A closet for ladies and gentlewomen, or, The art of preserving, conserving, and candying : with the manner how to make divers kindes of sirups, and all kinde of banqueting stuffes : also divers soveraigne medicines and salves for sundry diseases.

London : Printed by Richard Hodgkinson, 1641.

[192] p. ; 13 cm (12mo)

This is a PRELIMINARY RECORD. It may contain incorrect information. Please email catalog@folger.edu for assistance.

Wing, D.G. Short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and British America, and of English books printed in other countries, 1641-1700 (2nd ed.), C4727A

Great Britain -- England -- London.

FAST ACC 272049 item 1

This is a PRELIMINARY RECORD. It may contain incorrect information. The "FAST ACC" number is a temporary call number. Please email catalog@folger.edu for assistance.

Purchase made possible by The K. Frank and Joycelyn C. Austen Acquisitions Endowment.

From dealer's description: "Two works in one volume, 12mo, ff. [96] (but lacking seven leaves, so this copy has ff. [89]); [96], complete; both works with each leaf of main text within a border of type flowers; first title page a little waterstained and a bit short at foremargin; second title page lightly strengthened at foremargin with modern clear tape; and last few leaves with top outer corner very slightly defective (affecting only the border); bound in contemporary calf, resewn, and repaired at spine and corners, and with new endpapers. Very rare early editions of two much-reprinted works of domestic economy. The first work, A Closet for Ladies and Gentlewomen, was first published in the early years of the century: the first surviving edition is dated 1608, but the title was entered in the Stationers’ Register in September 1602, so there was very likely at least one earlier edition that is no longer extant. The first surviving edition of the second work, Hugh Plat’s Delights for Ladies, is undated but must have been printed before 1604 (STC 19977.7), because its printer, Peter Short, died in 1603. All the early editions of both works are exceptionally rare, with a handful of copies of each edition generally being known, and these are often imperfect. The present volume is characteristic of the way in which copies survive: the two works seem quite frequently to have been bound together, although they are the products of different booksellers and there is no reason to think that Hugh Plat was the author of A Closet – although over the centuries both these works have been attributed to him. Also characteristic is the extreme rarity of these editions: of each, just two other copies are known, and three of those four copies are incomplete. The roster is as follows: Closet for Ladies and Gentlewomen, 1641 (Wing C4727A): – National Trust (Ham House, London): lacks a total of 13 leaves, including most of signature G and (like this copy) the last leaf of text, H12 – Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY: apparently complete – the present copy, lacking seven leaves: A12, C12, D1-4 and H12 (the last leaf of text). Delights for Ladies, 1640 (STC 19987.5): – British Library: title page only – lacking all the text – Glasgow University: lacking leaves F4 and H12 – the present copy: complete This is therefore the only complete copy known of this edition of Delights for Ladies, and A Closet for Ladies and Gentlewomen is substantially more complete than the Ham House copy. Provenance: signature of Thos. Webb, Stourbridge, 1810, on verso of the first title; this signature is repeated (with the date 1811) at the end of the volume.

Ordered from Christopher Edwards, D9411, 2020-09-16, List 78, item #16.

272049