The English Housewife by Gervase Markham
Markham reveals the "pretty and curious secrets" of preparing everything from simple foods to such elaborate meals as a "humble feast" - an undertaking which entails preparing "no less than two and thirty dishes, which is as much as can stand on one table." He instructs the housewife on brewing beer and caring for wine, growing flax and hemp for thread, and spinning and dyeing. As a housewife was also responsible for the health and "soundness of body" of her family, he includes advice on the prevention of everything from the plague to baldness and bad breath. No other source from this period provides the same richness of information in such a readable style. Michael Best's introduction and his abundant notes make The English Housewife readily accessible to the contemporary reader.
[The English Housewife] comes as close to a reconstruction of early modern English home life as scholars are likely to attain.. A splendid addition to the knowledge of early-17th-century life and labor. G.M. Straka, Choice.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780773505827 |
| ISBN 10 | 0773505822 |
| Title | The English Housewife |
| Author | Gervase Markham |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Publisher | McGill-Queen's University Press |
| Year published | 1986-10-01 |
| Number of pages | 384 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |