Product Description

'As with the commander of an army, or the leader of any enterprise, so it is with the mistress of a house.' A founding text of Victorian middle-class identity, Household Management is today one of the great unread classics. Over a thousand pages long, and written when its author was only 22, it offered highly authoritative advice on subjects as diverse as fashion, child-care, animal husbandry, poisons, and the management of servants. To the modern reader expecting stuffy moralizing and watery vegetables, Beeton's book is a revelation: it ranges widely across the foods of Europe and beyond, actively embracing new food stuffs and techniques, mixing domestic advice with discussions of science, religion, class, industrialism and gender roles. Alternately fashionable and frugal, anxious and blusteringly self-confident, Household Management highlights the concerns of the ever-expanding Victorian middle-class at a key moment in its history. The abridged edition does justice to its high status as a cookery book, while also suggesting ways of approaching this massive, hybrid text as a significant document of social and cultural history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52923 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-16
• Format: Abridged
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 672 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Mrs Beeton was the Delia Smith of her day. Vastly popular in its time, her great Book of Household Management is scarcely read nowadays in its original form (no offence, Delia). This is a pity, since as a result a distorted picture of the author and her work persists, as an oppressive Victorian materfamilias with a decidedly bossy attitude and a tendency to boil vegetables to a grey pulp. The truth, as Nicola Humble demonstrates in her abridgement of the work for the Oxford press, is quite different. Isabella Beeton was in many ways an unusual person. One of 21 children, she lived for part of her childhood in the grandstand at Epsom racecourse, married Sam Beeton, an ambitious young publisher, worked hard as a journalist and translator, and died of puerperal fever (not, sadly, such an unusual fate in her time) at the age of 28. The Book of Household Management grew out of her own sense, as a new bride, of the lack of such a work of instruction and guidance for young women faced with the daunting business of running a home. It is largely a compilation rather than an original work. Its originality lies in its organisation and purpose; its quality arises from the clarity and decisiveness of Beeton's writing. Behind the period details, there is a wealth of common sense.

Nicola Humble provides a scholarly introduction and notes. Gesturing towards academic fashions, she describes the many facets of the book in terms of modes of discourse--which is perhaps a highfalutin way of pointing out the remarkable range of subject matter and the variety of Beeton's sources. The notes entertainingly combine theoretical commentary with often deadpan remarks on the recipes ("Rock biscuits: so-called for their appearance, not their texture"). The recipes themselves are the principal victims of the abridgement, for Nicola Humble's main aim is to present the book as a kind of exhaustive self-portrait of the expanding and aspirational Victorian middle classes. The representative selection that remains, however, are enough to make this a welcome reissue of a fascinating and important book. --Robin Davidson

Red, August 2000
"sold out in Central London book shops within weeks"

Review
sold out in Central London book shops within weeks (Red, August 2000 )

Customer Reviews

Intelligent abridgement of a misunderstood classic.
The vast majority of people assume they are familiar with 'Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management', but those expecting stuffy moralising and instructions to 'first go out and catch your hare' will be disappointed by what they find in Nichola humble's new edition, and probably rightfully so. Written by a comparatively naive girl in her early twenties, who was to die in childbirth a few years later, Beeton's book provides an unparalleled insight into Victorian social customs and domestic situations. It does not so much detail how our ancestors lived and behaved, as how they wanted to be seen to live and behave. In short this book is a vast compendium of social mores, detailing the ins and outs of a wealthy, aspirational society. Though Beeton's book provides a wealth of recipes, these are not her sole concern. The book details codes of conduct in every imaginable social situation, and gives instruction in case of a medical or legal emergencies. Advice to the mistress of the house on how to control servants is placed next to confidential advice to the servants themselves: this is indeed a book aimed at all levels of society. The recipes themselves are a startling mix, as they seem at one moment utterly modern, then at the next evoke a rural british society which was vanishing even as Beeton wrote, in the middle of the nineteenth century. They are also a charming reminder of the fact that the author was neither an experienced nor a professed cook: she frequently omits cooking times and quantities of ingredients! Finally, I would like to mention how important a modern, edited edition of Beeton's book is. The market is swamped with spurious works, such as 'Microwaving with Mrs. Beeton', an example Nichola Humble quotes in her introduction. Seemingly 'original' editions of the book, dating from the late 1800's, are in fact just as unreliable, having been altered almost unrecognisably by Beeton's publishers after her death. This edition is, I believe, the only affordable, available, reliable reproduction of Beeton's vast, encyclopaedic study of Victorian morals, culture and society. It should be read by anyone with an interest in the period, from the advanced student, to the casual reader.

A piece of history still useful today
Probably the most famous cook book in the world. This version is the specially enlarged 1st Edition Facsimile. Illustrated with nearly 600 quite detailed engravings (line art drawings) the book exudes history.

For those that have never heard of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household management the book "does what it says on the cover". Providing a huge number of recipes (over 1,350 in this version), approximately 200 pages cover other household management areas such as "Dinners and Dining"; "Bills of Fare"; "Domestic Servants" ("Duties of the": "Butler"; "Footman"; "Valet"; "Nursemaid" and many others); "The Rearing etc,. of Children"; "The Doctor" and "Legal Memoranda".

The book is full of annecdotes about the various ingredients and articles used, which compliment the style very well. There are 13 articles of the "General Observations of" variety, including "Quadrupeds", "The Sheep and Lamb" and "Game". Most articles and recipes are indexed by paragraph number rather than page number but this is ideal because there can be more than one entry on a page and it means that you can find more easily the exact place you require.

Due to the use of imperial measurements throughout the book it is not the ideal cookbook for the modern chef without knowledge of how to convert to or from Metric measurements. Also, although prices for dishes are given they are, of course, in the imperial currency an accurate to the time of the origainal publication data (1861) which although not of much practical use today provide an interesting historical aspect.

Don't expect advice on how to use a wok or traditional Indian cooking, this a book about Victorian English food and everyday tips for that era. An excellent addition to any kitchen shelf or historical collection, just make sure you have dual scale scales.

An amazing book for its time
Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management was the housekeeping bible of the mid-19th century. It was written by one woman, Isabella Beeton, who didn't realize the enormity of her undertaking until after the book was finished. This guide covers all of the most important information for a housewife of the 1800's, from cooking to hiring the help. There is a section on child-rearing, practical home remedies, (including antidotes for various poisons!)cleaning the home and every popular recipe from that time period. Despite the changes in our views of keeping household staff, medicine and eating habits, the book is a remarkable work. It is a must for anyone studying Victoriana, as it demonstrates the rigidity of that time period and the unwavering etiquette. The recipes are difficult to replicate, due to the lack of familiar measurements (one breakfast cupful of milk?)but if you have a adventurous soul, this may be enjoyable. Some of the ingredients are also difficult to find, and an acceptable solution may not be easy.

Read The Book of Household Managemen for it's historical value rather than for it's practical information and it will be an adventure.

The Book of Household Management