With the help of some of the Culinary Arts lecturers, Mairtin Mac Con Iomaire and Pat Zaidan amongst others, we are planning on building up a special collection of books and possibly at a later stage artifacts on Culinary History. It's still very much in its infancy with just over 60 titles in the collection at present but already it includes some rare gems and early 1st editions. Highlights: an 1861 ed. of "Modern cookery for private families" by Eliza Action, "A woman's work is never done" George Vicaires' "Bibliographie Gastronomique" Alexandre Dumas (he of Count of Monte Cristo fame) on food , A copy of "Fancy ices" with the most magnificent cover illustration of a polar bear carrying a tray of sorbets.
My favourite at present is "The good housewife's jewel" by Thomas Dawson which will instruct you how to boil larks, plovers or purtenance, how to bake red deer, hares or porpoises (make sure to take off the skin), how to force a pig, smother a coney or bray gold. Also, and where would any houswife be without these, remedies for tissick, strangurie, for all manner of scabs, for sinews that be broken in two and even a fennel drink "for to make one slender"
