BEETON'S BOOK OF HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT by Isabella Beeton - 1974

Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management is an extensive guide to running a household in Victorian Britain, edited by Isabella Beeton and first published as a book in 1861. Mrs Beeton and the publisher, her husband, actually copied many of the recipes from the best-selling cookbooks of the day; many others were submissions by the public. The book was a sensation--by 1868, they had sold 2 million copies.

The book's goal was to allow women to provide men with such well-cooked food at home that it may compete with what they could eat "at their clubs, well-ordered taverns, and dining-houses". But it is much more than just recipes. It tells you everything you need to know about buying food, setting a table, dealing with servants and managing laundry. On the cooking side though, it makes Julia Child and Martha Stewart look lazy.

Jonathan Cape published this facsimile edition in 1968. This is the third printing of that edition, dated 1974.
It is 4 1/2" wide, 7" tall and 3" thick.
1113 pages covered in small type and illustrations--the index alone is 34 pages.

The original owner's daughter wrote an amusing inscription on the front endpaper. But it's a blank page on the other side and you can remove it if you like. The cover is spattered with white dots--I've removed some of them already so they will come off.
But the book is perfect. It has not been read; there are no marks of any kind on any of the pages.

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