viii, 353 [1] ad pp. Pictorially gilt-stamped brown cloth. Second Edition. Madras: Higginbotham & Co., 1879.

How to survive the wilds of India and barely leave the food of England at home. The first edition was published the previous year, in 1878.

According to Prospect Books, who republished this book in 2007, "‘Wyvern ’was a colonel in the Indian Army, long resident in Madras, who whiled away his spare time writing about cookery in the Madras Athenaeum and Daily News...The chapters cover every aspect of the kitchen, from the cook and his management, the store-room, and the batterie de cuisine, to all dishes suitable for dainty dining, as well as excellent chapters on ‘Our Curries’ ,‘Camp Cookery ’and ‘Our Kitchens in India’. There are extensive model menus for parties of six or eight people, or for ‘Little Home Dinners’. Elizabeth David once said of this book: ‘I should recommend anyone with a taste for Victorian gastronomic literature to snap him up… His recipes are so meticulous and clear, that the absolute beginner could follow them, yet at the same time he has much to teach the experienced cook.’" Expertly rebacked, mild rubbing to cloth & extremities, several ink marks to fore-edges, else very good. Scarce in an early edition. 

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7/8/18