Martha Lloyd's Household Book: The Original Manuscript from Jane Austen's Kitchen

£30.00
SKU: BODS-100432

This is the first facsimile publication of Martha Lloyd’s Household Book, the manuscript cookbook of Jane Austen’s closest friend. Martha’s notebook is reproduced in a colour facsimile section with complete transcription and detailed annotation. Introductory chapters discuss its place among other household books of the eighteenth century.  

Martha Lloyd befriended a young Jane Austen and later lived with Jane, her sister Cassandra and their mother at the cottage in Chawton, Hampshire, where Jane wrote or revised her novels. Martha later married into the Austen family. Her collection features recipes and remedies handwritten during a period of over thirty years and includes the only surviving recipes from Mrs Austen and Captain Francis Austen, Jane’s mother and brother. 

There are many connections between Martha’s book and Jane Austen’s writing, including white soup from Pride and Prejudice and the author’s favourites – toasted cheese and mead. The family, culinary and literary connections detailed in the introductory chapters of this work give a fascinating perspective on the time and manner in which both women lived, thanks to this extraordinary artefact passed down through the Austen family. 

Introduced with annotated transcription by Julienne Gehrer, Foreword by Deirdre Le Faye

Julienne Gehrer is an author, journalist and food historian who lectures on Jane Austen and the long eighteenth century.

  • Hardback
  • 312 pages, 223 x 171 mm
  • c.85 colour illustrations
  • ISBN: 9781851245604
  • Publication June 2021

Related products

View all
Happy Prince & Other Tales, The by Oscar Wilde
Literary Cats
Literary Cats
£16.99
Speaking Volumes: Books with Histories
Politics and the English Language by George Orwell
Left Continue shopping
Your Order

You have no items in your cart