Also known as Mrs Beeton's Cookery Book, it was written by Isabella Beeton, the legendary Victorian housewife, cook, journalist and writer. She began compiling the book in 1857 when she was 21 years old. It took her four years to complete and was published by her husband, Samuel Beeton.
The book was an instant bestseller and set the standard for Victorian housekeeping. Sadly, the author didn't live long enough to see the long-term popularity of her book, as she died in February 1865, at the age of only 28, as a result of complications following the birth of her fourth child.
Almost two million copies of the cookery book had been sold by 1868 and it was the world's most consulted recipe book until around 1914. The popularity of Mrs Beeton's book has been compared with the work of modern "domestic goddesses", such as Delia Smith and Nigella Lawson.
Credit: Wikipedia
Author's early life
Isabella Beeton was born on 14th March 1836 to Benjamin and Elizabeth Mayson in Marylebone, London. She was the oldest of the couples' three daughters. Her father, a linen merchant, died in 1840 and Elizabeth remarried Henry Dorling, an Epsom widower, in 1843.
Henry ran a successful publishing and printing business and Isabella was well-educated, which was unusual for many women of the Victorian era. After studying music and languages in Heidelberg, Germany, at the age of 15, she returned to Epsom three years later in 1854.
She became a piano teacher initially and then took employment at Barnards' confectionery in Epsom, where she learned how to make and sell pastries. Her family wasn't happy at her choice of jobs, feeling they were beneath a woman of her social standing.
Isabella married Samuel Beeton, a 24-year-old publisher, on July 10th, 1856, when she was 20. Samuel's publishing firm, which he ran with business partner Charles Clarke, became famous in 1852 when it published the anti-slavery story, Uncle Tom's Cabin, by American author Harriett Beecher Stowe.
He became a wealthy man on the strength of the book's popularity, reportedly having 17 printing presses running simultaneously to meet customer demand. He voluntarily gave the author £500 in recognition of the book's runaway success. This would equate to around £70,000 in today's terms, taking inflation into account.
Mrs Beeton's writing
A few months after getting married, Isabella turned her hand to writing for her husband's publication, The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine. She wrote articles on cookery and running a household in the monthly magazine, which cost two pence. She also began writing articles on childcare, having looked after her own younger siblings.
Samuel encouraged his wife to write a book, a task which she began in 1857. She said not all of the recipes in her Book of Household Management were her original work, but she had tried and tasted them herself. She said the aim was to teach readers that it was possible to achieve a good standard of living without spending a fortune.
Initially, it was published in parts between 1859 and 1861, describing in a straight-forward and clear way how the Victorian middle classes could successfully run their home. The most popular recipes included simple meals such as Scotch Rare Bit (toasted cheese seasoned with mustard and pepper) and Baroness Pudding, a recipe provided by Baroness de Teissier, of Woodcote Park.
The toasted cheese cost one-and-a-half pence per slice to make. The pudding was made of suet, milk and raisins and cost one shilling and four pence to make. It was large enough to serve eight people.
Containing recipes that were easy to follow, the cookery section was the biggest part of the book, including the ingredients, weights, prices and cooking times. The book also offered tips on how the mistress of the house and the staff, including the cook, kitchen maid, butler, lady's maid, nurse and other employees, could handle their workload more efficiently.
Mrs Beeton personally wrote the preface and said that she had written the book to try and prevent the "suffering and discomfort" that could befall a household due to bad management.
The book was published by SO Beeton Publishing, of 161 Bouverie Street, London, in 1861. It was an instant hit, selling 60,000 copies in the first 12 months. Early editions of the book were valued at more than £1,000 in 2010.
Family life
Mrs Beeton was a great believer in family life and as well as being a successful cook and writer, she also had four sons. Samuel was born in May 1857, but he sadly died on 25th August, at the age of three months. It was not uncommon in the Victorian era for a baby to die aged under one year.
The Beetons had a second son, also called Samuel, on 3rd June 1859. Tragedy struck again when he contracted scarlet fever and died at the age of three. They had a third son, Samuel Orchart, on 2nd December 1863 and a fourth son, Mayson, on 29th January 1865. Sadly, Mrs Beeton died on 6th February 1865, just days after Mayson's birth, when she contracted peritonitis and puerperal fever.
Her husband never really recovered after the loss of his beloved wife, and after The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine slumped, forcing him to sell it, his own health deteriorated and he died in 1877. Samuel Orchart lived to the age of 84 and Mayson had a distinguished career in government and lived to the age of 82.
Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management remains one of the best-selling cookery books of all time and is noted for its emphasis on economising and being thrifty. These were important factors for the average Victorian family to consider and are still relevant today, more than 150 years later.
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