Introduction
The history of food and drink has been documented extensively throughout history. Consequently, works relevant to the production, trade and consumption of food and drink can be found throughout the library’s collections. While there are a number of publications devoted explicitly to the history of food and drink itself, sources can also be found in the library’s collections of trade directories, exhibition catalogues, household accounts, and personal diaries. In addition, the hosting of a major international conference on 'Food in History' at the Institute of Historical Research in July 2013, resulted in an expansion of the library's holdings.
Due to the relevance and appeal of food and drink across historical disciplines, and also to the library's collections being mostly arranged geographically, relevant materials are dispersed across the Library. As an example, the history of food and drink during the Second World War can be found within the library's military holdings, as a leaflet from 1942 giving advice to American servicemen posted in Britain illustrates. The pamphlet notes, 'the British don't know how to make a good cup of coffee. You don't know how to make a good cup of tea. It's an even swap.' (United States War Department, Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain, 1942).
Similarly, an extensive collection of sources on the history of food and drink can be found within the library's General collections, with a gathering of holdings at classmarks E.1 and E.3.
One notable example of a work that is not easily discernible as relating to the history of food and drink, but which contains significant material on the history of this subject, is Jonathan Reinarz's chapter entitled, 'Learning by Brewing: Apprenticeship and the English Brewing Industry in the Late Victorian and Early Edwardian Period' in De Munck, Bert, Kaplan, Steven L. and Soly, Hugo (eds.), Learning on the Shop Floor: historical perspectives on apprenticeship. In this regard, the history of food and drink can be seen to be prevalent in a wide range of sources. Selected examples from across the library's collections are outlined below.
Highlights from the Collections
General Works and Guides
- Claflin, Kyri W. and Scholliers, Peter (eds.), Writing Food History: a global perspective
- Pilcher, Jeffrey M. (ed.), Food History: critical and primary sources
- Pilcher, Jeffrey M. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Food History
- Hammond, Richard James, Food
- Sutton, David E., Remembrance of Repasts: an anthropology of food and memory
- Tomasik, Timothy J. and Albala, Ken (eds.), The Most Excellent Book of Cookery
- White, Eileen (ed.), The English Cookery Book: historical essays
- Sayers, William, Eatymologies: historical notes on culinary terms
- Anonymous, Gastronomy or, the School for Good Living: a literary and historical essay on the European kitchen, beginning with Cadmus the cook and King, and concluding with the union of cookery and chymistry
- Teuteberg, Hans J. (ed), European Food History: a research review
- Carlin, Martha and Rosenthal, Joel T. (eds.), Food and Eating in Medieval Europe
- Gutzke, David W., Alcohol in the British Isles from Roman Times to 1996: an annotated bibliography
- Lambert, Carole, Du manuscrit à la table: essais sur la cuisine au Moyen Âge et répertoire des manuscrits médiévaux contenant des recettes culinaires
- Ling Roth, H., A Guide to the Literature of Sugar
- Simon, André L.,The History of the Wine Trade in England
- Braudel, Fernand, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II
- Lillywhite, Bryant, London Coffee Houses: a reference book of coffee houses of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries
- Lazzari, Tiziana and Donati, Francesca Pucci, A banchetto con gli amici : scritti per Massimo Montanari
Recipe Books
- Santanach, Joan (ed.), The Book of Sent Soví: medieval recipes from Catalonia
- Strehl, Dan (ed.), Encarnación's Kitchen: Mexican recipes from nineteenth-century California
- Hieatt, Constance B. and Butler, Sharon (eds.), Curye on Inglysch: English culinary manuscripts of the fourteenth century
- Bouas, Florence, Du fait de cuisine: traité de gastronomie médiévale de maître Chiquart
- Ballerini, Luigi (ed.), The Art of Cooking: the first modern cookery book
- la Varenne, François Pierre de, La Varenne's Cookery: the French cook; the French pastry chef; the French confectioner
- Oxford, Arnold Whitaker, English Cookery Books to the Year 1850
- Cleland, Elizabeth, A New and Easy Method of Cookery 1755
- Anagnostakis,Ilias (ed.), Flavours and Delights: tastes and pleasures of ancient and Byzantine cuisine
- Kenney-Herbert, Arthur Robert, Culinary Jottings for Madras: or, a treatise in thirty chapters on reformed cookery for Anglo-Indian exiles
- Hieatt, Constance B. (ed.), A Gathering of Medieval English Recipes
- Glasse, Hannah, First Catch Your Hare: the art of cookery made plain and easy 1747
Directories, Company Papers, and Trade Guides
