Evening star., 1936-06-13
BY EUGENE GUILD.

b1 EUOENE OtILDs
~ THE many special book col
lections in Washington libra
ries which have been brought
~ together by the zeal of pri-
vate collectors, few are so unusual as
the collection of old cook books as
sembled by the late Mrs. Elizabeth
Robbins Pennell. now on deposit in
the Fine Arts Division of the Library
of Congress.
Mrs. Pennell was the wife of the
late Joseph Pennell, the distinguished
etcher and photographer. Herself a
gifted writer, she collaborated with
her husband in the authorship of
several books, notably a life of the
painter Whistler, and later wrote her
husbands biography. BY the terms
of their will the Pennell collection
including her cook books, together
with her husbands collection of etch-
ings, engravings and prints, was be-
queathed to the Congressional Lii
brary.
Mrs. Pennell got into collecting
cook books by chance. In fact, she
| has stated that it was shock when
she woke one morning and found her
self collector. She had undertaken
to write a weekly column on cookery
for the London Pail Mall Gazette,
and began buying old cook books to
use as sources for recipes. She thought
| of them for some time only as refer
ence books. When she got to the
point of going without new gown in
order to buy rare edition, she re-
allied what had happened but by
that time it was too late to draw
back.
CHE describes her collection in her
volume entitled MY Cookery
Books" which is gen. of writing in
itself, and is now in the Rare Book
Room of the Library of Congress in
beautifully printed private edition.
| Cookery books, as she says. have every
good quality that book should have.
They are not only instructive, but
make interesting reading for any one.
Moreover, they are one of the Oldest
types of books in the world. When
you come to think of it, there are
chapters in the Old Testament that
are mostly directions for preparing
and serving food The Greeks and
Romans dwelt on good eating and
drinking in their writings, and there
are early English and French manu-
f,,l e
AS soon as there was a printing
press cookery books began to be
printed, and they have kept on being
printed ever since. In the Pennen
collection are some cook books printed
before 1900, which makes them in
cunabula-a term derived from the
Latin word for lin the cradle" and
used when referring to books printed
when the art of printing was in its
infancy. Incunabula are to book
collectors what diamonds and square
cut emeralds are to jewellers, and are
fully as expensive.
Mrs. Pennell's collection was assem-
bled during the years when she and
her husband were living in London,
and it is therefore especially strong
in English editions. The first group,
comprising books printed in the sew
enteenth century. are numerous and
make fascinating reading Many of
them were written, not by professional
cooks, but by ladies and gentlemen of
/ the time. who copied old family reci-.
pes. or got together new lists of their
own. Their style is that popular
among people of fashion in that day
it is fowery and elegant. full of
nrocaded language and artificial orna-
ment. Cakes are pretty conceits," p"
and sweet is recommended because
! it "comforteth the stomach and
heart"