SC - Re: SC-Cookbooks

[Cindy Renfrow]

>At 3:31 AM -0400 7/2/97, Sharon L. Harrett wrote:
>>Good Gentles All:
>
>>Would there be any
>>interest in having some of the cookbooks in His Grace's collection
>>"translated" into modern easy English? I think I have a good enough grasp of
>>the terms to do so. Would this be violating any copyright laws?
>
>No; the originals are safely out of copyright. I think _Take a Thousand
>Eggs_ has a bunch of the 15th c. recipes in modernized form, although I am
>not certain.
>
>
>David/Cariadoc
>http://www.best.com/~ddfr/

Hello!  Yes, my book "Take a Thousand Eggs or More" has over 400 15th
century recipes, both in transcription and in translation (from the
following:  Harleian MS. 279; Harleian MS. 4016; extracts from Ashmole MS.
1439; extracts from Laud MS. 553; extracts from Douce MS. 55; all of which
were found in "Two Fifteenth Century Cookery Books").  There are also about
100 redacted recipes.  From the beginning of the project to the first
printing took me more than 6 years. And I am still working to correct all
the typos & other mistakes for the 2nd edition!

I agree with an earlier poster that you should include the transcribed
original, as well as your translation - this makes your work verifiable and
far more valuable.

As far as copyright is concerned, as his grace says, most of his material
is out of copyright.  However, some of it may have been recently reprinted.
It is polite to ask the holders of the MSS for permission to reprint them.
The Early English Text Society was very nice & granted me permission with
no problem. (I have their address if you need it.) Certain other
organizations either refused permission outright for other material, or
demanded licensing fees ranging from $25 to $100 per use.  The holders of
the MSS may also be able to furnish you with better copies of the
originals, additional sources, etc.

On a related note, please, folks, lets make a list of what MSS have already
been translated into modern English so that we don't duplicate our efforts!


Hope this helps!

Cindy Renfrow
renfrow at skylands.net
http://www.alcasoft.com/renfrow/