well from their juice, and then roll in dry sifted sugar, as many fine brandied Morello cherries as will cover thickly the bottom of the dish in which this is to be sent to the table; arrange them in it, and pour over them from a pint to a pint and a half of rich cold boiled custard; garnish the edge with macaroons or Naples biscuits, or pile upon the custard some solid rose-coloured whipped cream, highly flavoured with brandy.

Brandied Morello cherries, 1/2 to whole pint; boiled custard from 1 to 1 1/2 pint; thick cream, 1/2 pint or more; brandy, 1 to 2 glassesful; sugar 2 to 3 ozs.; juice of 1/2 large lemon; prepared cochineal, or carmine, 20 or 40 drops.

Mrs A B Marshall's Cookery Book

Some while ago I picked up a copy of "Mrs A B Marshall's Cookery Book". As the title suggests, it was written by Mrs Agnes B Marshall, well known cook and writer - and there is a very nice engraving of her opposite the title page.

The copy I have (thirty fifth thousand, 1897 - according to the British Library Catalogue) has seen better days and was obviously much used by its previous owner. I will be treating it as a repair/restoration project. The first two pages need some repair, a tissue guard needs putting in and the green cloth cover needs to be cleaned and tightened up.

The book is 576 pages plus another 42 pages of contemporary adverts. There are a lot of interesting black and white engravings.

Here is one of her recipes from the book (p.423):

Cream Honey Cakes

Take three quarters of a pound of fine flour that has been
passed through a fine wire sieve and two ounces of creme de
riz, and work it into a quarter pound of good butter till
smooth ; mix it into two ounces of castor sugar, a good pinch
of salt, two raw yolks of eggs, one and a half ounces of Cowan's
baking powder, and a half pint of cold milk; roll lightly and
cut in fancy shapes, lightly brush them over with sweetened
milk, and bake in a moderate oven for about twenty minutes.
These can be served plain on a dish-paper for breakfast cakes
or with honey poured over.

Eliza Acton

I recently acquired a third edition (1845) copy of Eliza Acton’s (1799-1859) classic “Modern Cookery, in all its branches: reduced to a system of easy practice, for the use of private families.” Considering its age, it is in very good condition. The pages are clean and sound with little sign of wear, although the binding has started to go at the hinges.

Once I get my bookbinding equipment out of storage I’ll fix the hinges - a fairly minor job in this case.

I did a quick search on bookfinder to get an appropriate price and for the time being have listed it for sale at £450 - and there has already been some interest - helped in part by the current weakness of the pound I suspect!

However, if it doesn’t sell I’ll probably enter it into a book auction - either Bloomsbury or David Winter.