Hester Gilbert

192 x 150mm. 131 written pages, contemporary pagination, opening with an index on ten leaves, the recipes numbered ‘1-169’ with further recipes left unnumbered, each recipe presented with a calligraphic title, the final five pages written in a second hand. Contemporary panelled calf binding (rebacked).

Provenance: (1) The author of this compendium of recipes must be the same Hester Gilbert who adds her ownership inscription, dated 1736, to the front endpaper; her manuscript evidently passed to Hester Gouldsmith – perhaps a daughter – who adds six recipes across the final five pages, signing two of these. (2) Albert Roux (1935-2021); his ex-libris pasted inside the upper cover.

The author gathers together a collection of recipes for use in an 18th-century household, with instructions on preparing tempting dishes from raspberry cakes and Jamaica gingerbread to meat fricassées and a lobster pie. The modern reader might recognise with some surprise almond milk – and butter – among the recipes; certainly, the enduring British love affair with sugar means that entries such as ‘Chocolate Bisket’ remain as appealing now as they were then. Perhaps less compelling nowadays are recipes for potted larks and turnip syrup, but those for brawn, calves-head hash and eels might well appear on avant-garde menus and the prevalence of pickling and curing preparations should appeal to current tastes. Beverages are not overlooked – the authors include recipes for wines made from birch, cowslips, currants, damsons, elderberries, ginger, oranges, walnuts and more – alongside a practical tip for fixing broken china (necessitating a trip to the stone cutter) and a couple of medical remedies, for gout and worms.