[Rarebooks] fa: ELIZA ACTON - POEMS 1826 (Scarce first published work by the author of MODERN COOKERY)

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, November 9. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/mc3n2m6

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.


Eliza Acton: Poems. Ipswich: Printed and Published by R. Deck, 1826. FIRST EDITION. Small 8vo (18 cm) in original publisher's boards, original printed paper spine label; with a half-title and list of subscribers; xx + 140 pp. Dampstain to the upper fore-corner of the textblock, most noticeable on the first and last few leaves, a few scattered small spots, otherwise the leaves are quite clean and bright, and firmly bound in the original boards, which show some sunning and modest wear and soiling.

Scarce first published work by a young poet who would become far better known as the author of Modern Cookery for Private Families, one of the first and most successful cookbooks written for the domestic, rather than professional, cook. At seventeen, Eliza Acton (1799-1859) co-founded a boarding school for girls, but the ill-health that plagued her for much of her life forced her to close it after four years. She then resided for some time in France, where she not only  regained her health but apparently acquired a first-hand knowledge of unrequited love, a theme that runs through much of this, her first collection of poems. The book was a modest success (there are twelve pages of subscribers' names) and she published several more poetical works, but it was the appearance of Modern Cookery twenty years later (1845) that secured her place in posterity. Her cookbook introduced the novel concept of actually listing the ingredients and providing step-by-step recipes, and it remained continuously in print until 1914 and was reissued as recently as 2011.