[Sca-cooks] Ideal cookbook collection?

[Johnna Holloway]

Ok, I'll play---

IN PRINT CHOICES IN USA BOOKSTORES--

These have recipes and adaptations and are reliable:

Early French Cookery: Sources, History, Original Recipes and Modern Adaptations
 Author: Scully, Eleanor et al.  Publisher: University of Michigan Press
paperback available

 The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy
Author: Redon, Odile et al.  Publisher: University of Chicago Press  paperback


   Pleyn Delit: Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks.  revised edition
Author: Hieatt, Constance B  Publisher: University of Toronto Press  paperback

Take a Thousand Eggs or More: A Translation of Medieval Recipes from Harleian
MS.279, Harleian MS.4016, and Extracts of Ashmole MS.1439, Laud MS.553, and Douce
MS.55, with over 100 Recipes Adapted to Modern Cookery
 Author: Renfrow, Cindy  Publisher: Cindy Renfrow Publications
Format: Spiral; Trade Paper Date: Feb 1998   Price: $ 27.00

These have recipes but are more advanced.
Choose the ones that you will use.

  Libellus de Arte Coquinaria: An Early Northern Cookery Book
Author: Grewe, Rudolf et al.  Publisher: M R T S
Format: Trade Cloth Date: Jun 2001   Price: $ 25.00

The Neapolitan Recipe Collection: Cuoco Napoletano
Author: Scully, Terence  Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Format: Cloth Text Date: Feb 2000   Price: $ 50.00


Curye on Inglysch Middle English Recipes
Author: Hieatt, Constance B et al.  Publisher: Oxford University Press,
Format: Trade Cloth Date: Jun 1985

Platina for instance comes in two editions:
Platina's On Right Pleasure and Good Health: A Renaissance Gentleman's Discourse
onFood, Health, and the Physical Pleasures
 Author: Milham, Mary E et al.  Publisher: Pegasus Press
Format: Paper Text Date: May 1999   Price: $ 17.95

 Platina: On Right Pleasure and Good Health: A Critical Edition and Translation
of De Honesta Voluptate et Valetudine
 Author: Milham, Mary Ella  Publisher: M R T S
Format: Trade Cloth Date: Mar 1998   Price: $ 35.00


These are reference books-- few if any recipes--
What recipes they have tend to be text-embedded.

My personal favorite that I find most useful:

Food and Drink in Britain: From the Stone Age to the 19th Century
Author: C Anne Wilson
Publication Date: June 2003
Publisher: Academy Chicago Publishers, Limited
 ISBN: 0-89733-487-6
Binding Format: Trade Paper
Edition: Reprint, illustrated
Pages: 452
Price: $21.95 Retail (Publisher)

The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages
Author: Scully, Terence  Publisher: Boydell & Brewer, Incorporated
Format: Trade Paper Date: Aug 1997   Price: $ 29.95



Regional Cuisines in Medieval Europe
Author: Adamson, Melitta W  Publisher: Routledge
Format: Cloth Text Date: Aug 2001   Price: $ 85.00
Expensive and somewhat odd in some of its conclusions.
Good for overviews and bibliographies.

All Manners of Food: Eating and Taste in England and France from the Middle Ages
to the Present
 Author: Mennell, Stephen  Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Format: Paper Text Date: Nov 1995   Price: $ 21.95

General FOOD reference:

 The Penguin Companion to Food
Author: Davidson, Alan  Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Format: Trade Paper Date: Oct 2002   Price: $ 30.00   Market: USA


There are a number of reprints available like this one and you will
have to pick and choose here.

Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Opened
Author: Stevenson, Jan et al.  Publisher: Food Words  ISBN or UPC: 0-907325-76-9
Format: Trade Cloth Date: 1998   Price: $ 45.00
This is actually done by Prospect Books in the UK and vended by Food Words.

Skip Fabulous Feasts: Medieval Cookery and Ceremony by Cosman
unless you want the pictures.
--------------
Speaking as a librarian and as someone who has been in the SCA since
1973, I have found through the years that
this type of search varies depending on which countries or cuisines
strike your fancy. The above is a basic in print list at least as far as
Global BIP is concerned as 3/27/03. My general philosophy is to
buy books that you will use and need for reference purposes.
Unless, you want to collect seriously, these will get you started.

Hope this helps--

Johnnae llyn Lewis  Johnna Holloway


Patches wrote:snipped
So here's a poll: Which ten books would you choose if $ were irrelevent?

>
> Doesn't matter if these sellers do/do not stock them; go wild!
>
> The Brigands Cache
> "