Marcus And Elizabeth Crahan Collection Of Books On Food, Drink, And Related Subjects
Auction Catalogue, Sotheby's, NYC, 1994, large format, illustrated, condition: basically as new.
Among the early books in the collection concerned with diet is a mid-18th century English manuscript containing instructions and recipes for a vegetarian diet including hot and cold salads, welsh rarebit, yogurt, and herb teas. Mrs. Crahan said she is particularly fond of an 1839 English volume of handcolored reproductions of illuminations from the Louterell Psalter, a 14th-century manuscript about daily life in the Middle Ages which is in the British Library. It carries an estimate of $1,000 to $1,500.'And I've always treasured Petrus de Crescentii's 'Ruralia commoda,' which was published in Augsberg, Gemany, in 147l,' she said, referring to the first printed work on agriculture, valued at $10,000 to $15,000. 'It is bound in red sheepskin over oak boards and has brass clasps.'
Highlights of the sale are the first printed cookbook, Bartholomaeus Sacchi's 'De honesta voluptate,' printed in Venice in 1475 ($5,000 to $7,000), and M. Gavius Apicius' 'De re Coquinaria,' printed in Milan in 1498, one of three copies in existence of recipes from Roman times ($20,000 to $30,000). The sale also includes the first American cookbook, Amelia Simmons' 'American Cookery,' published in Hartford, Conn., in 1798, the most famous 18th century cookbook, Hannah Glasse's 'The Art of Cookery,' published in London in 1747, and Isabella Beaton's classic, 'The Book of Household Management,' published in London in 186l and avidly followed by American housewives.
Another rarity is an original manuscript ledger book from Queen Victoria's palace files listing menus for meals served the royal household for four months beginning in August, 1863, valued at $5,000. The menus range from multi-course dinners to chicken and ham sandwich lunches. David Redden, head of Sotheby's book department, said he knew of no other cookbook collection in private hands to rival the Crahans'. He reported 'wide interest' in the auction on the part of American and European collectors.
