The Cornucopia, published to wide acclaim in 1973, is an exquisitely annotated collection of five centuries of European and American culture as seen through the eyes of both the chef and the gourmet. Drawing on more than 150 sources, beginning with The Forme of Cury (1390), through to the 1890s and some of the most beautiful examples of culinary Victoriana, this richly good-humored book tumbles out a virtual treasury of food lore, commentary and opinion, custom and attitude, and more than three hundred delectable recipes, given in their original format.

From a 1598 recipe for "four and twenty blackbirds baked into a pie," to an exquisite 1653 Izaak Walton recipe for stuffed pike, to an 1898 formula for a drink improbably named "the Bosom Caresser" (sherry, brandy, sugar, an egg yolk, and a pinch of cayenne pepper), this unique volume is all the food lover could ask for.

Judith Herman and Marguerite Shalett Herman, the daughter-mother team that compiled this volume, tested more than a thousand recipes and gathered thousands of pieces of food lore from texts in the Huntington Library's rare book collections.

"I am enjoying it immensely, and it is one of those books that makes one want to try things out—like the puff pastry on page 233...I love the way the book is set up...that the recipes have been left as written...my congratulations for a job well done."—Julia Child

FROM REVIEWS OF THE ORIGINAL EDITION:

"With a truly handsome format featuring many engravings, this is a fine staple for culinary historians and practitioners—and an exemplary gift."—Kirkus Reviews

"This is an exploration, curious and fascinated, by a couple of nosers-around in the vast, uncollected library of five centuries of the English printed word on food, from 1390 to 1899. In the finished product the Hermans preserve not only the recipes but their original language, and a great deal of the lore they dug up in the course of their seeking."—Village Voice

"This handsome book is a delight to the culinary historian and the adventurous cook."—Library Journal

"The Cornucopia…is pure entertainment… such general easy jolliness is hard to find and much to be savored…. I can find nothing but plain enjoyment in the book."—M. F. K. Fisher, The New Yorker

"Recipes, lore and anecdotes from the old world and the new, dating from 1390 to 1899, make up the subject matter, and the handsome layout and [reproductions of ] attractive old engravings of foods and utensils make it inviting to dip into."—New York Magazine

"This fine smorgasbord will whet the appetite for the original books from which it was assembled."—New York Times