1896-1910 Set of Seven Victorian Cookery Books in the À la Mode Series by Mrs de Salis

A highly collectable set of seven Victorian cookbooks in the à la Mode series by Mrs de Salis. Today, original Victorian and Edwardian editions published by Longmans—featuring their signature papered boards and cloth spines—are considered highly sought-after culinary collectibles. It is unusual to find a run together in good condition and I have seven here. There were twelve published in total. These seven make an excellent collection as they span soups, savouries, mains, vegetables, puddings and sweets. Condition in detail below.

The À la Mode series of late-Victorian domestic manuals and cookbooks became immensely popular among middle- and upper-class British households for their fashionable, yet practical approach to cooking, hosting, and home management. They are slender, single-topic volumes making them very pleasurable to handle and manage. The books served as an accessible bridge to French cuisine for English kitchens. While some ingredients leaned toward luxury (truffles, oysters, game), the instructions were famously straightforward and common-sense.

The seven I have here for sale are:

Entrées à la Mode and Soups and Dressed Fish à la Mode (1888) provide sophisticated, Anglo-French recipes for the opening and mid-meal courses of formal dinner parties.

Dressed Vegetables à la Mode provides a sophisticated guide to elevating everyday greens into elegant, French-inspired side dishes and independent courses. It showcases Victorian techniques for glazing, stuffing, and saucing garden produce to impress dinner party guests.

Savouries à la Mode —the bestselling debut volume of the series—pioneered the late-Victorian culinary trend of the savoury course. It features highly seasoned hot cheese bites, elegant canapés, and intricate aspics designed to cleanse the palate at the end of a formal feast.

Cakes and Confections à La Mode together with Puddings and Pastries à La Mode detail everything from formal tiered celebration cakes to comforting family tarts.

Sweets and Supper Dishes à la Mode focuses on elaborate jellies, creams, and early American cocktail imports perfect for evening parties.

Inside these cookbooks are in very good condition. With just a name at the beginning of a couple of volumes, but no other writing or markings of previous ownership. The pages are also lovely and clean, which is not always the case in antique cookbooks. There are a couple of cracked hinges to reveal webbing, but the bindings of all the text blocks remains very tight. This is an unillustrated series.

Bound in papered boards with differing coloured cloth spines. Again in good order. There are some stains to the paper covers of a couple of volumes. All the books have chipping to the paper on the outside edges. One volume has a scuff on the front from the removal of a sticker. Some loss to the paper on the back of one of the volumes (see photos). Mild rubbing to the cloth on the spine ends and joints. So, with a bit of wear on the outside, but overall clean, smart and a lovely looking set.

***(The five left to collect in the series are: Dressed Game and Poultry à la Mode: Oysters à la Mode; Drinks à la Mode; National Viands à la Mode; Gardening à la Mode).***

Your seven-volume à la Mode collection will be wrapped with care in tissue and ribbon* and sent well packaged. I am always happy to add a gift card with message to the parcel.

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Each volume H 18 cm x W 12 cm, combined weight 0.94 kg. I dispatch worldwide daily from the UK. (There are just a very few countries which I am unable to ship to).

* If you prefer for your books not to be decoratively wrapped but sent simply in the protective packaging please add a note to the order.

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