The epicure's almanack : eating and drinking in Regency London : the original 1815 guidebook
Details
Type of record: Book
Title: The epicure's almanack : eating and drinking in Regency London : the original 1815 guidebook
Classmark: Bedford Collection A750
Creator(s): Rylance, Ralph
Additional creator(s): Freeman, Janet Ing (Editor); Bedford, John Victor (1941-2019) (Former owner)
Publisher: British Library
Publication city: London
Date(s): 2012
Language: English
Size and medium: liii, 313 pages
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/739182
Printed items catalogue: https://leeds.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?vid=44LEE_INST:VU1&docid=alma991020002493105181
Description
Includes bibliographical references and index.
The Epicure's almanack and its author -- In and around London -- Where to eat, when, and with whom -- Eating, drinking, cooking, ane marketing.
"The epicure's almanack of 1815 was the first British 'good food guide, ' designed to point the reader toward places in and around London where he might 'dine well, and to the best advantage, ' whatever his budget. Working alone and on foot, Ralph Rylance visited and described some 650 establishments, ranging from City chop houses, ancient coaching inns, and London's first Indian restaurant, to humble tripe shops and oyster rooms, dockyard taverns, and village pubs. He concluded his tour with a comprehensive account of London's markets, a catalogue of merchants stocking everything from anchovy sauce to kitchen ranges, and an 'alimentary calendar' directing both cooks and diners to the best seasonal ingredients. Annual updates were promised, but never appeared: a publishing failure in its own time, the Almanack was neither continued nor reprinted, and two years after publication all unsold copies were destroyed. The present edition is designed to make this engaging and informative text more
readily available, and to provide a commentary on the book and its author, and on the wider topic of eating and drinking in London at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The extensive notes to the main text include brief histories of the principal establishments mentioned, whenever possible making use of contemporary notices and advertisements, and details from a contemporary map of London allow the reader to follow in Ralph Rylance's footsteps as he explores the city's streets"--Front flap of book jkt.
Provenance
Leeds University Library copy at Bedford Collection A750: From the John Evan Bedford Library, gifted in 2019. Twenty-first-century pictorial bookplate on front pastedown: John Evan Bedford. Former reference: HL/166. XX.
Access and usage
Access
This material is not subject to restrictions under Data Protection or other relevant legislation that might limit access. However, other protections, such as donor conditions or conservation considerations, may still apply where advised.