Indian Domestic Economy and Receipt Book.

£1,500 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

A standard cookery and recipe book for the use of the British Raj. It opens with a forthright but fair-minded section on servants, including their rates of pay in several of the presidencies: 'the misdeeds of Indian Servants appear to be a general and unfailing source of complaints amongst all... Nor is the fault wholly on their side - much that is complained of, originates with the master, and is owing to him.' In addition to the recipes, the book has sections on the outdoor economy, the farm and poultry yard, the horse and stable and the kitchen garden, with directions for cultivating a wide range of European and Indian Vegetables. The section weights and measures includes marker prices for many commodities and products in the various regions. Indian Domestic Economy was published anonymously but is knows to be the work of Robert Riddell. Library Hub lists editions of published from the first 1849 to the eighth 1877, with Madras and Calcutta imprints in addition to Bombay. Third edition, revised; 8vo (140 x 220 mm); occasional minor spotting finger-soiling but in the main very good; bound in contemporary half leather over marbled boards, some wear to extremities, ownership signatures to upper endpapers and at head of titles, otherwise very good and sound.

• Binding: Hardcover

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