The original collections of the Seagram Museum Library contained a wide variety of material relating to all aspects of the beverage industry.
Included were books on the topics of entertaining, gastronomy, and cookery. Shown here are some examples of books from those subject areas.
"Six Hundred Receipts, Worth Their Weight in Gold" by John Marguart. Philadelphia: John E. Potter and Company. Among the over 600 recipes in this book, there are several dozen outlining the methods of production of beer, wine, brandy, and spirits.
"Six Hundred Receipts, Worth Their Weight in Gold" by John Marguart. Philadelphia: John E. Potter and Company. Among the over 600 recipes in this book, there are several dozen outlining the methods of production of beer, wine, brandy, and spirits.
"Treatise on the Art of Brewing." Accum published a Treatise on the Art of Brewing; shown here is its second edition with coloured fontispiece and title page.
There is Death in the Pot Kings, Chapt VI, v. 40 "A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons, Exhibiting the Fraudulent Sophistications of Bread, Beer, Wine, Spiritous Liquors, Tea, Coffee, Cream, Confectionery, Vinegar, Mustard, Pepper, Cheese, Olive Oil, Pickles, and other Articles Employed in Domestic Economy, and Methods of Detecting Them." London; Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown: 1820, 2nd edition. Frederick Christian Accum (1769-1838), the author of this work, was a man with a curiosity for many things. This pioneering treatise on the subject of dangerous foods pointed out lead in wine, alum in bread, counterfeit coffee, carbonated of copper in tea, "lengtheners" in brandy, all sorts of strange things in the beer. Although other chemists and doctors were also trying to alert the public to the problem of food adulteration at this time, Accum's informal, some would say sensationalistic, style made his book the principal "shout in the darkness" in the early 19th century. The other thing people found fascinating about Accum's book was that he actually named the names of adulterating merchants and importers, taken directly from court records. This did not make him universally popular-- in the preface to this edition he notes "To those who have chosen anonymously to transmit to me their opinion concerning this book, together with their maledictions, I have little to say; but they may rest assured, that their menaces will in no way prevent me from endeavoring to put the unwary on their guard against the frauds of dishonest men..." and he goes on to promise that he will continue to name names. For reasons that remain somewhat obscure but most certainly had much to do with the ill-will his revelations caused, within a few years he was forced to leave England and return to his native Germany. Although faded and repaired, the binding of this book is interesting ---the boards contain, on a light green background contrasting white designs of snakes twirling in and out around a rectangle enclosing a spider's web, with a large spider grabbing a fly. At the top is a banner with a skull and crossbones, and underneath it is the legend "There is Death in the Pot". A contemporary review of this work commented on the forceful binding as follows, "even the outside of his book shall awaken our fears."
"Domestic Economy" by Michael Donovan, volume I. London: Printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green and John Taylor. 1830 The first volume of Donovan's two-volume work entitled Domestic Economy deals with the topics of "Brewing, Distilling, Wine-making and Baking." Both volumes contain frontispieces illustrative of their contents.
"Domestic Economy" by Michael Donovan, volume II. London: Printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green and John Taylor. 1830 The second volume of Donovan's two-volume work entitled Domestic Economy covers the topic of "Human Food." Both volumes contain frontispieces illustrative of their contents.
"The Universal Cook and City and Country Housekeeper" by Francis Collingwood and John Woollams London: For Scatcherd et al, 1806. The long list of topics under the direction of the "universal cook" gives a very good idea of the busy life of a turn of the century housekeeper. One of those covered in some detail was "The Making and Management of Made Wines, Cordial Waters, and Malt Liquors."
"Five Thousand Receipts In All the Useful and Domestic Arts" by Colin Mackenzie Philadelphia: Printed and published by Abraham Small, 1825. Among the five thousand recipes included in the first American edition of this work are over 20 pages devoted to brewing, distillation, and wine-making.
"Five Thousand Receipts In All the Useful and Domestic Arts" by Colin Mackenzie Philadelphia: Printed and published by Abraham Small, 1825. Among the five thousand recipes included in the first American edition of this work are over 20 pages devoted to brewing, distillation, and wine-making.
"Five Thousand Receipts In All the Useful and Domestic Arts" by Colin Mackenzie Philadelphia: Printed and published by Abraham Small, 1825. Among the five thousand recipes included in the first American edition of this work are over 20 pages devoted to brewing, distillation, and wine-making.
"The Economical Housekeeper" by J. H. Walsh. London: G. Routledge and Co., 1857 It is interesting to note that John Henry Walsh, the author of this volume, as Assisted by a Committee of Ladies in preparing this work which offers suggestions as to the purchasing and use of supplies for the home. He cautions his readers that no efforts of the housekeeper, however accomplished she may be . . . will enable her to concoct French brandy, claret . . . or in fact any of the best foreign wine. The book contains a number of engravings of household utensils and machines in use in mid-eighteenth century. In addition to the engraving of "brewing utensils," other devices used in performing domestic chores such as ice-making and ironing are also illustrated.
"The Economical Housekeeper" by J. H. Walsh. London: G. Routledge and Co., 1857 It is interesting to note that John Henry Walsh, the author of this volume, as Assisted by a Committee of Ladies in preparing this work which offers suggestions as to the purchasing and use of supplies for the home. He cautions his readers that no efforts of the housekeeper, however accomplished she may be . . . will enable her to concoct French brandy, claret . . . or in fact any of the best foreign wine. The book contains a number of engravings of household utensils and machines in use in mid-eighteenth century. In addition to the engraving of "brewing utensils," other devices used in performing domestic chores such as ice-making and ironing are also illustrated.
"The Economical Housekeeper" by J. H. Walsh. London: G. Routledge and Co., 1857 It is interesting to note that John Henry Walsh, the author of this volume, as Assisted by a Committee of Ladies in preparing this work which offers suggestions as to the purchasing and use of supplies for the home. He cautions his readers that no efforts of the housekeeper, however accomplished she may be . . . will enable her to concoct French brandy, claret . . . or in fact any of the best foreign wine. The book contains a number of engravings of household utensils and machines in use in mid-eighteenth century. In addition to the engraving of "brewing utensils," other devices used in performing domestic chores such as ice-making and ironing are also illustrated.
"The Footman's Directory, and Remembrancer; or, The Advice of Oneimus to His Young Friends" by Thomas Cosnett. A new edition. London: For Simpkin and Marshall, and Henry Colburn. 1825. The popularity of The Footman's Directory is attested to by the fact that only two years after its initial publication, it was being issued in its fifth edition. In addition to the very detailed diagrams such as the one shown here for a Dinner table set out for twelve persons with eight attendants, the book contained a series of lists of use to the footman. These lists ranged from list of mail coaches to tables of various weights and measures of beer, ale, and wine.
"Trattato Della Natura De' Cibi E Del Bere" by Baldassar Pisanelli. This sixteenth century work is among the earliest of the cookery and gastronomy books in the Seagram Library. Baldassar Pisanelli practised medicine in Bologna and became famous as result of the publication of this book. In it he describes the natural history, the usages, the qualities of fruits, liqueurs, meats, game, fish, milk, cheese, etc., and under what conditions the food and drinks should be used. On each page two foods are described, with sub-headings in italics in the margin, and the natural history of these on the opposite page. Shown here are descriptions of lvpoli and carrots.
