Known World Spotlight
Recreating the Shakespearean Era Feast
By THL Johnnae llyn Lewis, CE
April 2021 marks the 405th anniversary of the death of playwright William Shakespeare. As the Society moves from pandemic closures and back into celebrating its own continuing existence, it seems appropriate to provide a selective list of original works combined with a list concentrating on commercially published works which might inspire or provide information for recreating a Shakespearean era feast. When constructing such a feast menu or a banquet menu for a table of sweets, one should try to examine a selection of these works for variety’s sake and for comparison of recipes. The second part of this guide concentrates on aspects of Shakespearean or Elizabethan life, foods, and feasts. These books all vary as to availability and price. Consider asking for them at a local library or interlibrary loaning them in before purchasing, and/or even consider purchase on the used books marketplace. For a listing of original sixteenth century English printed editions, please see my abbreviated initial list here or my other guides and bibliographies. Recipe counts are approximate.
Original Works:
Printing of cookery books in England begins in the year 1500. This selective list includes cookery books published in the Shakespearean era or between 1564 and 1616. (It does not include dietaries, herbals, and other associated works.) Many academic libraries subscribed to and own copies of these works on microfilm through the UMI Microfilms Collection Project. Starting in the late 1990s, the microfilms were then transferred as page images into the digital database known as EEBO or Early English Books Online. An offshoot of EEBO then has taken these digital editions and transcribed the books into full text editions which may be searched by keywords. This project is known as EEBO-FTP or EEBO Full Text Project. Ask if your academic library participates and provides access to these projects through EEBO. As individual holding libraries digitize their rare books, a number of these early English books may also be available online or through a public access project through the University of Michigan Library. A few works have also been privately transcribed and appear online or in print. Increasingly, culinary manuscripts are also included among these publicly accessible works.
This list concentrates on providing the most easily accessible versions of a work, be it microfilm, print, or online. I am concentrating here on the easiest way to locate a copy for use with emphasis on ease of use in 2021. I must mention EEBO did publish a number of their editions as paperbacks through EEBO Publishing or as EEBO Editions, ProQuest.
These editions are now OP and are priced beyond understanding. [$10 editions from 2010 are now priced at upwards of $900.] Likewise, back in the 1970s there was an attempt to publish a number of early printed books in a series called The English Experience. There were a number of cookbooks, but likewise those rather inexpensive $5-$7 priced volumes now command astronomical prices.
For the list below, EEBO indicates it is online through the academic library database Early English Books Online. [For additional information and far more details, please consult my other checklists and bibliographies of English cookery books.]
Original Printed Cookbooks of the Shakespearean Era include:
Earlier Editions Which Were Reprinted During Shakespeare’s Lifetime
1508 THE BOKE OF KERVYNGE (CARVING)
First printed in 1508 as Here Begynneth the Boke of Keruynge by Wynkyn de Worde, this work examines how one should properly carve and serve various items to the noble table. The work was reprinted in 1570 and was also included in whole or in part in numerous late 16th C and even 17th C cookery books, including those by Thomas Dawson, A.W., John Murrell, Robert May, and William Rabisha. The 1570 edition is available on microfilm & EEBO. The 1508 is available in print as:
The Boke of Keruynge: The Book of Carving. [Wynkyn de Worde, orig. printer. Edited by Peter Brears.] Lewes, East Sussex, U.K.: Southover Press, 2003. [pbk: 2019] Facsimile.
Online editions (other than Google Books) include the 1508 edition, which has been transcribed by Daniel Myers. http://www.medievalcookery.com/notes/kervynge_1508.txt
The Cambridge University copy of the sole surviving 1508 edition is now online: https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PR-SEL-00005-00019/11
1545 A PROPRE NEW BOOKE OF COKERY
The 1545 work was reprinted in circa 1557 and then again in 1575 and 1576. The 1545, 1575 and 1576 editions are available on microfilm & EEBO. The title varies slightly, but the recipes remain the same throughout the four editions.
The circa 1557 edition edited by Catherine Frere in 1913 is now online at: https://archive.org/details/b21530191
Catherine Frere’s text of the circa 1557 edition (minus her notes) can also be found at http://www.uni-giessen.de/gloning/tx/bookecok.htm
My review of the impossible to find Anne Ahmed edition of the circa 1557 edition may be found at: http://dialup.pcisys.net/~mem/cambridge.html
The 1575 edition is transcribed by Daniel Myers. http://www.medievalcookery.com/notes/pnboc1575.txt
1558 Alessio. THE SECRETES OF THE REUERENDE MAYSTER ALEXIS OF PIEMOUNT
Widely popular book of secrets, Alessio contains the first printed English recipe for sugar paste as well as additional confectionary recipes. It’s all part of a chapter called “The Third Book.” See my articles listed in the bibliography for more information on this work. The 1568, 1580, and 1595 editions are on microfilm and EEBO, and the 1558, 1568, and 1580 editions were published as EEBO Editions through Amazon.
