Elizabeth Cleland

Elizabeth Cleland was a cook and teacher of cookery in Georgian Edinburgh. Her New and Easy Method of Cookery was published in 1755 and is the second printed recipe book published in Scotland the same year of its publication, Lady Margaret Home of Wedderburn suffered a paralytic stroke and was looking for a companion to look after her, the household, and her three grown-up sons, still living at home. Her choice fell on Christina Home, her niece, who seems to have been trained for this task by attending Elizabeth Cleland's School for Young Ladies in Edinburgh and it was her copy of A New and Easy Method of Cookery that was kept in the library of Wedderburn Castle after her death in 1772. Christina Home's cousin, of course, was the builder of Paxton House. How suitable, therefore, that this facsimile should be printed to celebrate the restoration of the kitchen at Paxton House which must have resounded to the very instructions that we read printed on the pages here. Peter Brear's introduction makes plain some of the essential characteristics of Scottish cookery at this time: in other words, that it was predominantly English. But Cleland's work, although not including endless specifically 'Scottish' dishes, does have very much a Scottish feel to it - in the language, in the implements used, and in the weights and measures. All in all, this is essential reading for anyone interested in the domestic history of 18th-century Scotland.

A New and Easy Method of Cookery (1755)

Marjorie E. Wieseman

Adam Eaker

Sarah Bochicchio

This fascinating new look at the artistic legacy of the Tudors reveals the dynasty’s enduring influence on the arts of Renaissance England and beyond. Ruling successively from 1485 through 1603, the five Tudor monarchs brought seismic changes to England that reverberated throughout Europe. They used the arts to legitimize and glorify their tumultuous rule, from Henry VII’s bloody rise to power, through Henry VIII’s breach with the Roman Catholic Church, to the reign of the “Virgin Queen” Elizabeth I. With incisive scholarship and sumptuous new photography, this book explores the extreme politics and outsize personalities of the Tudors, and how they used art in their diplomacy at home and abroad. Tudor courts were truly cosmopolitan, attracting top artists and artisans from across Europe. At the same time, the Tudors nurtured local talent and gave rise to a distinctly English aesthetic, one that is forever connected to the myth and visual legacy of their dynasty. The Tudors reveals the true history behind a family that has long captured the public imagination, bringing to life their extravagant and politically precarious world through the exquisite paintings, lush textiles, gleaming metalwork, and countless luxury objects that adorned their spectacular courts.

Elizabeth Cleland

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