LONDON, SOCIAL HISTORY AND COOKERY

Two volumes of social history, comprising a journal of a visit to London, 1849 and an early 19th century recipe book: 'I SAW FOUR VELOCIPEDES GOING UP PARK STREET ONE AFTER ANOTHER'

Two volumes of social history, comprising: (i) Journal of a visit to London, kept, seemingly, by an English lady resident in France on her first visit to London, describing the voyage over from Le Havre by steam ship ("...listened to the rumbling of the Paddle wheels which shook us in my bed, and could almost fancy I was going in a railway...") in October 1849, lodging at 3 Gloucester Place, Camden Town; providing a series of sharply observed vignettes of the city: of its traffic ("...The Omnibusses... went much faster and were much better horsed than the french ones. The roads also macademized or paved with wood... We saw a lady driving with great spirit a little low pony-chaise, a little tiger sat behind her. Mr Benner told us it was a very common sight, at which we were not a little astonished. We saw a velocipede also going in the streets, to the great annoyance of omnibusses and other vehicles..."), local costume ("...even Buss coachmen conductors, lamplighters, sweepers etc wore the dress coat & silk hat... "), speculative building ("...We passed through new quarters with rows of charming houses called places or terraces, got up in the newest fashion & called villas or cottages, they however were not yet inhabited... Each of these new streets you would take for a main street in any town, so wide, so long & so clean are they. We had a distant view of the Model Prison & a Gas-factory. I saw four velocipedes going up Park-Street one after the other..."), railways and canals ("...We saw some constructions of viaducts for the Railway and a canal and basin along which several coal-barges, drawn by horses were slowly proceeding..."), shops ("...I saw some very nice cook-shops also supplied with every kind of rich & solid eatables also some very fine wedding-cakes & thick mock turtle soup in large basins. The fishmongers' shops looked very inviting as did the large opened lobsters that lay on the marble, displaying a solid mass of white meat..."), pauper funerals, brightly-lit arcades and shops, a blind man demonstrating braille, sandwich men ("...You will often see a man having a board back and front... walking patiently and monotonously backwards and forwards in the front of a house; sometimes, several men follow one after another with the same affiches..."), shopping expeditions to Oxford Street and environs, the Map Cave ("...16 or 18 views well worth seeing..."), the Soho Bazaar, and Christmas Day in the workhouse ("...On Christmas Day we went to the Workhouse of our Parish (St Pancras) where we saw portions distributed to the inmates (1320) men women and children. We were all offered by the Matron a portly blooming woman in a black silk dress, and attendants large pieces of excellent Plum pudding which was taken from the rest of the Plum puddings that were smoking around on large tables... finally to the Upper Room where about 50 little children from 1 to 6 years old were assembled , some around a very large table in the middle, some using benches as tables and sitting on little low footstools, others again on the ground around a warm blazing fire. A good discipline prevailed among this little Troop who looked healthy and had little ruddy fat cheeks; they seemed much better than the men and women who were very pale and haggard..."), c.34 pages, kept in a pocket account-book, first leaves loose, marbled paper wrappers, torn, 8vo, London, 5 October 1849 to 1 January 1850

(ii) Recipe book, largely culinary with some medicinal, kept in several early 19th century hands, one employing phonetic spelling ("...A Costerd Pudden/ for a half pint basen a Quasrter of a pint of milk a lettel nutmeg sinimon an shouger an make it boal a lettel..."), many attributed, c.80 pages, in a contemporary green vellum clasped notebook, 8vo, 1818-1847 where dated