E. Kidder's Receipts of Pastry and Cookery, for the Use of his Scholars: Who teaches at his school in Oueen Street near St. Thomas Apostles. On Mondays, Tuesdays & Wednesdays, in the afternoon. Also on Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays, in the afternoon, at his school next to Furnivals Inn in Holborn. Ladies may be taught at thei

[London], 1720. London]: [n.d.c.a.1720].

First edition, first issue (?). There is a lot of mixed information on the publication of this work, however Virgina McLean in her bibliography "A short-title catalogue of household and cookery books published in the English tongue, 1701-1800" notes that the issue with the address of "Queen street" [present copy] is presumably 1720 and the first. Additionally, this copy has the portrait without the wig which came before the portrait with the wig. Octavo (7 x 4 1/2 inches; 179 x 115 mm). [2], 42 leaves. With frontispiece portrait, title-page, forty leaves of recipes, "the order for bill of fare" leaf, index leaf and eight engraved plates, three of which are folding. Without ad leaf as called for in Bitting, as usual. All leaves printed on recto only. Each leave is actually an engraved copperplate.

Full polished calf. Boards double ruled in blind. With calf spine label, lettered in gilt. Spine stamped in gilt and blind. Previous owner's initials stamped in blind on front board. Marbled endpapers. All edges red. Leaf L2 trimmed close at top margin, just affecting headline. Otherwise a very good copy.

McLean's states:

"All the bibliographies and catalogues, with one exception, date both of Kidder's editions as 'ca. 1740', which is an error: see Catalogue of Printed Books in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library: 16at-18so. op. cit., vol. 3, p. 300, which shows that Kidder was born in 1666 and died in 1739. As his title-pages were advertising his cookery schools, there can be no doubt that his work was published in his lifetime, and the present compiler has judged the dates of the two editions to be much earlier. The John Crerar Library in Chicago holds a Kidder MS of about 1730 which shows that his schools were then 'in little Lincoln Inn feilds [sic].. and Norris-street in St. James's market'. Assuming that he progressed as his schools became better known, it could also be assumed that he moved to better addresses. If so, allowing for five years for every move, then Queen Street in about 1720, St. Martin's le Grand in about 1725, and finally Lincoln's Inn Fields and Norris Street in about 1730, could be the bases for approximating the dates of his editions."

She goes on to say:

"The frontispiece for the main entry is a portrait entitled 'Edw. Kidder Pastry-master', and is signed by 'Rob. Sheppard Sculp.', who also did the portrait for the other edition. In the latter, Kidder is shown in a magistrate's wig."

And additionally:

"Kidder's handsome book was a remarkable production. Not only were the title-page and the frontispiece engraved on copper, but so was the whole text,"

"Kidder, Edward (1665/6-1739), cookery teacher and writer, taught cookery in London between about 1720 and 1734, but little else about his life is known. The evidence for his activities is confined mostly to his one published work, the Receipts of Pastry and Cookery. In publication by 1720, this exists in six different versions; they give different addresses for his cooking schools and carry his portrait, but the date of the first edition is unknown... Although Kidder ran a pastry school, his recipes covered the whole range of soups, salads, meat, fish, poultry, sauces, and jellies, as well as pies and tarts. His recipes were repeatedly plagiarized throughout the eighteenth century, yet Kidder seems not to have plagiarized recipes himself. He probably taught his students to make established favourites, so even if his Receipts may not be especially inventive, it is a valuable record of 170 standard English dishes of the day, accompanied by attractive designs for pie shapes and decorations. The first recipe for puff pastry (identical to the standard commercial product of today) to appear in print is Kidder's." (Oxford DNB).

HBS 68683.

$4,500.