'As with the commander of an army, or the leader of any enterprise, so it is with the mistress of a house.' A founding text of Victorian middle-class identity, Household Management is today one of the great unread classics. Over a thousand pages long, and written when its author was only 22, it offered highly authoritative advice on subjects as diverse as fashion, child-care, animal husbandry, poisons, and the management of servants. To the modern reader expecting stuffy moralizing and watery vegetables, Beeton's book is a revelation: it ranges widely across the foods of Europe and beyond, actively embracing new food stuffs and techniques, mixing domestic advice with discussions of science, religion, class, industrialism and gender roles. Alternately fashionable and frugal, anxious and blusteringly self-confident, Household Management highlights the concerns of the ever-expanding Victorian middle-class at a key moment in its history. The abridged edition does justice to its high status as a cookery book, while also suggesting ways of approaching this massive, hybrid text as a significant document of social and cultural history.
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Mrs Beeton was the Delia Smith of her day. Vastly popular in its time, her great Book of Household Management is scarcely read nowadays in its original form (no offence, Delia). This is a pity, since as a result a distorted picture of the author and her work persists, as an oppressive Victorian materfamilias with a decidedly bossy attitude and a tendency to boil vegetables to a grey pulp. The truth, as Nicola Humble demonstrates in her abridgement of the work for the Oxford press, is quite different. Isabella Beeton was in many ways an unusual person. One of 21 children, she lived for part of her childhood in the grandstand at Epsom racecourse, married Sam Beeton, an ambitious young publisher, worked hard as a journalist and translator, and died of puerperal fever (not, sadly, such an unusual fate in her time) at the age of 28. The Book of Household Management grew out of her own sense, as a new bride, of the lack of such a work of instruction and guidance for young women faced with the daunting business of running a home. It is largely a compilation rather than an original work. Its originality lies in its organisation and purpose; its quality arises from the clarity and decisiveness of Beeton's writing. Behind the period details, there is a wealth of common sense.
Nicola Humble provides a scholarly introduction and notes. Gesturing towards academic fashions, she describes the many facets of the book in terms of modes of discourse--which is perhaps a highfalutin way of pointing out the remarkable range of subject matter and the variety of Beeton's sources. The notes entertainingly combine theoretical commentary with often deadpan remarks on the recipes ("Rock biscuits: so-called for their appearance, not their texture"). The recipes themselves are the principal victims of the abridgement, for Nicola Humble's main aim is to present the book as a kind of exhaustive self-portrait of the expanding and aspirational Victorian middle classes. The representative selection that remains, however, are enough to make this a welcome reissue of a fascinating and important book. --Robin Davidson
Review
sold out in Central London book shops within weeks (Red, August 2000 )
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As with the COMMANDER OF AN ARMY, or the leader of any enterprise, so is it with the mistress of a house. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
As with the COMMANDER OF AN ARMY, or the leader of any enterprise, so is it with the mistress of a house. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
122 of 124 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
The vast majority of people assume they are familiar with 'Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management', but those expecting stuffy moralising and instructions to 'first go out and catch your hare' will be disappointed by what they find in Nichola humble's new edition, and probably rightfully so. Written by a comparatively naive girl in her early twenties, who was to die in childbirth a few years later, Beeton's book provides an unparalleled insight into Victorian social customs and domestic situations. It does not so much detail how our ancestors lived and behaved, as how they wanted to be seen to live and behave. In short this book is a vast compendium of social mores, detailing the ins and outs of a wealthy, aspirational society. Though Beeton's book provides a wealth of recipes, these are not her sole concern. The book details codes of conduct in every imaginable social situation, and gives instruction in case of a medical or legal emergencies. Advice to the mistress of the house on how to control servants is placed next to confidential advice to the servants themselves: this is indeed a book aimed at all levels of society. The recipes themselves are a startling mix, as they seem at one moment utterly modern, then at the next evoke a rural british society which was vanishing even as Beeton wrote, in the middle of the nineteenth century. They are also a charming reminder of the fact that the author was neither an experienced nor a professed cook: she frequently omits cooking times and quantities of ingredients! Finally, I would like to mention how important a modern, edited edition of Beeton's book is. The market is swamped with spurious works, such as 'Microwaving with Mrs. Beeton', an example Nichola Humble quotes in her introduction. Seemingly 'original' editions of the book, dating from the late 1800's, are in fact just as unreliable, having been altered almost unrecognisably by Beeton's publishers after her death. This edition is, I believe, the only affordable, available, reliable reproduction of Beeton's vast, encyclopaedic study of Victorian morals, culture and society. It should be read by anyone with an interest in the period, from the advanced student, to the casual reader.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By stigweard
Format:Kindle Edition
(This is not a comment on the content of the book, just the format) - Like other Kindle reviewers have said, this is just the free copy, so no investment whatever has gone into making it usable by Amazon. (I have actually seen this happen a couple of times with their free, i.e. out of copyright, ebooks.) I would look elsewhere on the net for a better version - there are loads of sites that distribute out of copyright books with much more precise formatting. I think this may be a mistaken strategy on the part of Amazon - surely the goal is to get people in the habit of using them as a trusted ebook supplier, whether for freebies or otherwise...
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By J. Porjes
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
No index, search is terrible (it's not fully indexed), scanned in a manner that makes it incomprehensible and unreadable.
I have a hard-copy facsimile of the original and it's great - but I wish I had a searchable, electronic edition. This isn't it.
Do not waste your money on the kindle edition.
I have a hard-copy facsimile of the original and it's great - but I wish I had a searchable, electronic edition. This isn't it.
Do not waste your money on the kindle edition.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mrs. Beeton's
It gives an overview of how things were done back then. Very interesting indeed. Would recommend it for historical knowledge.
Published 1 month ago by Mrs. T. M. KITCHEN
5.0 out of 5 stars
book of household management
gives one an insight into what our ancestors had to put up with before the modern era of technological advancements
Published 1 month ago by B. A. hansell
1.0 out of 5 stars
Don't Bother
Totally useless as a reference/recipe book on kindle since you cannot search by page number only by "location" whatever that is, and no links in the text/index.
Published 1 month ago by allroundgoodegg
5.0 out of 5 stars
Kindle search function gem
Use the search function and have a brilliant randomised bounty of historic knowledge for sheer amusement. Read more
Published 1 month ago by dontaskpcandy
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Book of Household Management
Items just as described. Ideal for the purpose it was designed for, excellent service and delivered well within the allotted time scale
Published 2 months ago by GL Hardstaff
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Book of Household Management
Awesome book.
needful for everyone who loves the pure old ways and not the plastic present lifestyles and foods
Excellent for those who lead others and desire... Read more
needful for everyone who loves the pure old ways and not the plastic present lifestyles and foods
Excellent for those who lead others and desire... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Samuel
4.0 out of 5 stars
download
downloaded straight away as normal like to dip in and out of this book lovely watching Sophie Dahl on tv prompted my interest
Published 2 months ago by hev
2.0 out of 5 stars
not my cup of tea
Couldn't really get into it - just looked at it for curiosity sake - my curiosity has been satisfied, not for me!
Published 4 months ago by Dawn Harris
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very interesting book
I like the style of writing and all the small chapters, everything is true and relevant. A great book to enjoy in your spare time.
Published 4 months ago by Viktorija
4.0 out of 5 stars
mary beeton
have only scanned book, it is very interesting how things used to be done and what used to be eaten
Published 4 months ago by Ms. E. M. Hedley
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