I am pleased to report that the first volume with the confectionary recipes can be found online as part of the EEBO text creation project: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A16068.0001.001?view=toc
The Secretes of the Reuerende Mayster Alexis of Piemount. London, 1558. Norwood, N.J.: Walter J. Johnson, Inc. and Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Ltd., 1975. The English Experience Series.1975. #707.
Cookery Books Which Originate During Shakespeare’s Lifetime
1573 Partridge, John. THE TREASURIE OF COMMODIOUS CONCEITS, & HIDDEN SECRETS AND MAY BE CALLED, THE HUSWIUES CLOSET, OF HEALTHFULL PROUISION
There are three culinary works generally associated with John Partridge who “flourished 1566-1573.” Reference sources vary widely as to dating, number of editions, and even the given wording/spelling of the titles. These books were reprinted well into the mid 17th century, and were revised, rearranged, and enlarged as time passed. For more on Partridge and this volume, see my introduction in the online edition at medievalcookery.com. Online:
Holloway, Johnna, editor. THE TREASURIE OF COMMODIOUS CONCEITS
The 1573 edition has been provided as an online edition courtesy of JK Holloway. See medievalcookery.com It’s also indexed so it can be searched as part of the recipe database.
Oxford University now offers: Partridge, John, fl. 1566-1573. 2005. The treasurie of commodious conceits… Oxford Text Archive. http:/hdl.handle.net/20.500.12024/A68556
1582 Partridge, John. THE WIDOWES TREASURE
Second work by Partridge, it’s more medicinal than culinary with editions varying widely in spelling and ranging from between 96 pages to as many as 120 pages. The 1586(?), 1588, and 1595 editions are on microfilm and EEBO. The 1588 and 1631 editions are available as EEBO Editions through Amazon.
Online now as part of the EEBO text creation project: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A09123.0001.001
1584 A. W. or W., A. A BOOKE OF COOKRYE
Containing ‘banqueting stuffe,’ A.W. is a good basic collection of recipes. The 1591 edition titled A Book of Cookrye is widely cited by many authors. The two earliest editions appear in 1584 and 1587 and are owned by Leeds University; the sole copy of the 1594 edition was lost during WWII. The 1591 edition is available through microfilm and on EBBO and was available as an EEBO Edition through Amazon. There was also an English Experience edition in 1976.
The 1587 edition owned by Leeds University is now online: URI: http://digital.library.leeds.ac.uk/id/eprint/6320
The 1591 is online at: http://jducoeur.org/Cookbook/Cookrye.html or through the University of Michigan at https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=eebo2;idno=A14584.0001.001
1584/1585? Dawson, Thomas. THE GOOD HUSWIFES IEWELL and THE SECOND PART OF THE GOOD HUSWIUES IEWELL.
Dawson provides two works, both of which are commonly used and cited. The first volume is recorded in Stationers’ Register in December 1584, but there are no surviving copies from before 1587. It’s commonly accepted that it was printed because in 1585 a volume titled THE SECOND PART OF THE GOOD HUSWIUES IEWELL appeared. No one really believes the Second Part was published first so there must be at least one missing edition of the GHJ dated before the earliest surviving edition of 1587.
Spelling varies because of the use of i and j in the word jewel. Editions of the GHT include: 1587, 1605, 1610, 1620, 1629, 1634, & 1650. The 1587 and 1596 GHJ is on microfilm and on EEBO.
The 1587 GHT is online now courtesy of the University of Michigan https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A19957.0001.001
The 1596 GHT is transcribed by Daniel Myers and appears online. http://www.medievalcookery.com/notes/ghj1596.txt
1585 THE SECOND PART OF THE GOOD HUSWIUES IEWELL
Appears in 1585 and was often bound with the GHT. The 1597 appears on microfilm & on EEBO and is also online at: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A69185.0001.001 courtesy of the UM Library.
Combined editions of both appear in:
Dawson, Thomas. The Good Huswifes Jewell. 2 Parts. London 1596/97. Norwood, N.J. : Walter J. Johnson, Inc. and Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Ltd., 1977. The English Experience Series. 1977. #865. Contains the 1596 RSTC 6392 edition and the 1597 RSTC 6395 Second Part. This is a facsimile edition.
Dawson, Thomas. The Good Housewife’s Jewel. Introduction by Maggie Black. Lewes, East Sussex, U.K.: Southover Press, 1996. The unnamed editor took both parts of the original books and recombined the recipes into modern sub-sections, all without noting which original book was used for the recipes being cited. Is the recipe being cited from GHJ or GHJ-2? The text has also been tinkered with as to wording and spelling. Highly problematic to use and cite.
1588 Anon. THE GOOD HOUS-WIUES TREASURIE.
This appears to be the only edition of this small work. It contains 33 culinary recipes, 11 more for the preserves and sweets plus 10 medicinal recipes. I am at present editing and annotating this volume for publication at medievalcookery.com. The 1588 is on microfilm & on EEBO.
1594 Anon. A GOOD HUSWIFES HANDMAIDE FOR THE KITCHIN. [A BOOKE OF COOKERIE, OTHERWISE CALLED THE GOOD HUSWIUES HANDMAID.]
