[Sca-cooks] Re: Danelaw sources and a book by Savelli

[Huette von Ahrens]

I guess her experience shows that you need to find the right publisher and not just any publisher.
Personally, I would rather not publish a bad work with my name on it.  I would wait until I found
a publisher who understood the work and was willing to publish it as presented.  But I don't know
Ms. Savelli's circumstances.  She might have needed money desparately.  Or needed a published work
to keep her tenure.  Or some other reason.  Thank you Iasmin, for this insight.  

Huette

--- iasmin at comcast.net wrote:

> Aoghann:
> 
> > In defense of the book by Savelli, her goal was not to reproduce 
> > specific Anglo-Saxon recipes, but instead to create a collection of 
> > recipes that would at least be "recognized and enjoyed" by someone from 
> > the time. [....]
> > /A Taste of Anglo-Saxon England/ is well worth the purchase price and is 
> > an enjoyable and informative place to start exploring cooking from that 
> > period. This is all that Savelli intended her work to be (according to 
> > her introduction), and in that context it is an excellent resource.
> 
> It is what she was ultimately told to make the published version become. A minor nit to pick,
> but an important one in understanding what is being sold. 
> 
> Mary Savelli spoke at the MK Cook's Symposium a few years back and it was an utterly eye-opening
> experience for most of the attendees. When I signed her up as the quest speaker, I had numerous
> people email me privately saying that the book was utterly horrible, perfectly incompetent, and
> generally worthless from the point of view of a "true" researcher (whatever they thought that
> was). 
> 
> I invited her to speak anyway because it gave many people the opportunity to see what an
> incredibly difficult experience it is to publish a book on historical research. For some, it
> goes well; for Mary, she got a book published, but it was decidely not the book she wrote. In
> her talk to the attendees of the conference we hosted, Ms Savelli specifically stated that her
> manuscript not only contained the information you see in what is marketed today, but also
> *considerably more* information. Actual quoted source material comprises the bulk of the
> now-missing information. Original text from manuscripts and such were verbotten by the publisher
> because the publisher said no one would buy the book. And if I'm not mistaken, even some of her
> notes were removed.
> 
> Looked at from that perspective, I think your approach to it is spot on. It's an excellent place
> to start exploring. She made some choices that many of us would disagree with. She made choices
> that *she* disagrees with. And after hearing her speak about her book, nearly all the people who
> emailed me privately again emailed me or spoke with me to apologize for their rash opinion.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Iasmin
> 
> 
> 
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Remember that while money talks, chocolate sings.

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