A New System of Domestic Cookery


A New System of Domestic Cookery, first published in 1806 by Maria Rundell, was the most popular English cookbook of the first half of the nineteenth century; it is often referred to simply as "Mrs Rundell", but its full title is A New System of Domestic Cookery: Formed Upon Principles of Economy; and Adapted to the Use of Private Families.
Mrs Rundell has been called "the original domestic goddess" and her book "a publishing sensation" and "the most famous cookery book of its time". It ran to over 67 editions; the 1865 edition had grown to 644 pages, and earned two thousand guineas.

Book

The first edition of 1806 was a short collection of Mrs Rundell's recipes published by John Murray. It went through dozens of editions, both legitimate and pirated, in both Britain and the United States, where the first edition was published in 1807. The frontispiece typically credited the authorship to "A Lady". Later editions continued for some forty years after Mrs Rundell's death. The author Emma Roberts edited the 64th edition, adding some recipes of her own.
Sales of A New System of Domestic Cookery helped to found the John Murray publishing empire. Sales in Britain were over 245,000; worldwide, over 500,000; the book stayed in print until the 1880s. When Rundell and Murray fell out, she approached a rival publisher, Longman's, leading to a legal battle.

Contents

The 1865 edition is divided into 35 chapters over 644 pages. It begins with a two-page preface. The table of contents lists each recipe under its chapter heading. There is a set of tables of weights, measures, wages and taxes before the main text. There is a full index at the end.
In contrast to the relative disorder of English eighteenth century cookery books such as Eliza Smith's The Compleat Housewife or Elizabeth Raffald's The Experienced English Housekeeper, Mrs Rundell's text is strictly ordered and neatly subdivided. Where those books consist almost wholly of recipes, Mrs Rundell begins by explaining techniques of economy, how to carve, how to stew, how to season, to "Look clean, be careful and nice in work, so that those who have to eat might look on", how to choose and use steam-kettles and the bain-marie, the meanings of foreign terms like pot-au-feu, all the joints of meat, the "basis of all well-made soups", so it is page 65 before actual recipes begin.
The recipes are written as direct instructions. Quantities, if given, are incorporated in the text. For example, "Gravy to make Mutton eat like Venison" runs:
Basic skills like making pastry are explained separately, and then not mentioned in recipes. Under "Pastry", Mrs Rundell gives directions for "Rich Puff Paste", "A less rich Paste", and "Crust for Venison Pasty", with variations such as "Raised Crusts for Custards or Fruit". A recipe for "Shrimp Pie, excellent" then proceeds with the bare minimum indication of quantities and a passing mention of "the paste":
Advice is given on choosing the best supplies in the market. For instance:

Reception

Contemporary

The Monthly Review wrote in 1827 that A New System of Domestic Cookery
The review concluded that "though we have no respect for Mrs. Rundell's salmis, we cordially admire her practical good sense, and applaud her for the production of a useful book" which had been "the pattern of all that have since been published."
By 1841 the Quarterly Literary Advertiser was able to give as the "Opinions of the Press", on the 64th edition, paragraphs of favourable reviews from the Worcestershire Guardian, the Hull Advertiser, the Derby Reporter, Keane's Bath Journal, the Durham Advertiser, the Brighton Gazette, the Aylesbury News, the Bristol Mirror, the Midland Counties Herald, the Inverness Herald and The Scotsman, which said
In 1844, the Foreign Quarterly Review commented on the 67th edition that

Modern

Severin Carrell, writing in The Guardian, calls Mrs Rundell "the original domestic goddess" and her book "a publishing sensation" of the early nineteenth century, as it sold "half a million copies and conquered America", as well as helping to found the John Murray publishing empire. For all that, Carrell notes, both "the most famous cookery book of its time" and Rundell herself vanished into obscurity.
Elizabeth Grice, writing in The Daily Telegraph, similarly calls Mrs Rundell "a Victorian domestic goddess", though without "Nigella's sexual frisson, or Delia's uncomplicated kitchen manners". Grice points out that "at 61, she was too old to act the pouting goddess" to sell her book, but "sell it did, in vast numbers, as a lifeline to cash-strapped middle-class English households that were desperate to keep up appearances but were having trouble with the staff." She says that compared to Eliza Acton "who could write better", and the "ubiquitous" Mrs Beeton, Mrs Rundell "has unfairly slipped from view".
Alan Davidson, in the Oxford Companion to Food writes that "It did not include many novel features, although it did have one of the first English recipes for tomato sauce."

Editions

There have been over 67 editions, success leading to constant revision and extension: the first edition had 344 pages, while the 1865 edition runs to 644 pages including the index. Some landmarks in the book's publication history are: