Author: Iona Nelson

    French Cookery The Modern Cook, by Charles Elme Francatelli, was an exceedingly influential cookbook of its time. I am studying a copy of the second edition for a class at Dickinson College (Figure 1). For more information about the specific copy I am studying, read my first blog post. This blog will primarily focus on the author’s backstory and the creation of this book.

     Published in 1846, French Cookery took off, and its cultural and influential success led Francatelli to publish more cookbooks for different audiences (Habit, 2019). Since this book was published nearly 200 years ago, information on its origins is minimal. The processes are assumed to be well-known, as the era’s typical printing and publishing process is well-known.

     Charles Elme Francatelli was an accomplished chef thanks to his education, work experiences, and popular cookbooks. He was born in Italy and was the first in his family to move to France. He was educated at the Parisian College of Cooking (Flantzer, 2024). After graduating, he moved to England, where his career took off. He worked at many different clubs and typically worked for nobles and aristocrats at Fashionable Crockfords and The Reform Club (Bishop, 2021). These clubs were only accessible to the wealthy. He managed and was the head chef for these clubs. His mentor (who is accredited on the title page), Antonin Caramel, is accredited for influencing French Haute Cuisine, which is an elegant type of cooking still popular today (Myhrvold, 2019). Haute Cuisine (high cooking) refers to food that is typically seen in high-end restaurants. This style includes only the highest quality ingredients (Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, 2022). Ratatouille, Quiche, and Crème Brulé are common French Haute dishes. Francatelli’s main claim to fame was his short stint working for Queen Victoria. For two years before publishing his first book, he was the head chef for the queen. He slightly brags about this job on the title page of this book. Francatelli was such an icon of his time that in the TV show Victoria (2016), he was included as a character working for Queen Victoria (Habit, 2019). His main influence on the culinary world was popularizing the concept of two-course meals. Previous to his influence, Nobles would have extravagant meals, typically three or four courses with many options for each course. He did this through his recipes and his cookbooks. He made it the norm to have an entrée and a sweeter second dish for lunch as well as dinner (Fisher,1998). His influence is still seen today as the two-course meal is still typical for a home-cooked meal.

      Francatelli published his first cookbook, French Cookery, in 1846. Both the first and the second edition were published in the same year. I couldn’t find any information about his inspiration to publish a cookbook. French Cookery took off and had a total of 29 different editions. The different editions were published by a variety of different publishers. There was a distinct London edition that most likely only varied in what specific ingredients were being used. I could not find any information on the London edition; however, the typical variance for London editions was the ingredients. These changes were made to make cooking convenient for people as the availability of ingredients varied from America to Europe. Lea and Blanchard in Philadelphia printed this specific version of French Cookery, The Modern Cook, which is the second edition of the book; this copy is not the London edition. Lea and Blanchard, which was a part of the Carey Publishing House (the largest publisher in America), was one of the most popular publishing houses in Philadelphia in the 19^th century (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2008). Lea and Blanchard published many popular books at the time; some of the titles include Oliver Twist, The Pathfinder, Peter Pilgrim, and The Pioneers. At the time, French Cookery was included in these iconic titles. I could find no information about the printer of this book.

      After the success of Francatelli’s first cookbook, he went on to publish three more cookbooks targeting different demographics (Bishop, 2021). The first book was mainly for upper-class families or upper-class establishments. This book’s preface talked about how some of the ingredients are very expensive and how these recipes could be wasteful if not cooked properly; showing that these recipes aren’t accessible for lower class people. His second book, A Plain Cookery Book For The Working Class, was published in 1852 and was intended as a more practical cookbook with cheaper recipes that had more attainable ingredients. His third book, The Cooks Guide and Housekeepers and Butlers Assistants, published in 1861, included the most attainable recipes through cheaper and more common ingredients. His last book, Royal English and Foreign Confectionery Book, was published in 1862 and had less of an intended audience and had more specific recipes for confectionery foods (The Cooks Guide, 2005). All of Francatelli’s books were very successful (as they all went through many editions), and with each book, he made cooking increasingly more accessible for all classes by creating recipes that included easier-to-find and cheaper ingredients.

      The specific copy of French Cookery, The Modern Cook, that I am studying was printed on an early version of wood pulp paper. This paper doesn’t include a lot of chemicals; these would become the standard later in printing. Wood pulp paper became popularized in the 1850’s. As it became more common, the paper became more acidic. The paper is flimsier, more brittle, weaker, and more susceptible to tearing than non-acidic wood pulp. Now newspapers are printed on this acidic wood pulp paper. This paper is very sturdy and strong and shows that the chemicals hadn’t been added to the wood pulp paper yet. Wood pulp paper is more susceptible to foxing, which is present on every page of the book, even without acid, the paper foxes (Figure 2). This helped decern the paper material. This book is cloth-bound and was likely bound before distribution over a cardboard panel. This book was more affordable than a book bound with leather.

      The gift plate includes a lot of information about where this specific copy came from. The gift plate suggests the owner who donated this book lived in Carlisle, Pennsylvania (Figure 3). There were multiple owners of this book. I believe Mrs. B. Stilingfleck was the original owner of this copy; her signature was included on the title page. However, the person who donated the book was Mr. A. Gram. This book was donated in 1851, only five years after its publication. In those five years, this copy of French Cookery was owned and used by Mrs. B. Stilingfleck and then somehow ended up in Mr. Gram’s possession.

Works Cited

Bishop, Amy. “The Booker T. Washington-W.E.B. Du Bois Debate.” Cardinal Tales Highlights from 2018, Iowa State University Digital Press, 7 July 2021, iastate.pressbooks.pub/cardinaltales1/chapter/rare-book-highlights-.

“Charles Elme Francatelli.” Charles Elme Francatelli (1805-1876) Chief Cook to Her Majesty the Queen, www.thecooksguide.com/articles/francatelli.html.

Collection 227B – Lea & Febiger, hsp.org/sites/default/files/legacy_files/migrated/findingaid227bleaandfebiger.pdf.

“Food: The Arts (Fine and Culinary) of 19th Century America.” The New York Times, 18 Jan. 1998, archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/01/18/home/fisher-19th.html.

“Grande Cuisine: References & Edit History.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/topic/grande-cuisine/additional-info#history.

Habit, | By Franklin. “In the Kitchen with Francatelli, Part One.” Modern Daily Knitting iCal, Modern Daily Knitting, 15 Jan. 2020, www.moderndailyknitting.com/community/in-the-kitchen-with-francatelli-part-one/.

Larson, Sarah. “What Is Haute Cuisine?” Escoffier Online, Escoffier, 8 June 2022, www.escoffieronline.com/what-is-haute-cuisine/.

Susan, and Susan. “Charles Elmé Francatelli, Maitre d’hôtel and Chief Cook in Ordinary to Queen Victoria.” Unofficial Royalty, 9 Aug. 2024, www.unofficialroyalty.com/charles-elme-francatelli/.

          French Cookery, The Modern Cook, a Practical Guide to Culinary Art in All its Branches, by Charles Elme Francatelli, stuck out to me out of a myriad of other books. It’s a cookbook, and therefore, it stuck out to me because of the rich history a cookbook can hold. I am very interested in studying and working closely with a book that families would have relied on to cook meals. The content of the book intrigues me as the recipes are very universal. Some are for Indian food, some are French recipes, and some are for filets and other meals that are still very popular. Some of the recipes are rare, like turtle soup, and some still hold up, such as the section on beef roasts. This book has a lot of really interesting recipes that show the book’s age as well as indicators of its past life as a functional recipe book.

          The book’s cover does not include the book’s name or any text in general (see Figure 1). The cover, however, has a golden illustration that looks like a stamp. It is the image of a platter of food with a bowl in the center with serving instruments poking out of the food. It has been indented into the book. It feels like it’s been embedded into the cover as it is bumpy to the touch; the foil, however, feels very smooth. The cover also includes a border called a blind. The blind is in a floral pattern like a vine. Unlike the stamp, this is raised instead of embedded into the cover. Part of the name is included on the spine. The spine says: French Cookery by Francatelli, with another golden image of a similar yet different platter of food. The first time the whole title appears is on the title page.