May date from 1588. Title varies. It’s sometimes credited to Thomas Dawson but his name does not appear in it. The 1594 and 1595/97? are on microfilm and EEBO. The 1594 edition was available as an EEBO Edition through Amazon.
The Good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchen. A Period Recipe Book. Edited by Stuart Peachey. Bristol, U.K.: Stuart Press, 1992.
Online at https://www.uni-giessen.de/fbz/fb05/germanistik/absprache/sprachverwendung/gloning/ghhk/handmaide.htm : with notes by Sam Wallace.
1596 Partridge, John. THE TREASVRIE OF HIDDEN SECRETS. COMMONLIE CALLED THE GOOD HUSVVIUES CLOSET OF PROUISION.
This is Partridge’s earlier titled TREASURIE OF COMMODIOUS CONCEITS, & HIDDEN SECRETS revised and released under the somewhat simpler title. Spelling varies for “treasury.” There are numerous later editions for this work, including 1608, 1627, 1633, 1637, 1638, & 1653. The 1596 and 1600 editions are on microfilm & on EEBO. The 1627 and 1637 editions were available as EEBO Editions through Amazon. Also see:
Partridge, John. A Treasury of Hidden Secrets. A 17th-century Housewives’ Handbook of Cookery and Medicine. Cambridge, MA.: Rhwymbooks, 2002. This is the 1653 edition that is being reproduced.
The above 1653 volume is now online at: http://www.povertystudies.org/Links/Rhwymbooks/TreasuryOfHiddenSecrets/TreasuryOfHiddenSecretsHome.htm
1598 EPULARIO, OR THE ITALIAN BANQUET
“Translated out of Italian into English.” This is a translation of the Italian work Opera nova chiamata Epulario. It’s really an English version of Martino’s recipes, which Platina famously published in the 1470s. It’s often listed as being by Anonymous or under Rosselli, Giovanne de who was one of the translators. The one English edition is on microfilm, EEBO, and as an EEBO Edition through Amazon.
Online courtesy of the UM: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A00309.0001.001?view=toc
Otherwise:
Epulario, or the Italian Banquet. Printed by A.I. for William Barley, 1598. Reprinted by Falconwood Press, 1990. Sold at SCA events and in many collections.
1600 Plat, Hugh, Sir. DELIGHTES FOR LADIES, TO ADORNE THEIR PERSONS, TABLES, CLOSETS, AND DISTILLATORIES.
Platt or Plat is one of my favorite authors and is the subject of a biography by Malcolm Thick. King James I knighted him in 1605 for his various works. DELIGHTES FOR LADIES is just a marvelous work for anyone interested in sweets and banqueting fare. Malcolm Thick’s PPC essay and his Plat biography makes the case that Plat’s source for many of the general recipes came from a much earlier manuscript by a T.T., which is dated 1559-1561. The Folger Library owns and often displays an early edition of 1608 edition. The 1948 charming Fussell edition reproduces the text of the 1609 edition. The Liz Seeber facsimile of the 1628 edition is just gorgeous. Other editions are 1605, 1608, 1609, 1611, 1615, 1617, 1628, 1632, 1636, 1640, 1647, 1654, and 1656. The 1600, 1602, and 1603 are on microfilm and on EEBO. The 1608, 1611, and 1640 editions were available as EEBO Editions through Amazon.
Otherwise, the 1602 is online at: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A09713.0001.001?view=toc
There’s also an extract from the 1602 edition owned by the British Library at: http://bllearning.co.uk/live-extracts/318355/
The 1644 is online courtesy of LoC https://www.loc.gov/item/73217891/
Plat, Hugh, Sir. Delightes for Ladies.1609. Edited by G.E. & K.R. Fussell. London: Crosby Lockwood & Son Ltd., 1948, 1955. This is the popular edition most people in the Society use and cite when talking about Plat’s Delightes.
Note: The Trovillion Press in Illinois in 1939 and in 1942 produced a very limited fine press edition of the 1627 edition titled Delightes for Ladies. Written Originally by Hugh Plat. First Printed in 1602 London England. The title turns up in Midwest libraries and in antiquarian catalogues.
1608 A CLOSET FOR LADIES AND GENTLEVVOMEN. OR, THE ART OF PRESERVING, CONSERVING, AND CANDYING
My annotated and edited version of this important confectionery text with all the details of seventeenth century editions may be found here:
A Closet for Ladies and Gentlewomen. 1608. Edited by Johnna Holloway. 2011 Web. Medievalcookery.com http://www.medievalcookery.com/etexts.html
1615 Gervase Markham. THE ENGLISH HUSWIFE [THE ENGLISH HOUSEWIFE]
Gervase Markham made his living as an author and translator in an age when authors were ill paid and ill-treated. Many of his works were on the care and training of horses. Markham’s famous work The English Housewife first appeared as part of his volume Countrey Contentments in 1615. It then appeared as part of his volume A Way to Get Wealth in 1623. Markham continued to revise the work and it appeared again as The English Huswife in 1631. The work on the duties and virtues of a country housewife made its way to colonial America and has long been a Society favorite.
