The Accomplisht Cook (1665-85)

Encouraged by Frances Bissell's recent statement that Robert May's was her favourite cookery book, I thought of the very small number I printed of the hardback version of this facsimile in 1994. There is no more important 17th-century work: written after a lifetime's professional experience; receptive to, but not dominated by foreign in-fluence; a master of the colourful recipe; prefaced by a cook's biography; 'a prototype of the modern cookery book' that excludes medical recipes, covers the whole gamut of cookery and includes illustrations to clarify points in the text. This is a facsimile of the 1685 edition, incorporating Robert May's last amendments from 1665. There is a useful biographical introduction, a graceful foreword by Alan Davidson, and a full glossary.