[Rarebooks] DON'T EAT THAT !! (and don't drink it, either...)

[Joslin Hall Rare Books, ABAA]

      "When you go to American city,
       you will find it very pretty,
       just two things,
       (though it might sound rude)
       don't drink the water
       and don't eat the food..."
            (w/profuse apologies to Tom Lehrer)


We offer a few interesting 19th century items on food and beverage
adulteration.  We're working up a new catalog on art fakes, frauds,
forgery and food adulteration at the moment and would be interested in
quotes on any interesting material in that vein.  I'd be especially
interested in anything from the 19th century regarding ice -there's at
least one pamphlet out there on the subject of adulterated ice.

Anyway, here are a few items from our stock, for those of you who thought
that deciding whether to go on the Atkins Diet was the most dangerous food
choice you'd ever make...

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anon. "TRICKS OF THE TRADE IN THE ADULTERATIONS OF FOOD AND PHYSIC: with
Directions for Their Detection and Counteraction..." London; David Bogue:
1856.

Ah, the "good old days" of the 19th century... never mind that eating and
drinking could kill you. The advent of a consumer society, mass-markets
for canned and preserved goods, and a burgeoning Middle Class all offered
vastly expanded opportunities for skullduggery by unscrupulous
manufacturers and merchants. There was ground bone dust in the flour,
brick-dust and wax in chocolate, lead in sweetmeats, copper in bottled
fruits, iron filings in tea, Plaster of Paris in mustard, powdered glass
in snuff, quick-lime in lard, sulfuric acid in vinegar, and many, many
more adulterations in the foodstuffs, ranging from those that simply
cheated the consumer to those that could kill him.

Since Accum wrote his groundbreaking work in 1820, consumer advocates had
been lobbying for changes in English law, mostly without effect. As this
anonymous author (Accum had received death threats; it was probably better
to be anonymous) points out-

"In England the only protection for the public, under the present
laissez-faire system of government, is that afforded by publications, in
which the means of detecting adulterations are clearly indicated. Any
attempt at fraud on the part of the customer is punished by law, and,
above all, easily detected. The bad shilling is at once recognized and
nailed to the counter; but the poisonous adulterations practiced upon food
remain too frequently undiscovered, until their effects are shown in the
indisposition or perhaps serious illness of the consumer".

A second edition was published in 1859. Neither is common; OCLC locates
just 7 copies of this edition. Hardcover. 4.5"x7", xvi + 191 pages, plus a
32 page catalog of W. Kent & Co. books. Covers slightly faded around the
edges, slightly shaken; front endpaper removed. [04670] $300.00

______________________________________


anonymous. "THE BORDEAUX WINE AND LIQUOR DEALERS' GUIDE. A Treatise on the
Manufacture and Adulteration of Liquors. By a Practical Liquor
Manufacturer"  New York; Dick & Fitzgerald: 1858. 2nd edition.

"Shocked, I am shocked to find adulteration going on in this
establishment...". Ah, the 19th century was such an interesting time. It
is the anonymous ( -wonder why?) author's contention that "although the
adulteration of liquors has been generally condemned as pernicious in the
effect produced, still it ever has been and will continue to be resorted
to, that the dealer may extend his profits; nor will any amount of
legislation ever cause its discontinuance".

This, as he sees it, is not a bad thing. Some fairly astounding claims are
made, among them that the entire vineyard system of France and Europe
produces only enough "genuine" wine to supply New York, even were every
drop exported. Hence the real need for adulterated liquors. It is not
adulteration per se that is bad, but the adulteration with harmful and
poisonous ingredients, a common practice in the United States at this
time, that is the problem.

The author has worked as a chemist in both Bordeaux and New York, and he
has learned the French system for adulteration, hitherto a secret of that
country, which produces good quality fake-liquor that does not contain
poisons or noxious ingredients. He now shares his secrets with liquor
dealers everywhere.

Well... Hallelujah.

The text includes both background information on genuine processes as well
as detailed instructions on how to concoct "facsimiles" of brandies, gins,
rums, ales and beers, malt liquors, cordials, ciders, whiskey, and all
kinds of wines. There are specific sections on American wines and liquors.
Lest you begin to backslide and question the ethics of all this, remember-
"The city of New York alone sells three times as many 'pure imported
brandies', and four times as many 'pure imported wines' annually, as all
wine-producing countries export". They are simply filling a need. Sort of
like drilling holes in rat cheese and selling it as Swiss. The book was
first printed in 1857 by the author. Neither printing is especially
common. [Gabler 13770] [Simon 226]

Hardcover. 5"x7.5", xvii + 146 pages; 4 pages of advertisements for Dick &
Fitzgerald titles. Publisher's pebbled and blindstamped black cloth with
gilt titles; an incredibly nice copy, tips slightly bumped, a very little
bit of wear at the spine head, etc., a very slight spot on the margin of
the first several pages, but overall bright, clean, tight, crisp and
beautiful. [04843] $400.00

_____________________________________


Battershall, Jesse P. "FOOD ADULTERATION AND ITS DETECTION" New York; E. &
F.N. Spon: 1887.

"To embody in a condensed form some salient features of the present status
of Food Adulteration in the United States is the object of this
volume....the photogravure plates, most of which represent the results of
recent microscopical investigation, are considered an important feature of
the book." The subjects include tea, coffee, chocolate, milk, butter,
cheese, bread, sugar, beer, wine and liquors, oils, mustard, spices,
pepper and other foods.

Hardcover. 6"x9", 328 pages, plus 4 color and 8 b/w plates. Publisher's
brown cloth with impressed black device and rules and gilt titles. A
beautiful copy, clean, bright and sparkly. With the pasted-in plate of C.
Smith Boynton. Boynton, an 1864 graduate of Bowdoin College in Maine,
practiced medicine in New Hampshire until 1875 when he moved to Brandon,
and then Burlington, Vermont as a druggist. [04854] $175.00

_____________________________________


Mullaly, John. "THE MILK TRADE IN NEW YORK AND VICINITY..." New York;
Fowlers and Wells: 1853.

"Giving an account of the sale of pure and adulterated milk- the daily and
yearly consumption - the amount of property invested in the business - the
milk-dealers and dairymen of Orange and other counties - injurious effects
of impure milk on children - advice to country dairymen...

"It is a matter of common conversation among our citizens; it is a source
of continual apprehension on the part of mothers and nurses; it is
frequently asserted in the newspapers; and it is the unanimous declaration
of medical men, that thousands of children annually sicken and die in this
city, from the effects of bad milk. And the same sad story is told, and
the same medical testimony is repeated year after year, and yet the evil
goes on unchecked - because by this traffic men can 'put money in their
purses'.

"Were placards to be posted around the streets of this city and its
suburbs, announcing in glaring capitals that the inhabitants of New York,
Brooklyn, Williamsburgh, and Jersey City, pay annually the sum of three
millions of dollars for adulterated and distillery or slop milk; and
nearly half a million dollars for the water with which both pure and
impure milk is diluted; and that nearly two thirds of all the milk
consumed in the above-named places is a spuriously manufactured article,
would not people, think you, reader, gaze at the appalling proclamation in
utter incredulity or inexpressible astonishment?

"Would they not wonder at the indifference of the swindled sufferers; be
amazed at that silence of our municipal authorities which is equivalent to
consent, and exclaim, more indignantly than usual on occasions of outrage,
'Where are the Police?' But, fellow-citizens, these statements are
diabolical facts and disgraceful realities".

A scarce study- OCLC locates only 9 copies. Hardcover. 4.5"x7.5", 118
pages; bound in new boards, with new endpapers; title page lightly soiled.
[05025] $375.00

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