A Treatise on Cobbett’s Corn, Containing the Instructions for Propagating and Cultivating the Plant, and for Harvesting and Preserving the Crop; and also and account of the several uses to which the produce is applied, with minute directions relative to each mode of application.
London: Published by William Cobbett, 183 Fleet-Street, 1828. First edition. 8vo, later 19th century polished half calf, marbled boards, [269] unnumbered pages. Three plates. Front board neatly and discreetly reattached with black cloth along the hinge; spine and corners a little rubbed; a very good copy. Item #18761
On the cultivation of American corn, with much on American agriculture and customs; the first two leaves are printed on corn paper. Cobbett also includes glances at American food and culinary language: “Mush.—This is not a word to squall out over a piano-forte; but, it is a very good word, and a real *English* word. . . . It means this; you put some water or milk into a pot, and bring it to boil, you then let the flour or meal out of one hand into the milk or water, keeping stirring with the other, until you have got it into a pretty stiff state, after which, you let is stand ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, or less, or even only one minute. . . . . [Mush] is used in every house, whether the owner be the richest or the poorest man in the country.” Also includes notes on hominy and samp and puddings. Though unpaginated, the paragraphs are numbered throughout. Gaines 86a; Sabin 14019. With the bookplate of English book collector (and editor of the journals of Caroline Fox), Horatio Noble Pym (1844-1896) on the front paste-down. Bound without the publisher’s catalog.
Price: $250.00