Early Works Cookbooks

here are many cookbooks in the collection that were printed before 1800. The earliest is a 1541 Apicus presumed to be the world's first cookbook author who lived in the first century B.C. Other notable early cookbooks in the collection are Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery (1748), the most famous English cookbook of the 18th century; John Evelyn's Acetaria, A Discourse of Sallets (1699), likely the first work in English devoted exclusively to salads; a 1653 edition of Markham's The English Housewife, "containing the inward and outward virtues which ought to be in a compleat woman...." and several 17th century works by Hannah Woolley, the first female cookbook author. There are also a number of 18th century cookery manuscripts. One of the highlights of the collection is a first edition, second printing of American Cookery (1798) by Amelia Simmons, considered the first true American cookbook. While most of the early works are from the 17th and 18th century, there are facsimiles of medieval cookbooks, including The Forme of Cury, a collection of 196 recipes compiled in 1390.