Online: the 1623: https://archive.org/details/b30333143
The 1631 edition courtesy of the UM: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=eebo;idno=A06924.0001.001
I recommend the following annotated modern edition:
Markham, Gervase. The English housewife: containing the inward and outward virtues which ought to be in a complete woman, as her skill in physic, cookery, banqueting-stuff, distillation, perfumes, wool, hemp, flax, dairies, brewing, baking, and all other things belonging to a household. 1631. Edited by Michael R. Best. Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1986.
1615 John Murrell. A NEW BOOK OF COOKERY
John Murrell is the author of a number of interesting culinary works appearing for the first time between 1615 and 1628/1629 when the first edition of his Murrells Two Books of Cookery appeared. The 1615 is available on microfilm, EEBO, and as an EEBO edition on Amazon. Of interest to Society members are his A Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen (1617) and A Delightful Daily Exercise (1621), which contain recipes for sweets and banqueting items.
Later Printed or Online Editions of Shakespearean Era Manuscripts include:
1567
The Commonplace Book of Countess Katherine Seymour Hertford
(University of Pennsylvania Ms. Codex 823) Daniel Myers (transcriber.)
Transcription is online at medievalcookery.com
c.1550-1625
Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery. Edited with commentary by Karen Hess. New York: Columbia University Press, 1981. A transcription of “A Booke of Cookery”and “A Booke of Sweetmeates,” from a manuscript owned at one time by Martha Washington. Hess dates the recipes as being Elizabethan-Jacobean dating from c1550-1625 and provides extensive notes and bibliography. I lean towards the recipes being early 17th century because many appear to be taken directly the 1608 Closet for Ladies. Paperback edition also available. Highly recommended.
1580-1612
Tollemache, Catherine. Manuscript and accounts published in part as Fruitful Endeavours. The 16th Century Household Secrets of Catherine Tollemache at Helmingham Hall. Edited by Moira Coleman. Andover, UK: Phillimore & Co, 2012. A work of household secrets and recipes with notes and historical material provided by the editor.
c.1604-18th century
Fettiplace, Elinor. Elinor Fettiplace’s Receipt Book: Elizabethan Country House Cooking. Edited by Hilary Spurling. London: The Salamander Press and and New York: Viking Salamander, 1986. Classic Society source featuring a selection of Elizabethan and Jacobean recipes from a household manuscript (begun in 1604) with adaptations and commentary. Also includes several post-Restoration recipes, such as a “chocolate cream.” The full manuscript has been published as in the next entry.
The Complete Receipt Book of Ladie Elynor Fetiplace. Bristol, England: Stuart Press. 3 volumes. Volume I: 1994. Volume 2 [titled: The Complete Elinor Fettiplace’s Receipt Book]: 1999. Volume 3 [titled as volume 1]: 1999. A three volume set reproducing the entire Fetiplace or Fettiplace manuscript. Spurling published only a selection. http://www.stuart-hmaltd.com/living_history_medicine.php lists the set.
c.1610
“Mrs. Sarah Longe Her Receipt Booke, c1610.” Caton, Mary Anne, ed. Fooles and Fricassees: Food in Shakespeare’s England. Washington, D.C.: The Folger Shakespeare Library, 1997. Appendix I. pp.99-119. An original publication of a ‘literal transcription of a c1610 manuscript’ with an introduction by Heidi Brayman Hackel.
c. 1614
Castelvetro, Giacomo. The Fruit, Herbs & Vegetables of Italy. Translated by Gillian Riley. London: Viking, 1989. Revised edition. Prospect Books, 2012. Castelvetro escaped the Italian Inquisition to settle in England where he wrote his manuscript about the English diet & lamenting the loss of the fruits and vegetables of his Italian upbringing.
Online Materials
Need original Elizabethan cookbooks? The website Medievalcookery.com provides an easy way to numerous historical and original English works, including a number of 16th century and early 17th century cookbooks. The Midrealm’s Master Edouard Halidai (Daniel Myers) created and operates the invaluable site.
Cooking in the Archives: Updating Early Modern Recipes (1600-1800) in a Modern Kitchen is a public food history project. It began in 2014 and often features recipes from the Folger Shakespeare Library. Check it out at: https://rarecooking.com/about/
Manuscripts of interest continue to be digitized by their various libraries. One way to keep track is by following along with https://www.manuscriptcookbookssurvey.org/collection/Search/advanced/manuscripts
Works with Substantial Numbers of Adapted Shakespearean/Elizabethan Recipes:
Beebe, Ruth Anne. Sallets, Humbles & Shrewsbery Cakes. Boston: David R. Godine, 1976. Released again in paperback by David R. Godine, 2002. 60 recipes. Original recipes from 4 works are included but not labeled, leaving readers to determine the source. Not essential these days.
Brears, Peter. All the King’s Cooks. The Tudor Kitchens of King Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace. London: Souvenir Press, 1999. Paperback ed. 2011. Excellent text with 82 recipes from 16th century England. With photos and drawings. Highly recommended. Kindle edition also available.
Brears, Peter. Cooking and Dining In Tudor and Early Stuart England. London: Prospect Books, 2015. 670 pp., 141 B/W line drawings/figures. [Notes: 613-632. Bibliography: 633-641. Indexes [both general and recipes]: 642-670.] This volume includes 370 plus recipes and variations. Includes menus, calendar customs, banquets, banqueting fare. Etc. Essential and highly recommended volume. See also the companion volume titled Cooking & Dining in Medieval England.
Dalby, Andrew and Maureen Dalby. The Shakespeare Cookbook. London: British Museum, 2012. A well illustrated cookbook with approximately 40 practical recipes by the food historian Andrew Dalby and his wife Maureen. Consider purchase of a used volume or loaning a copy in. Hint: Peter Brears is a much better source.
Fettiplace, Elinor. Elinor Fettiplace’s Receipt Book: Elizabethan Country House Cooking. Listed under manuscripts above. Contains adapted recipes.
Lorwin, Madge. Dining with William Shakespeare. New York: Atheneum, 1976. A classic volume with 434 pages featuring 13 menus. Including 186 original and working recipes and suggestions for drinks. The recipes have been widely used and adapted for numerous Society feasts over the decades. Used prices are running around $5-$15. Well worth reading for quotations, inspiration and ideas. Consider purchase or loaning a copy in.
Morton, Mark and Andrew Coppolino. Cooking with Shakespeare. [Feasting with Fiction.] Westport, Ct: Greenwood, 2008. Given the wealth of material, one would have expected better of this problematic work. It features a complicated layout. More than a few of the 189 featured recipe adaptations come across as just plain wrong or unreliable. Interesting bibliography. Very expensive, so consider loaning in a copy.
Sass, Lorna J. To the Queen’s Taste. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1976. This was Sass’s follow-up to the volume To the King’s Taste. It features Elizabeth I. 40 recipes with the same faults found in her previous volume. A bit antiquated by this point.
Zyvatkauskas, Betty & Sonia. Eating Shakespeare. Recipes and More from the Bard’s Kitchen. Toronto: Prentice Hall Canada, 2000. The paperback [ISBN 0130894524] was released in 2002 by Prentice Hall Canada. Little known Canadian publication, but well worth the bother of seeking out. 96 recipes. Used copies are currently very inexpensive.
English Heritage
The historical association first published a set of paperbacks examining cookery in Britain in 1985. Of interest to readers here are the titles Food and Cooking in 16th Century Britain: History and Recipes and Food and Cooking in 17th Century Britain: History and Recipes. Over the years since these volumes have been tinkered with, combined, photos added, and re-released in a number of formats and titles.
A Taste of History. Edited by Peter Brears, Maggie Black, et al. London: English Heritage; British Museum Press, 1993, 1994. Paperback edition, 1997. Combined edition of all the English Heritage pamphlets from 1985.
Brears, Peter. Stuart Cookery. Recipes and History. [London:] English Heritage, 2004.
New edition of Brears’ work on 17th Century Britain. Attractive new photos along with 21 recipes. Superseded by Brears’ newer works but still worthwhile for those interested in early Jacobean or Shakespearean fare.
Brears, Peter. Tudor Cookery. Recipes and History. [London:] English Heritage, 2003.
New edition of Brears’ 1985 English Heritage work on the 16th Century. Attractive new photos along with 26 recipes.
Making a Meal of It. Two Thousand Years of English Cookery. Swindon, UK: English Heritage, 2005. Another reworking of the 1985 English Heritage series of cookery booklets.
Also Consider:
Albala, Ken. Cooking in Europe 1250-1650. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2006. 42 original English recipes. No adapted recipes but lots of notes and discussions about ingredients and techniques.
Brears, Peter. “Rare Conceits and Strange Delightes: The Practical Aspects of Culinary Sculpture.” ‘Banquetting Stuffe’. The Fare and Social Background of the Tudor and Stuart Banquet. [Food and Society 2.] Ed. By C. Anne Wilson. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991. pp.60-114. In this widely cited article, Peter Brears offers 39 working recipes for recreating a proper Elizabethan or Jacobean banquet table of sweets. Most now appear in Brears’ 2015 volume Cooking and Dining In Tudor and Early Stuart England.
Castelvetro, Giacomo. The Fruit, Herbs & Vegetables of Italy. Translated by Gillian Riley. London: Viking, 1989. Revised edition by Prospect Books, 2012. Listed under manuscripts above.
David, Elizabeth. English Bread and Yeast Cookery. 1977 UK; 1980 USA.
Authentic bread recipes are hard to come by, and David is still the place to begin for those that want to explore English baking, the flours, the mills, the bread ovens, and the recipes. Numerous British and American editions. The UK original edition was newly reissued 2001 and again in hardcover in 2010. The original US edition was edited by food historian Karen Hess who added her own foreword.
Fleming, Elise. Confections and the English Banquet. [Series: The Compleat Anachronist. #163 2014:3] Covers the “banquet” ranging from its evolution through the development of the banqueting house, a brief history sugar and confections, table layouts, common banquet items, spice dishes, trenchers, and forks, leading into a conclusion on page 22. The rest of the pamphlet is comprised of Appendices covering lists of banqueting items, recipes, a section on recreating a banquet, and lastly, sugar stages.
Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery. Edited by Karen Hess. New York: Columbia University Press, 1981. Listed under manuscripts above.
Numerous other works include material or sections on Elizabethan or Shakespearean dining. Sara Paston-Williams’ The Art of Dining: A History of Cooking & Eating. New York: Harry N Abrams, 1994 is one. The recipes were then published as A Book of Historical Recipes in 1995. The unrevised edition then appeared in the fall of 2012. Those traveling to the UK may chance upon such items as: The Tudor Kitchens, The Tudor Kitchens Cookery Book, and The Taste of Fire all from Hampton Court Palace. Michelle Berriedale-Johnson has included Elizabethan recipes in the British Museum’s Festive Feasts Cookbook. Michele Brown also included them in Royal Recipes. Anne Willan’s Great Cooks and Their Recipes first appeared in 1977. Revised and expanded, it features the 17th century work of Robert May among others. With recipes and great pictures of recreated dishes. Good for inspiration.
Those coming across a title The Little Book of Shakespeare and Food by Domenica de Rosa, 2001, should be aware that the work contains Shakespearean quotations but only modern recipes. Likewise, Francis & Hober’s Cooking with Shakespeare (1989) is a dramatic approach with inauthentic recipes. The Food of Love. The Taste of Shakespeare in Four Seasons. Glasbury-on-Wye, Powys, UK: Graficas Books, 2012 is another work with inauthentic recipes. One would expect to see more works with recipes suggested by Shakespeare as the Anniversary creates a ready market. Be wary!
The following is not recommended. Segan, Francine. Shakespeare’s Kitchen. Renaissance Recipes for the Contemporary Cook. New York: Random House, 2003. There are many and various reasons why this work is not recommended, including the author’s lazy habit of just labeling generic recipes, as a “Renaissance” version. See the 2004 Tournaments Illuminated review for why!
The small print or caveats
The modern historical cookbooks included in the above list feature modernized adaptations or working recipes that are more or less appropriate for Society occasions; many are already mentioned in SCA articles and websites or found in many Society collections. The best of these works either include the original recipes along with the modern versions or list the original recipe source along with the working versions. The modernized recipes are suitable for most beginners and moderately advanced cooks, but they may not be 100 per cent authentic as to ingredients and therefore may be unsuitable for authentic item or A&S entries. Read the original and working recipes carefully before beginning any Shakespearean cookery project. These published adapted recipes in many instances can readily serve as starting points for readers or cooks until readers gain the experience necessary to plunge into the actual original culinary texts and redact their 100% own authentic working versions.
Works with Information on the Shakespearean and Elizabethan Table, Foods, Customs, and Life. These are primarily academic works, but readers may find them valuable for background material and insights.
Albala, Ken. Eating Right in the Renaissance. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. All the numerous dietaries on what to eat are explained in this volume, making this the best book on dietary advice in the Renaissance.
Albala, Ken. Food in Early Modern Europe. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003. More or less a textbook but a well done one on food history. Starts at 1500, so it covers the Voyages of Discovery and what was introduced to Europe in the 16th century, like the turkey and pumpkins.
Bates, Jonathan & Dora Thornton. Shakespeare. Staging the World. Oxford: OUP and London: The British Museum Press, 2012. New heavily illustrated volume examining the plays and life in London during Shakespeare’s lifetime and especially the year 1612.
Bennett, Jackie. Shakespeare’s Gardens. London: Frances Lincoln Limited, 2016.
Brears, Peter. “Decoration of the Tudor and Stuart Table.” The Appetite and the Eye. [Food and Society 2.] Ed. By C. Anne Wilson. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991. pp. 56-97.
Brien, Donna Lee. “Eating Shakespeare: exploring the Bardic culinary literature industry.” [Central Queensland University, Australia] TEXT Special Issue 36: Shakespeare 400 eds Dallas Baker & Laurie Johnson, October 2016. 17 pp. Highly recommended study of the modern Shakespearean cookbooks. http://www.textjournal.com.au/speciss/issue36/Brien.pdf
Brown, Peter B. and Ivan Day. Pleasures of the Table. Ritual and Display in the European Dining Room 1600-1900. York, U.K.: York Civic Trust, 1997.
Caton, Mary Anne, ed. Fooles and Fricassees: Food in Shakespeare’s England. Washington, D.C.: The Folger Shakespeare Library, 1997. Exhibit catalog with pictures. Includes the original publication of a ‘literal transcription of a c1610 (culinary) manuscript’ in Appendix I. pp. 99-119.
Christmas in Shakespeare’s England. Compiled by Maria Hubert. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: Sutton Publishing, 1998. ISBN: 0-7509-1719-9. Great book for planning a Yule event centered on Shakespearean times. Out of Print. Consider a loan.
Cooper, Tarnya. Searching for Shakespeare. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Dawson, Mark. Plenti and Grase: Food and Drink in a Sixteenth-Century Household. Totnes, Devon, U.K.: Prospect Books, 1998. A discussion of the food and drink consumed by the Willoughby family who owned Wollaton Hall In Nottingham & Middleton Hall in Warwickshire. Based on household accounts.
