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THE DOMESTIC ORACLE.
(London: Printed at the Caxton Press, by H. Fisher, Son and Co., [ca. 1826]). 222 x 140 mm. (8 3/4 x 5 1/2"). 2 p.l., 568, viii pp. FIRST EDITION.
Very pleasing retrospective half morocco over marbled paper boards, flat spine divided into panels by gilt rules, lettered in gilt. With engraved frontispiece and eight plates demonstrating various cuts of meat and seasonal meals, not including the "marketing" plate, as often. Front flyleaf with ink inscription: "Alice Jones/ her Book/ August 26th, 1846." Title page with early ownership signature "Alice Jones, 1846" and recent(?) ink inscription "1826." Simon 1080. Plates with variable browning (the final one quite browned), faint dampstain across bottom margin of frontispiece, text with moderate foxing and soiling (most pages affected, but never severely so), still a perfectly decent copy (especially of a cookbook) internally, and in an excellent unworn sympathetic binding.
This is an early--and likely the first--printing of a popular cookery book issued with the stated emphasis of providing advice and recipes for "the conservation of health." As is often the case with domestic recipe books of this period, "The Domestic Oracle" includes not only recipes for food, but also for medicines, cleaning products, and other agents for household purposes. Little is known about our author, Alexander Murray, but the preface tells us he was a medical doctor, and that the medical recipes in the present work "have not been gleaned from obsolete books, but are the result of experimental observation, in a public and private practice of more than forty years' continuance." Our undated edition is generally agreed to be the first; no earlier editions appear on OCLC. The preface is dated March 29th, 1826, so the book was most likely published some time that year, although Simon suggests a date of 1830. Our copy has clearly seen kitchen use, but is nevertheless generally agreeable and in an attractive sympathetic binding. (ST20911-2)
Price: $650.00