SC - OT: Eating the Script Girl

[KallipygosRed@aol.com]

>    goblet. ... Most of these things which a guest would bring
>    became part of the table setting during the feast & would
>    be carried in some sort of pouch which would lay on the 
>    table before the guest (marking his or her place). This
>    pouch according to C. Anne Wilson in _Food & Drink in
>    Britain_ (London:Constable, 1976) was also called a NEF.
>    The following sketch is from p.58 of Wilson's work showing
>    the typical table setting for two guests:"

There is no such sketch in the 1974 edition, or the 1991 edition.
The note on the 1991 edition from Academy Chicago Publishers says
"Originally published: Food & drink in Britain from the Stone Age to
recent times. London : Constable, 1973. With new introd. and
bibliography." Which leads me to believe that the 1991 edition was not
extensively revised. 

There is, on p. 128 of the 1974 edition, an illustration from the
Lutterell Psalter showing people sitting eating at a table, and on p. 193
there is a woodcut of Early 17th century diners.

The term 'nef' does not appear in the index of the 1976 edition, and a
cursory scan of the text of the 1974 edition turns up only a few
references to knives and table settings.
 
> There follows a photocopy of the sketch showing from left to 
> right close to the diners: rolls (?in cloth?); trencher; spoon; 
> knife; platter; knife; spoon; trencher; rolls.  Closer to the 
> center of the table, again from left to right: a small plate for 
> sauces; what appears to be a long leather case with closure 
> lying crosswise and labelled (by Wilson) 'Gentleman's nef'; a 
> goblet; what appears to be a cross-section view of a large 
> (?wooden? ?pottery? ?metal?) container adorned with the statue 
> of a peacock and with at least two deep holes one containing two 
> pieces of cutlery (?knife and spoon?) standing on end and the 
> other containing something white that might be intended to 
> represent a napkin or a container of salt or spices and labelled 
> (by Wilson) 'Lady's nef'; and finally a second plate for sauces.

This sketch doesn't appear anywhere in the editions I have.

> The extract does not say where or when the original of the 
> sketch came from, nor where Wilson got her information about 
> this meaning of nef. 

I strongly suspect that this information did NOT come from C. Anne Wilson,
or at least from no edition of _Food and Drink in Britain_, but from
another source. (As a librarian we see this a lot: I call it 'citation
transfer'-- where one citation attaches itself to your notes from another
source. It's not uncommon: librarians estimate that 30% of scholarly
citations are inaccurate in some way and even outright wrong.)

Fabulous Feasts appears to have come out in 1976 originally-- does someone
have access to that edition? Please check p. 58 and see if the sketch is
there.
 -- 
Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise	      jenne at tulgey.browser.net
disclaimer: i speak for no-one and no-one speaks for me.
"Are you finished? If you're finished, you have to put down the spoon."