Day, Ivan. Royal Sugar Sculpture. 600 Years of Splendour. Barnard Castle, Durham, U.K.: The Bowes Museum, 2002. Contains material on historic sugar molds, recipes, and sotelties. Sugar paste first appears in the 1550s, making it highly appropriate for the Shakespearean table. http://www.historicfood.com/portal.htm is Ivan Day’s wonderful website. His blog Food History Jottings is at http://foodhistorjottings.blogspot.com/
One of his YouTube contributions is “Supper with Shakespeare: The Evolution of English Banqueting” which highlights an exhibit from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qebdv6yH2B8
See http://commonplaceboke.blogspot.com/2015/04/subtleties-ivan-day.html
Eat, Drink, and Be Merry. The British at Table 1600-2000. Edited by Ivan Day. London: Philip Wilson Publishers, 2000. 96 color and b/w illustrations and photographs. Features a Jacobean style banquet table of sweets and pastries.
The Elizabethan Garden at Kenilworth Castle. Edited by John Watkins and Anna Keay. Swindon, UK: English Heritage, 2013. Covers the key aspects, background, and history of the recreation of the Elizabethan gardens at Kenilworth.
The English Cookery Book. Historical Essays. Edited by Eileen White. Totnes, Devon, U.K.: Prospect Books, 2004.
The English Kitchen. Historical Essays. Edited by Eileen White. Totnes, Devon, U.K.: Prospect Books, 2007.
Feast & Fast. The Art of Food in Europe. 1500-1800. Edited by Victoria Avery and Melissa Calaresu. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Fitzwilliam Museum, 2019. Beautiful catalogue from the art exhibit which C-19 closed in early 2020! Includes material by Ivan Day. Worth seeking out.
Food and Drink in Archaeology 4. London: Prospect Books, 2015. Contains the paper: Bowsher, Julian. “Provisioning Shakespeare’s Audiences: Food and Drink in the London Playhouses of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries.” Pp.128-138. Bowsher is the author of Shakespeare’s London Theatreland: Archaeology, History and Drama, 2012.
Food in Shakespeare. Early Modern Dietaries and the Plays. Ed. by Joan Fitzpatrick. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2007. Very academic and not very useful for recreating a meal.
Goldstein, David B. Eating and Ethics in Shakespeare’s England. Cambridge: CUP, 2013. Patterns of communal eating are examined with material on recipes and writers.
His later book with Amy Tigner Culinary Shakespeare: Staging Food and Drink in Early Modern England came out in May 2016.
Harrison, William. The Description of England. The Classic Contemporary Account of Tudor Social Life. Edited by Georges Edelen. New York: Dover, 1994, 2011. Reprint of the 1968 Folger Shakespeare Library edition. Harrison’s accounts were first published in 1587 as part of Holinshed’s Chronicles. Extensive material on foods, agriculture, gardens, etc.
Hull, Suzanne W. Chaste, Silent & Obedient. English Books for Women 1475-1640. San Marino, CA: The Huntington Library, 1982. Books of interest to and intended for women are examined in this classic bibliographic study.
Shapiro, James. The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015. Another work by Columbia University Professor of English James Shapiro. In 2005, he published A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599 followed by Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? in 2010.
Jones, Jeanne. Family Life in Shakespeare’s England. Stratford-Upon-Avon 1570-1630. Thrupp, Stroud, U.K.: Alan Sutton in association with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, 1996.
The London Encyclopaedia. Edited by Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert. 1983. London: Papermac, 1987, 1988. Everything about historical London.
MacGregor, Neil. Shakespeare’s Restless World. New York: Viking, 2012.
Mason. Laura Sugar-Plums and Sherbet. The Prehistory of Sweets. Totnes, Devon, U.K.: Prospect Books, 1998. Paperback 2003. Highly recommended English confectionary history now in paperback.
Mortimer, Ian. The Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England. NY: Penguin, 2012. Worthwhile for background reading.
Nichols, John. John Nichols’s The progresses and public processions of Queen Elizabeth I : a new edition of the early modern sources. Oxford: OUP, 2014. The new edition of Nichols’ famed volumes of Elizabeth and her Progresses.
Picard, Liza. Elizabeth’s London. Everyday Life in Elizabethan London. London, 2003.
Porter, Stephen. Shakespeare’s London. Everyday Life in London 1580-1606. London: Amberley, 2011.
Renaissance Food from Rabelais to Shakespeare. Culinary Readings and Culinary Histories. Ed. by Joan Fitzpatrick. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2010. Another academic work with an essay by Fitzpatrick on “’I must eat my Dinner’: Shakespeare’s Food’s from Apples to Walrus.” See below for an entire volume on the same topic.
Schmidt, Stephen. “What, Exactly, Was the Tudor and Stuart Banquet?” Web. August 2019. https://www.manuscriptcookbookssurvey.org/what-exactly-was-the-tudor-and-stuart-banquet/
Shakespeare and the Language of Food: A Dictionary. Edited by Joan Fitzpatrick.