        The title page includes more information, stating that the cookbook has been “Adapted as well for the largest establishments as for the use of private families.” Under the author’s name, he gave credit to his mentor, saying, “Pupil of the celebrated careme and late mater d’hôtel and chief cook to her majesty the queen.” The title page includes “with numerous illustrations.” Lastly, the title page states that this book was published in Philadelphia by Lea and Blanchard in 1846 (see Figure 2). Two separate editions were published, one being the “London Edition.” It states nowhere that this is the London edition, so assumably, this is the other edition. There is no editor credited, and since this is a cookbook of a very accomplished chef, there most likely wasn’t one. This book also includes a forward, an index, and a glossary. The book includes 588 pages total, including blank pages. Of the 588 pages, 576 of these pages had type on them, and 540 pages of this book were recipes. In total, there are 1447 recipes included in this cookbook. The physical book is 10 inches high, 6.5 inches long, and 1.5 inches wide.

        This book is made with fairly high-quality paper. All but three pages are still fully intact. The paper is thick, and the only damage is on the edges of the page. The binding is made of cloth bound by glue and string (see Figure 3). This is clear because the bottom of the spine has started to break and separate from the cover. You can see the cover and the cloth starting to peak out of the bottom. I could not determine the font; however, the qualities are similar to Times New Roman; the letters have similar head serifs. This cookbook includes multiple illustrations. Every illustration is in the same design as the cover illustration, without the gold coloring; they are all in black and white (see Figure 4). They all depict serving platters or suggest proper servings for certain recipes. In total, there are 55-60 illustrations accompanying the recipes. The end of the book includes 36 pages of advertisements (see Figure 5). Most of these advertisements include images, and they all are for other lifestyle books.

      The book is broken up into chapters and sub-chapters. At the beginning of a chapter, the general recipe types are laid out under the title of the section. Each page that includes recipes has a very consistent layout. Each recipe is titled in an italicized font, and the recipe is a paragraph describing the steps and ingredients needed for the dish; this does not include any measurements. If there is an illustration, it is under the recipe. When a new sub-section is introduced, it is separated from the previous section by a squiggly black line. Each page is headed by what type of recipe is on the page. Some recipes have a note at the bottom of the page indicated by an asterisk. Some other discrepancies from the typical layout are later recipes that refer back to the earlier ones (such as sauces), using parenthesis to indicate this. Near the end of the book, before the advertisements, there is a section of recipes correlating to a day a year; these also break the typical layout. There are different ideas for meals based on the day of the year, in total, there are 365 meal ideas.

       The recipe book feels very used and loved. The pages are oily, which reminds me of my grandmother’s old cookbooks that have cooking oil on each page. This book has clearly been used for cooking. A handful of pages are dog-eared, which indicates that these pages include recipes that the original owner frequently used. It’s a sturdy book, which is good for a cookbook as these books endure a lot. If being used in a kitchen, it’s going to be around food, fire, and other things that can hurt the book if it’s not durable. It’s not that heavy, however, which is another quality that is good for a cookbook because whilst cooking, books get moved around frequently. The book is intended for domestic use as well as professional; the title page states its intended use. A few pages of the book have started separating from the binding, showing its age. Reading and touching the book as an artifact feels a bit wrong. It seems very intimate as this was used by someone who appreciated the recipes and presumably cooked for their family. It also feels very nostalgic as it transports me to a time when I would cook with my family.

        The book includes a signature on the title page, belonging to a Mrs. B. Stilingfleck (see Figure 2). This is the only writing in the book that is not the original text. Every page has light brown stains; these stains are mildew due to aging and the way it was stored. This is called foxing and is common in old books. On page 475, there is a very small amount of crushed-up brown powder that resembles coffee grounds. This substance created an oil that seeped through and stained the next four pages. Between pages 42 and 43, there is a long, frayed gold fabric coming from the spine (see Figure 6). I believe this is part of the binding that has started to unravel. Lastly, as mentioned before, three pages (273, 392, 393) of the book are torn on the sides. Each page is torn similarly it can be assumed that this was an error in the book-making process. It looks as if the pages weren’t cut, and the owner cut them after buying it.

Works Used:

French Cookery, The Modern Cook, a Practical Guide to Culinary Art in All its Branches, by Charles Elme Francatelli