- Wyn Evans, D., Catalogue of the Cadbury Papers
- Welch, Jeanie M., The Spice Trade: a bibliographic guide to sources of historical and economic information
- Phillips, Frank Taverner, A History of the Worshipful Company of Cooks, London
- Records of the Cook's Company: 1678-1705
- Kingdon, John Abernethy (ed.), Facsimile of First Volume of Manuscript Archives of the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City of London, A.D. 1345-1463
- Nightingale, Pamela, A Medieval Mercantile Community: the Grocers' Company and the politics and trade of London 1000-1485
- London County Council Public Control Committee, Street Markets: report of the Chief Officer of the Public Control Department as to the street markets in the County of London
- Phillips, Gordon, 1666 and All That: a history of the Bakers' Company
- Ball, Mia, The Worshipful Company of Brewers: a short history
- Pearce, Arthur, The History of the Butchers' Company
Exhibition Catalogues and Guidebooks
- Official Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue of the Great Exhibition of the Works and Industry of all Nations, 1851
- International Exhibition London (1862), The Illustrated Catalogue of the Industrial Department
- Cantor, Geoffrey (ed.), The Great Exhibition: a documentary history
- Findling, John E. (ed.), Historical Dictionary of World's Fairs and Expositions, 1851-1988
- Rylance, Ralph, The Epicure's Almanack: eating and drinking in regency london (the original 1815 guidebook)
- Leigh, Samuel, Leigh's New Picture of London: or, a view of the political, religious, medical, literary, municipal, commercial, and moral state of the British metropolis
Parliamentary and Official Sources
- UK Parliamentary Papers
- Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Agricultural and Food Statistics: a guide to official sources
- Simon, André L.,The Star Chamber Dinner Accounts: being some hitherto unpublished accounts of dinners provided for the Lords of the Privy Council in the Star Chamber, Westminster, during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I of England 1567-1605
- Stratton, John M., Agricultural Records, A.D.220-1977
- Risch, Erna, The Quartermaster Corps: organization, supply, and services
- United States War Department, Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain 1942
- For further Parliamentary sources, see also library collection guide for UK Parliamentary History.
Diaries, Correspondence, Travel Writing
Selected examples with extensive writings on the history of food and drink include:
- Volant, F. and Warren J.R. (eds.), Memoirs of Alexis Soyer: with unpublished receipts and odds and ends of gastronomy
- Powell, Margaret, Below Stairs
- Credland, Arthur G. (ed.), Charles Green: the Antarctic chef
- Cave, Henry William, Golden Tips: a description of Ceylon and its great tea industry
- Driver, Christopher (ed.), John Evelyn, Cook: the manuscript receipt book of John Evelyn
- Malcolmson, Patricia and Robert (eds.), A Woman in Wartime London: the diary of Kathleen Tipper, 1941-1945
- Woolton, Frederick James, 1st Earl of, The Memoirs of the Rt.Hon.the Earl of Woolton
- Moseley, Benjamin, A Treatise on Sugar: with miscellaneous medical observations
Theses
- Burnett, J., The History of Food Adulteration in Great Britain in the Nineteenth Century, with special reference to bread, tea and beer
- Bandyopadhyay, Premansukumar, British Famine and Agricultural Policies in India, with special reference to the administration of Lord George Hamilton, 1895-1903
- Harris, Bernard Jonathan, Medical Inspection and the Nutrition of School Children in Britain, 1900-1950
- Hwa Saw, Siok, The Rice Industry of Burma, 1852 to 1940
Periodicals
Current copies of most journals are on open access in the current periodical room on the ground floor, back issues can be ordered from the onsite store. Many are also available online within the library via the links on the catalogue entry. Selected relevant examples concerning the history of food and drink include:
Online Resources
See full list of available online resources.
Other Collections
Other Libraries, Archives, Organisations
The Guildhall Library collections contain an internationally renowned collection of works on wine and food, including the library of the International Wine and Food Society and the André Simon collection based on the personal library of the late André Simon (1877-1970), the eminent food writer and historian. The Library also houses the records of the City of London Livery Company archives and the London Metropolitan Archives have produced an online guide to searching livery company documents.
In addition, the National Library of Scotland has an extensive collection of Scottish Post Office Directories, many of which are available online. Similarly, the University of Leicester's Special Collections Online contains a collection of digitised trade directories covering England and Wales from the 1760s to the 1910s.
Further Help
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