[Series: Continuum Shakespeare Dictionaries]. London: Continuum, 2011. 461 pp. Anyone interested in the language of food (the ingredients, the foods, fruits, meats, fowl, and fish, methods, people and places) mentioned in Shakespeare’s works should seek out this work. An academic comprehensive analysis to the food references and what they meant then and mean today. Very Expensive but worth loaning in. Likewise also consider 2014’s Shakespeare’s Plants and Gardens : A Dictionary by Vivian Thomas and Nicki Faircloth.
Shakespeare and the Stuff of Life. Edited by Delia Garratt and Tara Hamling. London: Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare, 2016.
Shakespeare’s England. Life in Elizabethan & Jacobean England. Edited by R. E. Pritchard. Stroud, U.K.: Sutton, 1999. Material on foods and taverns.
Stead, Jennifer. “Necessities and Luxuries: Food preservation from the Elizabethan to the Georgian Era.” ‘Waste Not, Want Not’. Food Preservation from Early Times to the Present Day. [Food and Society 4.] Ed. By C. Anne Wilson. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991. pp. 66-103.
Strong, Roy. Feast. A History of Grand Eating. London: Jonathan Cape, 2002.
Thick, Malcolm. Sir Hugh Plat. The Search for Useful Knowledge in Early Modern London. Totnes, Devon, U.K.: Prospect Books, 2010. Discusses the recipe books written by Plat and others late in the Elizabethan period.
Thirsk, Joan. Food in Early Modern England. Phases, Fads, Fashions 1500-1760. London: Hambledon Continuum, 2007. Excellent and readable academic work.
Thomas Tusser. Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. A work on the agricultural year and rural customs. Numerous editions beg. in 1557 and continuing throughout the 16th century. Tusser died in 1580. Geoffrey Grigson uses the1580 text for his and my preferred edition of Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. Oxford: OUP, 1984.
Wagner, John A. Historical Dictionary of the Elizabethan World. Britain, Ireland, Europe, and America. Phoenix, Arizona: Oryx Press, 1999. Good reference volume.
Wall, Wendy. Recipes for Thought. Knowledge and Taste in the Early Modern English Kitchen. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016. Interesting new work by the author of Staging Domesticity: Household Work and English Identity in Early Modern Drama.
Wilson, C. Anne. “Ideal Meals and Their Menus from the Middle Ages to the Georgian Era.” The Appetite and the Eye. [Food and Society 2.] Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991. pp. 98-122.
Wilson, C. Anne. Food & Drink in Britain: From the Stone Age to the 19th Century. 1973. Numerous UK and US editions. Revised in 1991. Best single volume history on English foods and cookery! Good on Tudor and Stuart foods. Chapters focus on type of food.
Wood, Michael. In Search of Shakespeare. London: BBC, 2003. See also the dvd set.
A General Note
So yes, there are thousands of books, articles, and dissertations on the life and works of Shakespeare. Millions from school children to academics have studied the period and works of Shakespeare. There are thousands of dissertations. Every college and university has at least one Shakespearean on the faculty. There are dozens of bibliographies and guides devoted to the topic as well. Visit any university or college departmental English Library and just browse the shelves for a taste of the available literature. The online web sites also number in the thousands. Some are good; some are bad; some are awful. http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/eliza.htm provides links to other sites. http://www.h-net.org/ is also worth looking at. It’s produced by an international interdisciplinary organization of scholars and teachers dedicated to developing the enormous educational potential of the Internet.
A not to be missed source is the Folger Shakespeare Library. http://www.folger.edu/ Folger is embarking on a massive project to digitize its collection. Check them out on the website! Early modern cookery is a new focus. See https://www.folger.edu/before-farm-to-table-early-modern-foodways-cultures
All of Shakespeare’s works are online so finding passages related to food or drink or themes related to foods is not as difficult as it once was. Those with academic access may want to check out the online Riverside Shakespeare database. Otherwise, check out http://www.shakespeare-online.com/ as a good site.
Two other sources of special note: The Stuart Peachey works including The Early 17th Century English Food Series and a number of inexpensive reprints are worth a look. https://www.stuart-hmaltd.com/
The Tudor Cooks as they are known informally are the gentlemen who cook at Hampton Court Palace. They also blog about their exploits. See Cooking the Books. https://tudorcook.co.uk/blog/the-sugar-queen-mould-making/
For an excellent comprehensive bibliography of cookery books, I recommend:
Notaker, Henry. Printed Cookbooks in Europe, 1470-1700. New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press, 2010. See also his A History of Cookbooks. 2017.
For a guide to 16th century English printed cookbooks, see my earlier efforts:
Holloway, Johnna. Checklist of English Editions. 2012. West Coast Culinary Symposium. West Kingdom. February 2012.
[Holloway, Johnna] “Manuscripts and Printed Cookery Books From England. By THL Johnnae llyn Lewis, CE.” The Gauntlet. April 2012. 17 pages.
For more on Alessio see: Holloway, Johnna. “Alessio and the Secretes of Cookery.” Tournaments Illuminated. Summer 2003, Issue 147. pp. 9-12.
This article COPYRIGHT © JK Holloway 23 April 2016; Revised with additional books and sources added COPYRIGHT © JK Holloway April 2021.